u/Diligent_Occasion_22

I'm hoping to attend Notre Dame this fall as a transfer student, but I feel slightly behind on my coursework. Should I be admitted (I was on the extended waitlist last year, so I hopefully have a good shot), do any of you know if it would be possible to take summer courses there this year? I'm mainly concerned about the fact that the summer session classes begin on the 8th of June, but decisions are only released on the 20th of May, which would only allow 18 days to sign up and get housing done.

With the recent release of Duke, Rice, and Cornell decisions, I, like many of us, have been facing quite a bit of rejection. While I got into Vandy in the second wave, I'm international, which means that I would have to take out upwards of 300k in debt in order to attend (I don't really know what I was expecting when I applied). Worst of all, until very recently, I was prepared to do it. I don't know if it was my parents placing high standards on me growing up, or attending a feeder school that conflated one's intelligence with the college that they attend, but somewhere along the road, I've begun to live for external validation. It's gotten to the point where I would consider subjecting myself to financial ruin, so long as I can say that I went to Vanderbilt or whatever other prestigious school. Isn't the point of going to a school like Vanderbilt to improve your economic outcomes? The truth is that over the years, attending an a T20 university has become less about outperforming your peers in job outcomes, or receiving a top-tier education (though that is still the case, to some extent), and more about signalling your intelligence through the selectivity of your institution. That being said, I still want to transfer to a T25; partly for genuine reasons like seeking research opportunities, and pursuing a stronger program for my major, but also partly because I look forward to updating my Instagram bio with the name of my new school, or making a LinkedIn post with my acceptance letter attached. Looking back now, I'm beginning to realize that my main reason for wanting to transfer is out of a refusal to deconstruct this childish, prestige-oriented mindset. In my mind, it would literally be easier to get into Harvard or battle crippling debt for the rest of my life than to give up that external validation. I'm making this post because I've noticed that whenever someone is fearful about being rejected, we (me included) have a tendency to reassure them that they'll get into at least one top university. This tendency obviously comes from a good place, wanting to make someone feel better about something that's upset them, but I think that we could also benefit from affirming each other's value beyond where we go to school. Sorry to get a little preachy, but as decisions roll out, and the reality of my situation is setting in, I'm realizing that I can be whole, even if I don't transfer to a T25...