Brian Tracy - The applicants

College essays that made a difference - Princeton Review 2010

Brian Tracy
The applicants

Brian was a four-year letterman in golf and qualified for the district championship his senior year. He also received a national award for piano auditions and an altar server award from the Knights of Columbus.

Stats

SAT: 1380

High School GPA: 4.00/4.00

High School: James M. Coughlin High School, Wilkes-Barre, PA

Hometown: Plains, PA

Gender: Male

Race: Caucasian

Applied To

University of Notre Dame (early decision)

Essay

The following essay is Brian’s personal statement.

“Nowhere else but Notre Dame.” These words appear on the front cover of the viewbook, and they immediately bring to mind many images pertaining to the university. This phrase can also be the answer to a myriad of questions about great universities, outstanding athletic programs, and long standing, revered traditions. However, the question that comes to mind when I hear those words is, “Which college do I hope to be attending next year?” I often ask this question of myself whenever I wonder about my future. Friends and family ask me about my dreams for the future as well, because they are eager to know my plans. I believe that it would be a great honor and accomplishment to be able to tell both them and myself, “Nowhere else but Notre Dame.”

I consider myself to be an honest, friendly, dedicated, and hardworking person with strong religious beliefs who is eager to help others and to always do what is right. I give great attention to everything I do, and I constantly try to challenge myself. For example, taking college courses during my junior year challenged me and provided an idea of what I would face in college. I also believe that I am a team player. My participation in sports and in groups in school has helped to build and reinforce this characteristic. Besides my commitment to school, I also try to help my community and to be a leader. My experiences in Junior Leadership Wilkes-Barre gave me great opportunities to meet with today’s leaders and to become a leader of tomorrow. Junior Leadership also helped me to give back to the community through our service project, a community mural.

I also consider myself to be an enormous Notre Dame fan, not just of the football team, but of the college, too. I’ll admit it: I cried the first time I saw Rudy. I fell in love with the campus when I visited there a few years ago. There just seemed to be a friendly, warm feeling around campus and on the faces of students I saw. It was during that trip that I first became interested in going to Notre Dame. However, I am not applying simply because I like the university. I did research on the nation’s best colleges, and Notre Dame’s name kept appearing. I have talked with several alumni, all of whom agree that attending Notre Dame was one of the best things they ever did. In addition, I was greatly impressed with the impressive graduation and employment rates. Finally, because Notre Dame has such strict admission standards, I know that if I am accepted, I will be surrounded by only the best and brightest students in the nation.

I thank Notre Dame for including Section 8 on the application. It does provide a chance to go beyond the transcript and to introduce myself and the kind of person I am. Hopefully, I will be given the chance to become part of a special tradition, one that includes Touchdown Jesus, the Golden Dome, the Grotto, and much more. Where is all of this possible? Nowhere else but Notre Dame.

See this page to find out where this student got in.