This is 267 words.
Instructions say 150 max!
But I'm under the character limit in the box.
Why are you interested in attending the University of Notre Dame?
Despite receiving prejudiced grimaces from everyone save my counselor, Notre Dame has triumphed for me. After skimming a lookbook years ago, I had a positive gut-feeling about the university--a feeling challenged and later prevailing because no one could corroborate the popular notion of Notre Dame as simply conservative and sports-crazy. Later, my research on the school yielded overwhelmingly positive results. Notre Dame's active spirit, both inside and beyond the campus, enraptures me. The campus inundates with school pride, a factor I have craved since transferring high schools. There's no place I'd rather belong than in Notre Dame, where students choose to merge rather than scatter; the absence of Greek life also makes Notre Dame one of the most centralized families I'll ever join throughout life. Yet Notre Dame houses plenty of welcoming micro-communities, such as choral groups, that define cultural life on campus. Furthermore, I admire the nurturing intellectual environment, one with a well-rounded yet focused framework. As a psychology major I would holistically explore the broad discipline while gradually finding a concentration alongside brilliant, enthusiastic professors. I also see Notre Dame as place for spiritual and moral rejuvenation, alongside professors and peers alike. I am grateful for Notre Dame's universal mentality and open exchange with the public through multiple mediums, e.g. the web, which piqued my awareness of the school in the first place. Watching videos about study abroad and psychological studies, I recognized Notre Dame's attentive involvement in all activities; even its post-graduation impact truly endures, giving me confidence that I will securely find my direction and readily pursue it wherever it takes me.
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The only thing I would actually advise you to change is the first sentence. It kind of makes it seem that you're talking down on Notre Dame, even though you're saying that your friends and acquaintances were the ones who "grimaced" at ND while you disregarded their opinions. It could be taken as a little rude, depending on how angry your admissions officer is normally :P
Everything else is pretty good imo. You're over the word limit, so if you can find anything that you think you could get rid of, you should probably do it, but if you love everything, leave it because I don't think any college would actually reject you for being like 100 words over. Although I'm in the same boat as you, never applied to college before, so maybe I'm wrong :p
