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Volume 48, Issue 93 | friday, february 20, 2015 | ndsmcobserver.com
Notre Dame applicant pool expands Number of applicants rises despite switch to restrictive early action, decline in early applications By LESLEY STEVENSON News Editor
The total number of applicants to Notre Dame rose this year as early action numbers dipped, and the overall quality of the field improved, changes Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Enrollment Don Bishop attributed largely to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions’ switch from early action to restrictive early action. “There’s one restriction: you cannot apply early here if you’re applying to a binding early decision program,” Bishop said. “…We believe as many as 200 to 300 students that were admitted last year in early action were obligated to turn down their offer of admission at Notre Dame to honor an early decision commitment elsewhere.” Early action policies typically allow students to apply in midfall, before the regular deadline,
and receive a decision between late December and mid-January. Regular applicants submit their materials in December and can receive decisions as late as April 1. Director of Admissions Bob Mundy said the newly-implemented restriction offers a better chance of admission to students for whom the University is a top choice, ruling out any candidates who would already be committed to attending another college or university by the time they hear a decision from Notre Dame. “The two biggies [in early application policies] are early action and early decision, and obviously, if a student is applying early decision someplace else and is admitted, they’re bound there,” Mundy said. “So we merely asked them to wait for that to run its course and we see ADMISSIONS PAGE 7
ERIN RICE | The Observer
Mental health expert dispels misconceptions about OCD By MATTHEW McKENNA News Writer
The Notre Dame chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill hosted obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) expert Christopher Bedosky on Thursday evening in the Montgomery Auditorium for a talk titled
“Do I Have OCD? What Can Be Done?” Bedosky addressed misconceptions about OCD and effective methods for treating it. Bedosky, a psychologist at University Hospitals of Cleveland and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve
University Medical School, said he has been helping treat patients with OCD for a long time, and he gets a lot of satisfaction and joy from helping those with the illness. “OCD is a condition that people only know through
Saint Mary’s IT department releases app
see OCD PAGE 6
Students debate U.S. immigration policy By MARGARET HYNDS Associate News Editor
As part of this year’s Immigration Week, the Student Coalition for Immigration Advocacy (SCI A) hosted a debate bet ween the College Republicans and College
news PAGE 4
Democrats on Thursday night to discuss illegal immigration, particularly in light of President Barack Obama’s executive actions taken in November. Sophomore Hannah Legatzke and freshman Roxana Rodriguez Garcia, who moderated the debate,
viewpoint PAGE 8
began w ith a brief explanation of the executive orders the president issued earlier this year. “In 2012, there were approx imately 11.2 million undocumented immigrants liv ing in the U.S., and the see DEBATE PAGE 5
scene PAGE 11
ERIN RICE | The Observer
By HALEIGH EHMSEN Associate Saint Mary’s Editor
The Department of Information Technology (IT) released BelleMobile today as part of Saint Mary’s first ever Social Media Week. Chief Information Officer Michael Boehm said
men’s basketball PAGE 20
BelleMobile allows students to check information on their phone which in the past, they might have had to find on the Saint Mary’s website or through a visit with somebody on campus. “Now [students] have the see APP PAGE 6
women’s basketball PAGE 20