Summer Scholars at Notre Dame?

AsianGinger
Sat, 03 Dec 2011 12:39:40 +0000

I did Summer Scholars this past summer (2011) in the Life Sciences track. It’s true that admission is not OVERLY competitive, but every kid there was definitely in at least the top 20% of their class. Apparently, 50% of NDSS kids get into ND (and not 100% apply). So obviously, it’s not quite as competitive as ND itself, but still hard.
As far as the work load goes:
No matter what track you’re in, you’re going to have “homework.” For Life Sciences, we had a lot of articles to read outside of class and we were expected to understand the material by the next class. I know the acting and voice track kids had a lot of practice to do. Theology trackers had a ton of reading…Pre-Laws had to prepare for trials and such…Film had their projects…Entrepreneurshippers had to read a book…as did Brothers Karamatzov (sp?)…the only track I don’t know much about is Comp. Sci. Boot Camp, but I had one friend in it and she seemed to enjoy it (though she was the only girl with 8 or 9 guys–btw this is the smallest track and most competitive because of the experience needed–there’s an advantage if you’re a girl though)

Overall, I would say that NDSS is an amazing experience. It’s about 6 hours of classes every day, but your professors can shorten or lengthen that depending on what you’re doing. Most tracks take a few field trips. Each track takes one big all-day field trip to Chicago, which is fun because you spend a little bit of time doing something for your class, and then they let you go shopping or hang out at the pier. I’d done a lot of college enrichment programs before, and NDSS had the last amount of class time, and also definitely gave us the most freedom. We could go anywhere on campus by ourselves and just had to check in with our RC via text a couple of times, and be in the dorm by 11 (but after 11, we could still hang out downstairs and in other rooms, etc.)

I highly recommend applying to NDSS because it was two of the most awesome weeks of my life. The best part is probably the bonding that you’ll do with your track. Everyone thinks that their track is the best track and there’s tons of fun competition an such :P

Any other questions, please feel free to ask me. I love talking about NDSS!