It's been a few years, so I've been able to cool down a bit

by MattG, Thursday, April 09, 2026, 21:51 (10 days ago) @ domer.mq
edited by MattG, Thursday, April 09, 2026, 21:55

Nope. Kidding! Still done with ND forever.

(First off, I am sorry for the news you and your daughter got. Please forgive this rant and accept in it the spirit of camaraderie)

2 years later, I can look over the admissions stats from the 2024 cycle and our son was significantly above every reported median admission range. 1580 SAT, 35 ACT, 25 AP credits, 4.3 weighted gpa, 6th in Illinois' math tournament, and granted, a mediocre varsity athlete.

He spent his senior year taking science and math classes at the college of DuPage, because they'd run out of high school classes.

ND reported that the middle 50% of admitted students that year were between 1460-1540 SAT, 4.13 weighted GPA, substantially fewer AP courses, and 33-35 ACT - but noting that scores were optional and could be considered OR ignored as admission criteria that year (they have since been reinstated).

He would have been in the top 25% of admitted students in literally every objective reported category. It was the ONLY school he wanted to attend.

Maybe he just wrote a shitty essay? Maybe I didn't donate enough money.

Anyway, I am absolutely never, for the rest of my life, going to come to terms with this, or give ND a single dollar or the benefit of any doubt. I'll never attend another football game or even set foot on campus.

He's at Illinois, set to graduate early from freaking Grainger electrical engineering (because he started with like 25 college credits). But he couldn't even get waitlisted at ND. And in the meantime they have hundreds of MAGA chuds, in what should have been his class, posting hate online.

So in conclusion, while neither ND nor my kid cares, my wife and I will hold this grudge for the rest of our lives. It still feels personal, like a way to punish me, specifically, for ignoring one too many fund drives or saying the wrong thing about NDLS to a representative who called.