Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame
When I found out I had been accepted to Notre Dame, there was no cheering. I cried. Not out of joy, or excitement or even relief. I cried because I was stuck with Notre Dame, my sixth choice college.
Throughout the summer, I harbored this dissatisfaction with my school choice and as I started the school year in August, I was quick to jump to blaming Notre Dame for any imperfection with my freshman year (granted, Frosh-O was a frightening way to start off college). I was so focused on what I had missed out on at my eluded schools, I hadn’t bothered to notice the incredible school I had in front of me.
Wake up the echoes cheering her name,
A year after receiving my acceptance letter from Notre Dame, now a proud ND student who is happier than I ever believed possible, I can wake up these past echoes and reflect on my college decision process with a new sense of clarity. We live in a culture that teaches us that if we don’t fall within the top ranked colleges, we are destined for failure. It’s a disgusting, blinding notion, and I fell victim to it, like most college applicants.
Yes, it is great to push ourselves to apply to elite schools (not that Notre Dame isn’t an elite school) and to hold ourselves to these expectations to strive for the best education, but your individual education cannot be easily quantified within a top 100 ranking system.
Send a volley cheer on high,Shake down the thunder from the sky.
Notre Dame, like any top university, taught me to become a better student, putting in those grueling hours to study for midterms, actually doing my class reading on time, and going to my professors’ office hours. But Notre Dame didn’t just transform my intellect; it made me a better person, a more self-respecting person.
After receiving a sizable stack of rejection letters, I took it personally and measured my self worth based on these rejections. I believed I wasn’t smart enough, talented enough, driven enough to be the type of student that deserved an Ivy league education. I entered Notre Dame with the subconscious weight that I was sub par and that was the reason I was at this University.
What though the odds be great or smallOld Notre Dame will win over all,
As I progressed through my first year at Notre Dame, I realized I was far from sub par; I was one of the lucky ones to be included in the most unique, selfless group of intellectuals. I met people who would sit down and explain a lecture to me when there was nothing in it for them. I would be upset about a bad grade on a test and students would come up and comfort me. I was surrounded by a student body that genuinely wanted to see me succeed – who believed that I could win over all.
I always say now that I tricked admissions into accepting me because the cutthroat girl who applied to this school and only ranked it as her #6, who would have gladly sold her soul to get an Ivy education, never deserved such an incredible school like this.
Notre Dame empowered me to discover a greater potential I never knew lay within me. It led me to a group of best friends that I know I will have with me for the rest of my life. It gave me the strength to pursue what I loved rather than what I was expected to major in. It taught me to fight for what I believe in and that I actually believe in something.
Whether it was fate, trickery, or talent that earned me that acceptance letter, I am so blessed to say, “love thee, Notre Dame.” So thank you, Notre Dame, for giving me a chance when I didn’t deserve it, and for letting me become a loyal daughter of Notre Dame.
While her loyal sons are marchingOnward to victory.
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Images: 1, 2, 3 provided by author