University of Notre Dame Panel

Webinar Transcription

2020-09-15 University of Notre Dame College Panel

[00:00:00] Great. Hi everyone. Welcome to Bullseye admissions college panel University of Notre Dame. My name is Tessa, and I’ll be your moderator for tonight. Just to, I ended up the one with the webinar structure and different functions. We’ll start off with a presentation about Notre Dame and then we’ll have a live Q and a with our panelists.

And then on the side-by-side you can download the slides for tonight in the handouts tab, and you can also start submitting questions for our panelists in the Q and a tab. Throughout the panel, we’ll have some pause offers and that’s getting started. I’m excited to introduce you to our Notre Dame panelists.

Carolyn graduated from Notre Dame in 2020 with a degree in finance and Becky graduated from Notre Dame in 2014, with a degree in marketing and poverty studies. Next step, Caroline will tell us more about noticing.

So Notre Dame is a private Catholic school located in Notre Dame, [00:01:00] Indiana, but most people think sounds then Notre Dame is on its own zip code. It’s on campus, but it’s located in south bend, Indiana. It’s a medium sized school with 12, about 12,000 total students. But really the undergraduate feel is a little bit over 8,000.

It’s a great size. I found that I didn’t want a small school, but I didn’t want a really big school. It’s a great size for having access to lots of resources and great professors and students from all over the world and all over the United States. But it’s not so big that you get lost. It’s suburban.

And like I said before, it’s Catholic. The campus is very walkable bikeable as well. A lot of people do that. You wouldn’t drive to class, for example, you would definitely walk or bike. Classes are pretty small. Most classes in your freshman year will be a larger lecture. But by your junior and senior year, that would much smaller.

And there are lots of opportunities to engage with faculty and have smaller [00:02:00] discussion. Okay.

Some of the notable alumni. From Notre Dame or Condoleezza rice, she graduated in 1975 and he’s come back to speak several times on campus. So she comes back to the often and that’s great too to attend. But she was a secretary of state. She’s also been the national security advisor for the political science department, works closely with her and has her guest lecture and do lots of other things like that on Nicholas Sparks is the author that many of you have probably read his books.

And there are several New York times best sellers in there. And then Hannah storm and sports journalist. She is another grad. You graduated in 1983. So Notre Dame, both seven Heisman trophy winners. This is more than any other school. And they’re very proud of football. Go Irish. The dome that covers the main building has [00:03:00] gold in it.

And actually the football home is do as well. And people have often said that Shrek me based on parts of the Notre Dame campus. So that’s a really cool fun fact.

Some of the schools and divisions are the college of arts and science arts, and letters, and then goes on college of business engineering, the school of global affairs in the college of science. Those are the undergraduate colleges and then the graduate colleges including the graduate school and the law.

But there are lots of opportunities to learn about law and learn about some higher level degrees in your undergrad experience as well. Argue letters is definitely the biggest and the college of business is often the most competitive. So based on those academic divisions, that Caroline’s is 12 year old. That here’s a question for you, which academic divisions within Notre [00:04:00] Dame are you most interested in? I’m triggering a poll right now. So I’d love to see what everyone’s interested then.

Okay. Some answers are coming in. It looks like some people are interested in the Mendez college of business. Yeah. It looks like that’s when it’s popular. Also the college of engineering college of science.

Yeah. Looks like a lot of different interests, but the college of business seems to be the most popular. So five I’m going to close the poll and fast to you timelines. All right. So some of the most popular majors are political science, psychology, English, finance, and science, either a film, all of the different colleges that we talked about on the previous slide.

And oftentimes there are opportunities to double major. So psychology is a common, double major, and political science is a common, double [00:05:00] major. And then as far as athletics go, you can see in the background of the side, that’s our football stadium. So we’re in division one sport. And we have a lot of student athletes, but student athletes go into the residential lottery system for dorms, just like everyone else.

And you decided to take classes with them and really engage with them as well. They’re very integrated with the student body. And everybody loves to go to all of the sports games. So we have 23 varsity teams. When people go to soccer, people go to lacrosse swimming, and it’s really a lot of fun and a very supportive.

So before Becky tells us more about student life. We have a trivia question for you. I’m taking another would love to see, has been paying attention. Yes, it looks like the answers coming in so far have all been fed called and that’s 100% correct. And the Notre Dame is actually known for having 23.9 carat gold and their helmets.

[00:06:00] So it’s not just that the helmet colors go out, but there’s real goals involved. So now Becky will has more about student life admitted.

Yes. So student life at Notre Dame is probably the most exciting thing along with football, I would say. So for extracurricular activities, you can see there that there’s over 400 student organizations. So honestly, anything that you’re interested in, whether it’s triathlons or skiing or a debate club, something like that, you can definitely get involved in all of those.

Also Notre Dame is very open to you, starting your own clubs. Chances are, if you’re interested in something, someone else there will be as well. And then in terms of our residential system, this is a huge part of Notre Dame. So we don’t have Greek life. However, our dorms kind of function as like sororities and fraternities would just in a very healthy manner.

So when you come in as a freshmen, you are required to live on campus. And the best part is that you don’t get to [00:07:00] pick your roommate. You’re just randomly slotted into a dorm they’re single-sex dorm. Which honestly, I know some people these days are like, oh, that’s lingering. It’s again, one of the greatest parts of their name, because you just feel like you’re surrounded.

If you’re a woman you’re just surrounded by this great community of girls and same with the men in the men’s dorms. And so you’re randomly slapped into your dorm. Typically, those who become like your best friends for all four years there. And again, I do love that most students will live on campus from their freshmen through junior year.

A lot of students will move off senior year, but you’ll typically live in the same dorm for your first three years. And then also in terms of dorm life each dorm has like their own mascot, their own colors. They do pep rallies together. They have fundraisers dances. So again, very similar to what you would find in Greek life and other school.

All the healthy aspects of it narrative as well. And then there are also clubs sports. So if you’re someone like me, I was really involved in varsity sports in high school, but I definitely wasn’t good enough to play at [00:08:00] Notre Dame since it is division one. So it, Notre Dame has, is they have club sports.

And so those are typically what you’ll find is very competitive. Teams, if you’re not into that every single dorm also has their own sports teams. So like I lived in dorm called green Phillips and we had our own cross country team or own flag football team, everything like that. So if you’re not really into the competitive level of clubs, sports learning, you can also get involved through.

And then also aside from sports, there are lots of people in our name who also don’t do sports. So you have over 25 musical theater and dance groups. So again, honestly, really anything we can think of there’s even, I think there’s a tap dancing club. So really anything that you’re involved in typically we’ll have it.

And then you can see their nerdy name. If you don’t know much about it. We are very into tradition. And our school events, a lot of them obviously revolved around football for good reasons, but some of them are like [00:09:00] team masses, a football team. They usually do a massive for each game. The leprechaun is our mascot and that’s a huge deal each year.

It’s a, usually a rising senior. That’s a mascot. There’s pep rallies on Friday for football. And again, you come with your dorm, you’re all dressed up. It’s just a really fun time to be with your dorm, your friends. And then on day of, if you haven’t been to learning the bugging yet, it’s probably the greatest day ever.

When you’re a student. Again, you’re with your best friends, you’re walking around. You’re either like painted up. You have all your dirty gear on when you’re walking around campus and it’s. Every single student is outside, which is the greatest thing ever. If you go inside a dorm, especially during the game, there will be no one in there.

Every single student goes to the game, which is awesome. And then just some other fun things you can see on there north versus south clad snowball fights. So the way the Notre Dame is broken up, it’s not broken up. Really. It’s just all, like Carolyn said, it’s all one big campus. [00:10:00] So it’s all enclosed. It’s not like there’s a bunch of cars driving through anything.

When you walk on campus, you know exactly where you are. And there’s a north quad and it’s south side, which is where the main residence halls are as soon as we can work dining hall. So there’s a very good rivalry between them and super cool thing that happens is the very first snowfall. There’s this campus wide and I’m not kidding you.

It’s thousands of students. Canvas wide snowballs. For north quad dorms or sock by dorms. So just one of the many fun things that we do in our day. And again, because the school is so small, only being, a little over 2000 students, you just really feel like you have this tight knit community and you really get to know a lot of the students that you’re in classes with, or that you live with.

Okay next. Carolyn and Becky are going to tell us why they chose Notre Dame. And before that, here’s a question for you. Are you planning to apply to the university of Notre dam?[00:11:00]

Someone says it’s 30 top choice. That’s great to hear some people. I still decided.

Yeah. Some people say it’s when they’re taught through schools, it’s on their college was multiple people said they’re taught twice. That’s great. Okay. I’m going to close this poll. Thank you all for answering and back to you guys.

So I chose Notre Dame because I saw lots of opportunities to study many different things and study things together. So you’ve often heard interdisciplinary study. That’s something I was very interested in. I ended up studying finance and philosophy, but I started out as a pre-med chemistry major. So I really didn’t know what I wanted to do.

And I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Even when I applied. But I just put together a plan and thought about things I was interested in so that I could study different areas at Notre Dame. And I saw lots of options there. I also really wanted to be [00:12:00] involved in the campus community and the dorm community, like Becky talked about.

That’s something that I thought was really great and unique about Notre Dame. And I wanted to do service and engage with those traditions.

Yeah. So I echo everything that she just said as well. There’s many reasons to love Notre Dame name, it’s choosing her name, but for me it was the main reason was because you get the small school feel in terms of the class size, the student size and walk around on campus. And you feel like you honestly do recognize almost everyone, especially after your first few months there.

But you get the big school feel in terms of, the name brand, the great academics the football team, obviously that’s something that I was looking for. It was like school, spirit. You can’t really get at the smaller schools. So for me, it was really the perfect mix of those two.

Okay, great. We have one last poll for you. Where are you in? Because admissions process.[00:13:00]

Oh, wait a little bit first. You want the answers to come in?

Okay. Most people are just starting working on their personal statements, studying for standardized tests. That’s great. No matter where you are in the process, I hope that this. It’s helpful for you. And before that, he gets into the application process specific to Notre Dame, which covers assets. I’m going to send everyone a link to Notre Dan’s essay guide from bulls-eye.

And this guide was written by Caroline.

I am sending those into the chat right now.

And [00:14:00] now that’s to you.

Yes, I highly recommend it going through the SSI that Kirlian put together. I run through basically every sh having some really good tips and tricks for how to navigate, what to include in your essays and what to leave out. So you have two application options for their name. As you can see there, you have the early action deadline which you would have to submit by November 1st this year.

And then you have the regular decision deadline, which is January 1st. Again, submitting early action is great. If you think that you are one of those top students, if you have that high act or sat score, you have a high GPA great leadership activities. Dealers, you’re checking all those boxes.

And also if Notre Dame is your top choice, otherwise you can wait a little bit longer and with the regular decision deadline. No. And that’s actually what I did when I was a student. Just cause I was, a little unsure. [00:15:00] So for the supplements, you have three medium length acids. So those are about 200 words or fewer.

I’d say those are actually pretty small. So you only have 200 words really fast. So you want to make sure in those that you really stand out again, take a look at that. I think I guide Caroline gives a lot of good tips there. And then in terms of some stats here the acceptance rate is 18.1%, as you can see.

So a little over 21,000 students will apply from all over the U S and outside the rest. I know nerdy and both students from every single state in the U S and also I think. Nothing crazy like 2,500 grades or something like that. And then the total number accepted, I believe December is probably from last year as a little over 4,000 students.

And then the total number enrolled will be about 2200. So again, you’ll be coming in at 2200 classmates, which probably sounds like a lot coming from high school. I know it did for me, but again, in lots of more than a lot of other schools. So they get [00:16:00] that tape.

All right. And then some stats, because I know students always love hearing these just so you can compare yourself against them. So the average GPA unweighted for students that do get admitted to nerding is 3.9. The average act score is 33 to 35. And that average sat score is 14, 10 to 1530. So again, if you are in that range, great if you can retake the act or SEP training, I highly recommend that.

But that’s apply feeling confident, with what you have and do the best you can do in terms of the application for any big financial aid. You can see there that they do the application fee for students that do need it. So I would definitely inquire if you need that. And then. I’m actually not familiar with the I doc from college board.

Caroline, are you, [00:17:00] I doc will be submitted along with the CSS profile for the most part for schools that require the CSS profile since all of your schools won’t require it. If you apply for financial aid,

Okay. Great. Thank you guys so much. That’s the end of our school presentation, part of the panel moving onto the last two, and then I’ll be through the questions that you submit in the Q and a tab. Okay. In the public chat for everyone to see it. And then Caroline and Betty, we’ll give some answers. We have a few breaks plans and we will have a speed round.

Yeah. As a heads up, if your QA tab, isn’t letting you submit questions. So we’ll talk and make sure that you join the webinar through the custom link in your email, not from the panel’s landing page. So I’ll give you guys some time to start going through typing your questions and put the Q and I, and then we can start answering those.

We can start off with a pre panel question. So [00:18:00] what is your favorite thing and least favorite thing about Notre dam? Both of you guys can say that.

I can go first for this one. So my favorite thing about Notre Dame, that’s really hard. There were a lot of things I really loved about Notre Dame, but I loved how there were so many different things to be involved in. So I didn’t council. I was involved in my door. Like that, I played a lot of sports in high school, but I also was not good enough to go D one.

So I really enjoyed clubs, sports and murals as well. And you’ll play flag football with your dorm and all kinds of things like that. I also enjoyed opportunities to get involved with the south bend community. So there were opportunities to tutor and teach children. And I loved working with kids.

So that’s something that was really enjoyable. My least favorite thing was Notre Dame was pretty far away from home for me. So I lived in North Carolina and I close to my family. So I’m close with my family, but estimated how difficult that would be [00:19:00] to go to school so far away from him, I was ready to go and ready to go far, but I did underestimate it.

I’m gonna echo a lot of what Caroline said. So what I loved most about her name again, the academics is near unbeatable. Like the professors that you have are just outstanding. I can’t say enough about them. And then also school spirit, like it’s really hard to beat nerd in school spirit. Like the student body.

So in love with the school. So it’s really great to be surrounded by that community. Again, I can’t harp enough on the tight-knit community. It really feels like almost everyone there on campus. Like you either recognize know personally are best friends least favorite part around our name. I honestly think of hardly anything besides.

Some students that come from warmer climates will say that the winter is rough and south bend. I can attest, but I grew up in Chicago, still live in Chicago. So the winters weren’t that rough for me since I was used to it. But I will learn if you’re coming from like a Florida or California[00:20:00] you need to buckle down for the winter.

Okay. Our next question from the Q and a do you have to be religious to enroll in Notre Dame? I can take the sun. I know you definitely don’t have to be religious to enroll in another name. I did find that Catholic obviously loved the Catholic nature of it, or especially, those who come from the Christian faith.

But I wouldn’t say that they necessarily shove it down your throat. Anything like that. I know for a fact that an admissions, they don’t look at that at all. They look at it out of curiosity, but they don’t take into account in terms of, if they’re going to let you. And about 70% of the students on campus are Catholic to give you an idea, but everyone’s really open to learning about other religious traditions as well.

And there are classes that talk about other religious traditions, so that’s something to keep in mind. Okay. Okay. Here’s another question. This one was it’s in the pre panel question. What [00:21:00] extracurriculars were you involved in high school that you think they have helped you get into Notre Dame?

Yeah, I can take a stab at this one. Instead of listing out specific ones that I was in, just because I don’t think that would be necessarily helpful for everyone. I would say one of the biggest things is they love to see that you were involved in a bunch of different things. So if you’re someone who’s really athletic that’s great.

But a lot of kids who are applying to Notre Dame or athletic, right? So they want to see a student. Really well-rounded, did you do something in the arts, but also athletics, but also academics. They want to see that reach there that you’re involved in a bunch of different things. I would also say leadership is huge.

I know for a fact, the Notre Dame takes into account how many leadership roles you have and what that time commitment is. So in any of your extracurricular activities, if you can show how you somehow a leader some way tell the story behind that. I think that’s really key for getting in.

Okay, here’s another question. [00:22:00] What programs or advising does the school offer to help people that are undecided on a major so that they can find what they’re passionate about? Absolutely. I can take that one. I mentioned that I was really undecided earlier. I actually did not apply undecided. I applied as a chemistry major before I even got there.

I realized I don’t want to do chemistry. So I talked with my first year advisor, who is, it will begin meeting with you. If you go to Notre Dame before you even arrive on campus. So you’ll meet one-on-one, you’ll meet in small groups. You’ll look at the course listings together and talk through them. That is super helpful.

It’s also to go to events on campus, go to speakers departments, we’ll host them colleges, we’ll host them. Student organizations will host them and it gives you an opportunity to talk with people who majored oftentimes in different things that Notre Dame graduated from Notre Dame and then are out in the real world using their degree.

The career center is [00:23:00] also very helpful at helping you figure out what you enjoy doing ultimately, and what you could enjoy studying in college to get to a job where you get to do something you enjoy. Okay. Here’s another question. This one’s kind of tricky and specific for this year. How was the decision to go test optional?

Is that to the admissions process at Notre Dame?

I can take that one as well. So a lot of schools are going test optional. I would encourage you still to take the standardized tests and submit your scores on schools. We’ll definitely look at that. If you submit them and see them as part of your profile, but if you’re unable to take the tests, that’s perfectly fine as well.

You won’t be penalized. I think that looking at test optional schools in general and discipline to Notre Dame, they will look at your essay. Your extracurriculars and other aspects of your profile a little bit more, a little bit more closely so pay extra attention to those essays and figure out what they say [00:24:00] about you.

But that definitely submit those scores. If you have that as well. This question is also related to admissions. Do you have to have top grades to get in? And then the student is around an a minus as well. Okay, I can take that. So you saw the averages that they had up, the average student has a 3.9.

GPA that gets in. So a lot of kids that are applying to Notre name, Ray are those classic ones that, we’re leaders have great is have great sat or act score. Also have that awesome GPA. However, I will say an a minus average is excellent. So you should be very proud of yourself and also they want to see that you took hard classes.

So if you’re in all AP classes and you’re getting that, amen is. That’s great. That’s excellent. They don’t want to see the kid that didn’t challenge themselves in high school, took no AP classes and have an a, or an a plus average. I want to see that you’re challenging yourself because when you get to Notre Dame, it will be challenging academically.

So they want to know that when they admit you that you [00:25:00] absolutely can make it through the curriculum that they have set up.

Okay, this next question is how involved is Notre Dame in research? And is it easy for students to get involved in research? I can take this one. So yes, Notre Dame is very involved in research across the colleges. So whether you’re studying architecture or chemistry or business, a lot of the professors do research and are always looking for undergraduate students to get involved.

That’s one of the perks of the size of the school. It’s big enough that there are opportunities in all of every department, I would say, but then small enough. There are opportunities for all students to get involved. And like I said, there is so many different professors with so many different things they’re researching, there’s bound to be something that you would really enjoy.

I would also add on to that and just say something that was really cool when I was there 6, 10, 10 to six years ago. I was that not [00:26:00] only could you do research as a student with professors, but if you were a student there, you can also get involved in research as a participant, I, which is really cool.

So I know I did a few psychology ones and you get paid for it. Which is a really great opportunity to make money too. But I did some psychology ones, some stress tests. I also did one through the engineering department, which was based on security cameras. They were testing like how well they can pick up, the student, the person’s eyes, where they’re looking where they’re going next.

So that was something that was really fun and different. So you can get involved in both sides of the research there. It’s pretty cool. This next question is what is the acceptance rate? Physi Mendoza college of business. I know you guys might not have that number off the top of your head. So I just Googled that and it’s 19%, but I’d love to have you guys talk more about Mendez a college.

Yeah. So you will, when you applied to Notre Dame, you indicate what college you want to be in based on what [00:27:00] major you choose. So you will be admitted to the university as a whole, and then you’ll view preliminarily as that into your major. Then you won’t declare it right away from windows that you would wait to declare your major until your sophomore spring.

That’s moving earlier as, as they change their curriculum and continue to evolve and just as a college. But it is a very competitive college, but it’s a very rewarding and it’s a big college. There’s lots of opportunities for students.

Okay. Next question. How hard was it to get used to academics and life? I can take it first. Seventh is so I think it’s different for every student, right? And your how comfortable you are at change. Changing locations, changing friends, all of that. So going into your freshman year of college, no matter where you go is a huge change, but basically uprooting your life.

But it’s also super exciting because that’s, a lot of people will say like some of the best four years of real [00:28:00] life, which I can attest it definitely wasn’t her game. I would say in terms of academics, again, if you’re taking a challenging rigorous course load pre-school then you’ll be fine.

It definitely was tough. There were some classes for me that were way tougher than others. Like I remember my first first math test and my freshman year, I didn’t even finish it. I’m like, I have never not finished a test in my life. But a lot of the classes are curved. They’re meant to push you.

And again, in college, I don’t want to say like grades don’t matter because they absolutely do, but you want to get, those straight A’s in high school, but in college there’s so much more, it’s all about learning. What can you learn from those professors? But can you take away from the class? It’s not necessarily about, getting know.

And then in terms of student life, I would say Notre Dame does a great job in terms of they have, right when you get there, they have like a week or weekend of freshman orientation. So that’s where you’re together with your newborn. You’re doing all these really fun activities together. You make almost [00:29:00] instant friends from the very beginning, because if you think about it, you’re not the only person coming in.

There’s 2000 other students, they’re in the exact same position. Who don’t know anyone, so you are definitely not alone. And I think our team does a great job. So I honestly think the transition is pretty easy.

Okay. The next question, what do admissions officers look for in an essay? I can talk about that one. So definitely check out that essay guys did. I wrote, I think it’s very, yeah, very helpful. With regard to specific questions. So in general, Notre Dame is really looking for you to be yourself. They can see through when you want to, when you’re trying to say something that maybe you think they want to hear, but they want to know your story.

They want to know what makes you unique. And that being genuine will really come up. Notre Dame in general, really a lot of students who are service minded, thinking about others for the [00:30:00] team, rather than the individual, those things are very important to Notre Dame. So that’s something that I would definitely emphasize.

Next question. How well does Notre Dame prepare for grad school and med school?

So I can’t really speak to med school. However I was a Mendoza. I do have a lot of friends who graduated from Mendez as well, who went on to apply, especially now that I’ve been out for six years who have applied to business schools for their MBA. And I will say a lot of them are the ones who ended up at the top five MBA schools in the country.

So you have like your Harvard, Stanford you have Northwestern. So a lot of them have ended up those schools. I will say that I feel like Mendoza prepared them well for it. Again, you still have to take tests after you have to take the GMAT, which is another standardized test, but I definitely feel if I decided to go get my MBA or I’d feel pretty prepared for it, there’s definitely names critical.[00:31:00]

And something to add to that Notre Dame has a core curriculum where you’ll have university requirements that you will have to take across a wide variety of disciplines. So if you are going towards med school you will take science courses, but you’ll also take history courses in fine arts and English courses.

So you have a wide variety in your curriculum. The whole, not only expose you to things that you didn’t even know. Didn’t know you wanted to study, but then you can also have the opportunity to specialize in you. It’s the best of both worlds.

Next question. Would you say there’s a competitive or a collaborative and buyer?

I could take this. I would say there’s a little bit of both. It’s almost the best of both worlds. Like it’s collaborative in terms of when you’re working in groups or I would say it’s collaborative in terms of, it’s not you versus another student in the class. Obviously students tend to think that right when you’re getting grades back or there’s a curve, but I’d say [00:32:00] it’s very collaborative.

People are willing to help each other out. It’s competitive in a healthy way, in terms of other students are there to push you, especially in the student life in general, if you’re involved in, team sports in our, and those clubs, sports or extracurriculars, those students are meant to push you and what was so great.

And now that I’ve been out for six years, I realize is that those are four years where you’re surrounded by some of the brightest people that you’ll ever be around in your life. You’re literally surrounded by over 8,000 students who were the top of their class at their high school. That’s unbelievable.

You almost never get that experience again. So I would say use the competitiveness to push you, but I never felt like I was in over my head in Notre Dame or that, it was ever cut through by any means is very collaborative.

Next question. How did the different Notre Dame schools interact?

The different names, schools are very interactive. So I would say that there are opportunities to take classes in pretty [00:33:00] much any college and they’re expanding those opportunities. So for example, I majored in finance, but in my last semester at Notre Dame, I also took a class in architecture because I thought that was super interesting.

And then there are really expensive opportunities, too. Get a supplemental major. So that is typically what Notre Dame calls the second major. And these are often through the college of arts and letters. Just because they’re the most major options in the college of arts and letters. But they’re, you can minor in accounting or entrepreneurship and Mendoza, and they’re continuing to expand those to real estate and a lot of other options as well.

And then there are also many options in the science. It’s a little harder to get a second major in the college of engineering, but there are opportunities to take classes as well. Okay. Next question does maintaining a good GPA mattered during freshman year college, since usually a student picks a major during [00:34:00] their sophomore year.

I would say it depends on what major you’re trying to go for. Usually when you come in again, name doesn’t make you apply. I know a lot of other colleges will make you apply to the business school. And if you don’t get into the business school, You’re not admitted to the school. That’s not how nerdy works.

You get into Notre Dame and then Caroline mentioned, you take a plethora of classes and then you pick from there. So like when I came in as a freshman, I thought I was going to be a psychology major and I ended up majoring in. So very different. But I would say for some of these schools that are a little bit more popular, come in, does a college of business is very popular.

You do want to get a good GPA during your freshman year because that might be taken into account when you’re trying to get into that school or get the major that you want. So I, Caroline was a finance major, which is one of the most popular ones in Mendoza. So they can’t obviously have, thousands of kids and that major and have none in marketing.

So I would say to try to keep your GPA up your freshman year, because that is something that’s taken [00:35:00] into it. And too, there are limited opportunities some years to transfer into Mendoza. So when you apply originally, you indicate your intended major and it is much easier to transfer out of that intended major in the dosa, but into it because it is one of the more competitive.

Okay, next question. Do you have any tips for the application process tips for studying and tips by staying on top of academic?

I can start with a tip for studying. So my advice is to not get behind, it can be very overwhelming. But you can prepare a little bit along the way and study as you learn the material rather than cramming the night before. I know it sounds cliche. But when you cram in, you don’t really necessarily want.

And that it would be a lot tougher to study for the final. I know I’ve made that [00:36:00] mistake a few times and then, and it hasn’t happened again recently make sure that you’re really staying on top of it. Yeah, I can give, try to give some tips for getting in. So something that’s super important, like we’ve talked about obviously is that test score, right?

If you did take the act or sat or from are able to take them, but highly recommend because that’s something that is standardized across every student. So if you are able to prove, that you’ve got a high score on one of those in the top percentile that’ll make you stand out and make them, look your application a little bit more closely.

I would say, I think good recommendations and recommendations. I think you usually get them from your counselor. And then I think I’m usually a teacher too. I would say, try to pick a teacher that knows you extremely well inside and out, or maybe like a high school coach or something where they can speak to specifics about you and your character, because Notre Dame does not do interviews like some other schools do.

The person reading your application is why don’t you try to pick up bits and pieces to put together the puzzle of what you look like as a student [00:37:00] and how you’re going to fit into the student body and stand out at the same time. So that’s really important in terms of your essays.

Yeah. And also the like I said, the recommendation, so those two are like two key pieces. I say, this is probably what I would focus on the most. I know that’s that I focused on the most when I was applying. I’m just nitpicking every word, making sure that it wasn’t like a standard essay saying, I know one of the questions is as simple as why do you want to go to Notre Dame?

You can’t just say, oh, it’s my dream school. I’ve always wanted to go there. The academics are great school spirit. Every kid says that every kid knows that about nerdy. I would try to pick out something that’s specific about you or something that’s a little bit interesting or something that’s off the beaten path.

Just try to make yourself stand out.

Okay. Here’s a question from the Q and a, what is something you regret during your high school year? Any advice first team years around application.

I wouldn’t say I necessarily have something I regret. [00:38:00] My advice is to really investigate the schools you’re applying to and put schools on your list that you can actually see yourself going through. So even if it’s a safety school, think about whether or not that you would want to attend. And then when thinking about Notre Dame specifically and writing those essays, like why do you want to go to Notre Dame?

We’ll get really specific. These are they’re really courses that really interest you or is there a professor that does really cool research that you want to do? Or a club that you’re really interested in. It’s more about learning whether or not you want to go to the school, then just figuring out what you can put in your essays because they want to know genuinely.

Why do you want to go there?

Okay. So we are partway through the Q and a and as a quick break, I wanted to let everyone know about what you can do after this panel to get help on your college application and to get in touch with our Notre Dame advisors at both sites. So people like Carolyn and Becky.[00:39:00] If I had to have two advising plans, the starter plan and the scholar plan, they’re both monthly subscriptions where you get matched with an advisor of your choice, and you’ve got one or two hours of one-on-one advising each month.

As I said, we’ll work with you and crafting the perfect supplemental essays for Notre dam and your other applications and subject. I’ll be on a panel, everyone in this panel, a link to get started.

This offer links to our page to sign up and get started. Our students at bloods, I have had a ton of success working with an advisor this past admissions season. We had both our clients get into Notre dam and also every top 25 school in the country. My clients paid us 9.8 out of 10. And that’s because advisors put a ton of care into working with you.

One-on-one every step of your application process. If you want to work with Caroline or Becky, this is a great opportunity to get help from them.

Okay. Now we [00:40:00] can do some Y Q and a. Here is one more question. Where did you hang up? Okay. Where did you hang out on campus and off campus?

So on campus, there is the new Duncan student center. It’s not as new, like you’re saying it’s new. It’s been there for at least two years. And it is around the football stadium to the right. If you’re looking at the football stadium from touchdown Jesus, when the library. There are lots of opportunities to be social there while getting work done.

They’re a great group, project, workspaces three great restaurants, the coffee shop and upstairs that’s a little quieter. There’s a gym, there’s a ballroom where there will be some formals and lots of other events. Even the career fair there. It really has it all. So DACA students that are, is one of my favorite places.[00:41:00]

Similar, but different because Duncan student center was not there when I was there. Unfortunately there’s another like smaller student center, which is called the fortune a lot of sense called the fun. And it’s very similar to that. It’s just much, much older. In the center of campus between north quad and south quad.

And again, you can study there with friends. You can go there and get late night food. I can get lunch there. There’s a bar in there as well, just really old. But there’s plenty of averages to hang out at places like that around campus. Another one is your dorm. Again, just becomes the people in your dorm, become your family.

So a lot of times I honestly, me and my girlfriends would go in one of our rooms or sit outside in the halls. Almost, I think 80% of the time, except for when we were sleeping, we had our door open and that’s just how a ton of students are. So you have your doors open and you have basically all your best friends in the hall with you.

And there’s also basements in each dorm and in those as there’s a lot of social events that go on too. So there’s usually at least in BP, there’s usually like food and drinks and [00:42:00] hanging out and studying watching, away games, stuff like that. So that’s also a great place to hang out.

Okay, next question. What did the admissions process look like for you?

So I applied early action and it was definitely a high up on my list. It was not my top choice. So a lot of students have legacy connections or it’s nerdier than their dream school. And they grew up going to football games. I applied in November and then I visited in April and that was actually the only time I had ever been to that.

Her name’s Katie. So I really loved the campus. I met a lot of great people and ultimately decided that’s where I wanted to go and decide between schools. And that’s where I wanted.

Yeah, for me, it was a little bit different. I was one of those kids that literally, since I was born, I wanted to go to Notre Dame. I think when I was born, there was a picture of my dad holding me, right when I was born in name. [00:43:00] So after it, so I felt like I was destined to go there. Nerding was my top choice through and through.

I did not apply early action though, when I was applying. And the reason being is back when I applied in 20. 10, I think it was 2010, 2009, 2010. It actually was considered a little bit harder to get in early action. But I know now that there’s a higher percentage rate for people who apply early action.

So for me, I wanted the best chance possible. So that’s just, how I cut it back then. But if I was applying today, I would definitely apply early action since I was so for sure on it. And again, I spent a ton of time on my application, mainly on the essays pouring over them. I think Caroline mentioned this in the essay guide, but I brainstormed through each one individually wrote down notes before I even put pen to paper and picked, which ones I was going to go through.

And again, biggest tip I can give is make yourself stand out somewhere. Most kids that applied to Notre Dame have those great grades are involved in sports and clubs have leadership. You really want to [00:44:00] think of something that makes you special. And what are you going to bring to Notre Dame? When you get there as a freshmen, the central question is related to your answer.

Is it safe to apply early action or regular decision? I typically recommend applying early action. It demonstrates that you really want to go there and now that tide has shifted towards the early application, giving you a slight application bumps in, in your percentage chance of being admitted.

Another great option too, is, are good. Thinking about applying early action is if you are deferred to the regular decision rounds, it’s not an absolute rejection from the beginning, so they will look at your application again and perhaps make a different decision.

Okay. Next question. How has noted and supported students during the pin down there?[00:45:00]

This is a tough one because we’re not there as students, but I do know, like I follow nerdy name, their Instagram, and I know that they’re constantly posting updates on, what to do as a student during the pandemic they’re answering live questions. I, which just really neat. And sometimes I’ll flip through them.

I’m just interested in what life is like in campus during the pandemic. So students can submit live questions. Parents can as well, but they can say, Hey, is it safe to go to this building now, is this open now? And they’re answering like on a minute by minute basis, which is really neat. And I know some people have.

Have their qualms as married name, letting students back on campus, but being on campus was one of the most special things, again, that community field nurse name. And if you haven’t visited Notre Dame yet a lot of students that do visit it for the first time, get there and were like breathless.

That’s exactly how I was when I first went. So I do think it’s great that they are having students on campus. I know that comes with It’s own pluses and minuses during the pandemic, but I do think [00:46:00] they’re giving it a good shot right now and trying to equip students the best they can to handle these times.

Absolutely. And they’ve been very responsive. Not only to question but to ideas. So when students needed more places to sit outside, they have more patio furniture now on library quad and things like that.

So now nearing the end of our Q and I was going to do a speed round. So these answers will be a bit shorter. We’ll just go through a bunch of positives as quickly as possible. So send any questions you may have insecure now.

The here’s one. Do you have to declare a major your freshman year or do you have more time to decide you can apply undecided? So that’s always an option. But if you are thinking you want to study something, go ahead and indicate that, and that will help [00:47:00] shape what classes you take during your first semester.

Do you guys have any really fun classes that you took while you were there, that you would just anything unique that you.

I took a class. I think it was my senior year and it was called music in the Olympics, as it was taught by the band director, Notre Dame. Who’s been there for years. And it was really cool because he actually directed one of the Olympics opening ceremonies back in the eighties. I’m in Los Angeles.

And so really cool. Literally just studied. He brought in a bunch of people to speak to we got to meet sticks and go to a Styx concert because the sticks band manager actually graduated from Notre Dame, but it was just one of those classes my senior year where I had already completed all my requirements for my major and minor.

And I heard that this is one of those classes that just you don’t want to mess it with something that you probably would never learn about otherwise which is really neat. [00:48:00] There’s one class I really enjoyed. It’s a freshman class. It’s called God and the good life. So it fulfills your philosophy requirement, your first philosophy requirement, you would have to enter your name.

It is all about moral philosophy and how you can relate philosophy to your own life. So I really enjoyed that class. Okay. Next question. Was it hard to make friends?

I would say, no, not at all. It was very easy. And the reason being is because I think the residential life and our name had, they put you in dorms, it’s all random. So you’re not going in where other people got to pick their roommate and you didn’t. I would say absolutely no, very easy to make friends.

There are lots of perks of the single-sex dorms and that’s one of those. But then your dorms will have events with other dorms and you’ll make friends and then you’ll have your own events. So there are lots of opportunities [00:49:00] to, to meet people in your classes, extracurriculars and your dorm life.

Okay. The next question is what is the racial diversity like on campus?

I just looked this one up. It’s about, let me look at it again. It’s about on par with the national average about 60, 65% white or Caucasian 10, 11% Hispanic or Latino. And then the rest is African-American Asian or other other ethnicities as well.

Okay. Here’s another question. How are the dorms? No, there though,

but does the question, how are the dorms.

Cool. So again, you get randomly paced placed into a dorm and there’s some dorms that [00:50:00] are so old. That’s one of the dorms that I lived in, where it has no air conditioning. And then they’re also really brand new dorms. And again, it’s just the luck of the draw. However, there’s pluses and minuses to both.

I actually loved living in a really old dorm. Just because when my parents were there, they remember that dorm and they had friends that lived in that dorm. It was part of the historic part of campus. And so I loved the character of it, but also if you live in a really new, nice dorm, there’s pluses to that too, you have a little bit more room, you have a central air conditioning, which is always nice.

And it gets hot in our name. But yeah, in terms of that, it’s great. And then in terms of residential life, it’s like the best thing ever. I’m laughing because I was on the other end of the spectrum. So when I moved in, I was the first class to live in clarity hall. So we got to pick the colors, pick the mascot, create the traditions, do all of those things for a brand new dorm.

And that’s part of what makes it so unique. So you don’t get any role in picking your dorm. So it [00:51:00] was kinda like, oh, I wish I would have fixed this one. Or I liked this color better. Or my son lives here. I should have lived there. There aren’t regrets there. You just embrace what you have. And there’s a lot of dorm pride, so you’ll be say yours is the vest.

And someone else will say, this is the best. And then you get to talking about dining halls and there’s lots of lots of dorm pies. This next question is pretty related to campus life. How is the food.

I feel very strongly about this. I absolutely loved the food while I was there as a student. It would be interesting to go back and eat in the dining halls now. But basically each dining hall has a ton of different stations. So they’ll have a salad station, a soup station, Italian, Asian, they have everything.

I think they have. 30 different types of cereal in the morning. It’s crazy. How good the food is for college? So I never felt like I missed out the freshman 15 was a real thing and it didn’t come from drinking and mainly came from eating in the dining halls. So [00:52:00] definitely one of the top schools.

I would completely agree. I think the dining halls are great and never again in your life, will you be able to eat so many different things for one meal and not prepare any of them? So you get to really make the most of it. Okay. This next question is if your parents are alumni, would that help your admissions chancellor?

Yeah, so I can take this one just cause my parents were alumni. So the way that it works and I do know this because for a few years after I graduated, I actually worked in admissions, veterinary teams. I got a good insight view into exactly how they look at applications. Since I was looking at students’ applications.

And the way that it works for students that had parents that had gone there, or if you had a family member is it’s marked in your application. And the plus side to that is that you don’t get a leg up on anyone, except for that. Your application goes through two sets of eyes. So if I’m reading a student’s application and they have a parent that [00:53:00] went to Notre Dame and it’s marked on there, I would read their application, make a decision.

Maybe it’s no. And then someone else has to read it too. It goes to another set of eyes. They have to read it and make the same decision. I say, it definitely gives you a leg up in terms of, if the second person that reads it catches something that maybe the first person didn’t write, because they’re reading thousands of applications each season, it’s very easy to miss stuff.

So you definitely have a leg up there. But otherwise it’s not if your parents didn’t go there, that you don’t have as good of a chance of getting in. Okay. So we’re nearing the end of when I give everyone a last chance to send questions and the Q and a. And right now I question is, was it easy to get settled in as a freshman on campus?

I think it was relatively easy. There are lots of people to help. And one thing I would say is if you’re, if you need help, either academically, socially, spiritually, in any regard, there are lots of people there to help you. So every dorm will have resident [00:54:00] assistants on I’ll have rectors who they basically the head of the dorm and then assistant rector.

She helps out. And then there’s a counseling center on campus. There’s a career center. There’s your academic advisor. There are lots of different people, as well as upperclassmen and upperclassmen can be a really great resource for providing guidance on how to adjust.

Okay. I’m not seeing any more questions in the Q and a, so that’s the end of our speed round. We’re about to wrap things up, but before you go, I want to remind everyone what you can do after this panel to work with the Notre Dame advisor on your applicants. In case you missed it earlier on, which would be sent the link where you can sign up for a bulls-eye plan and work with Caroline, Becky, or any of the other advisors.

Oh, and lots of speeding. One more question in the Q and a the university pay for you to visit in the [00:55:00] spring. If you are accepted.

Yes, correct. No. I was going to say it’s if you get accepted that they for sure will pay for you to visit. And also I definitely would not bank on the fact that you’ll be able to visit in the spring. Just because everything’s so up in the air right now, they’re not letting anyone visit the campus.

So the best thing to do again, would be to talk to students that have been there and also to, look online and see if you can find any videos, pictures. But like Carolyn was about to say is that there are some opportunities where they will pay for you to visit. So I would talk to the admissions counselor that they assign you to when you apply.

Okay. So this was the end of our Notre Dame panel. Our next webinar will be in two days on Thursday. It’s 9:00 PM Eastern time on applying as an undecided major. And this [00:56:00] session, both I advised there, Gabby will be going over the cause search and how to find a rate set. If you apply undecided, I hope to see you all at that panel.

And thank you so much for coming up to today’s panel. I hope you’ll ask, take care. Hi everyone. Thank you all for coming. Thanks everyone. Thank you.