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"Unique among the Top 15" in that ND is not in the Top 15 by 31-30

I became an aficionado of the Don Bishop talking points as B19 went through the admissions process last year. Don is entertaining and a ND institution, but he subscribes to "true once, true eternally" school of using numbers to make your case.

The high water mark for ND in the USNWR national university rankings was #15, which it has done I think twice in the past 10 years. Ergo, ND is "Top 15." He actually has a whole rap where eventually he gets us into the Top 5, but it was Jedi-level "these aren't the droids you're looking for" advocacy and I can't remember how he constructed the daisy-chain.

I will say in fairness to ND that among the top [z] schools, ND has a reputation as being a little less (just a little less)beholden to stats and numbers in the admissions process and a little more (just a little more) focused on "whole picture" and things like essays, service, etc.

My son and his friends are also a lot more open with each other about the aid they are or aren't receiving than we were back in the day. It's only anecdotal, but I was impressed with some of the need-based aid ND is providing to some of them. Like better than they got offered by Ivies. But I still think it's the case like at many schools that that aid dries up at income levels where families still have a real problem paying the full retail price.