How To Get Into The University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame is an elite school affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. With a long and proud history, it’s one of the world’s most highly respected learning institutions; being part of the next incoming freshman class would be a great honor for many students. 

The opportunities students are afforded during their time at Notre Dame remain well beyond the day they graduate and become alumni.

If you have your heart set on joining the next incoming class, you’ll need to know much more than just the basics of how to get accepted into Notre Dame. The competition is fierce, and you’ll be competing for a spot against thousands of other Irish hopefuls. You’ll need to take advantage of all the Notre Dame application help you can get.

The University of Notre Dame has an undergraduate enrollment of just under 10,000 students and is situated in a suburban setting on 1,265 acres in South Bend, Indiana. The university ranks #18 on U.S. News & World Report’s list of the top national universities. 

Notre Dame has more than 20 varsity NCAA Division I athletic teams and is divided into eight colleges and schools. Notable alumni include:

• Joe Montana
• Regis Philbin
• Nicholas Sparks
• Condoleezza Rice
• And dozens of others

The university was featured in the 1993 film “Rudy” — a true story about Daniel Ruettiger, who beat the odds to realize his lifelong dream of playing Notre Dame football. Many students today share Ruettiger’s dream of walking the grounds of Notre Dame, and if you’re one of them, you need to begin preparing early in your high school career.

The University of Notre Dame uses a holistic approach to admissions, so there isn’t just one or even a few factors that are looked at to decide which applicants get in and which do not. When a university uses a holistic approach, it considers a wide variety of factors.

One of the best ways to prepare to apply to Notre Dame is to learn a little bit about its past. Knowing the school’s history will also introduce you to its mission, what it expects from its students, and what opportunities it offers. 

In November of 1842, eight members of the newly established Congregation of the Holy Cross received 524 acres of land in northern Indiana from the Bishop of Vincennes. The Bishop had become concerned over the lack of Catholic education in his diocese and asked the leader of the Congregation to send someone from France to come and set up a school.

Father Edward Sorin left France and made the journey to Indiana. The acres gifted to him and his group would be used to begin a fledgling school, which he named “L’Université de Notre Dame du Lac” (The University of Our Lady of the Lake). Just over one year later, on January 15, 1844, the Indiana legislature officially chartered Notre Dame.

Several notable incidents have dotted the university’s history. These include a clash in 1924 between students and members of the Ku Klux Klan, “The Great Fire” in 1879, the rise of its celebrated football program through the early 1900s, its near-closing during WWII, a 1963 visit by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and so many others. 

Originally a college only for men, the university began accepting women in 1972. 

Several research facilities and institutes are tied to the school, including:

• The John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values
• The Center for Social Concerns
• The Jacques Maritain Center
• The Institute for Church Life

Notre Dame is well-known for its esteemed colleges, which offer bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. The school’s study abroad program is also prestigious and noted throughout the world — it sends students to Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

On the second floor of Notre Dame’s Main Building are several beautiful tapestries that were installed in the fall of 2020. These tapestries were created by Conrad Schmitt Studios, an internationally recognized company of experts in the restoration and conservation of art.

Behind these tapestries are murals painted between 1882 and 1884 by Luigi Gregori. The murals are one of many projects initiated in the late 1800s in celebration of Christopher Columbus’s voyage to America. They depict a complex narrative that was celebrated when the murals were painted. 

Now, however, the murals are considered to be troubling for many reasons, the main one being their depiction of Native Americans.

Twelve murals showing the life of Columbus are painted directly on the walls of the building. The tapestries that cover the murals are removable and are taken down only a couple of times a year. 

These tapestries are intended to respect the experience of Native Americans while preserving the murals in order to understand the University’s history. The tapestries incorporate Marian and Christian imagery along with Pokagon artwork. The Pokagon people are native to the South Bend, Indiana, area.

An exhibit about the murals will soon be installed, and a more permanent exhibit portraying the university’s early history is planned for 2024. 

Notre Dame’s roots are deeply intellectual and grounded in Catholicism. It’s critical that you understand what the university stands for and what is behind every thought process in order for you to decide whether you and Notre Dame are a good match.

While the research the university performs today honors the past, as in the case of the Columbus Murals, Notre Dame also prides itself on a prestigious reputation marked by firsts in every field of study.

Notre Dame values and insists on promoting academic freedom, which is essential to open discussion and inquiry in all forms. The Catholic influence on the university is maintained through history by the predominant number of Catholic students, faculty, and staff who grace its campus.

The university’s mission is to be dedicated to the pursuit of truth and provide a forum where Catholic thought intersects with all forms of knowledge across every profession and every school of thought. Notre Dame welcomes the intellectual interchange that a diverse student population brings.

The University of Notre Dame has a prestige that is matched only by the value of the degrees awarded to its students. Notoriously difficult to get into, the university does maintain low acceptance rates year after year. 

This means you’ll need to make sure you perform at your best all through high school if you’re going to boost your chances of joining the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame received 26,504 admission applications for the class of 2026. According to the university’s admissions office, only 3,412 students were invited to join the student body. This gives the University of Notre Dame an acceptance rate of just 12.8%. Of those students who were admitted, 54% of them chose to enroll.

Compared to the class of 2025, Notre Dame had a 12% increase in the number of applications it received, but the acceptance rate dropped between 2025 and 2026 from 15.07% to 12.87%. As you can see, the competition is getting more fierce — it’s becoming tougher to successfully gain admittance to Notre Dame.

Most universities and colleges have at least a couple of different options for applying for admission: early decision options and regular decision options. Some schools break up the early admission portion even further into early admission I and II, each having different rules and deadlines for applying.

Notre Dame offers Restrictive Early Action and Regular Decision options for applicants. The importance of choosing the option that is best for you cannot be overstated, so make sure you understand what each entails before you decide which to go with.

For the class of 2026, the university received a record number of Restrictive Early Action (REA) applications — just shy of 10,000 at 9,683. Of those applications, only 1,675 were admitted, for an REA acceptance rate of 17.2%. 

Note that the chances of being accepted into Notre Dame are slightly higher for students who apply early than for those who apply by the regular deadline.

The deadline for the Restrictive Early Action option is November 1, and it is a non-binding option. If you apply and are accepted, you are not legally bound to enroll at the school. You are also able to apply for Early Action options at other schools. 

You cannot apply to another university’s binding Early Decision program; however, you still may wait until May 1 to indicate whether you will enroll at Notre Dame.

Decisions for those students who apply for the Restrictive Early Decision option are available in mid-December, and there are three possibilities:

• Acceptance for admission to Notre Dame
• Denial of admission to the university
• A deferral of the decision

Students who are deferred have their applications moved to the Regular Decision round. It’s good to keep in mind that, should your application be deferred, it doesn’t automatically mean you will be denied. There are students with deferred applications who get in — almost 150 per admission cycle, in fact.

If you’re not ready to submit your application to Notre Dame by the November 1 deadline, your other option is to apply for Regular Decision, which has a deadline of January 1. This also is a non-binding option and comes with three possible decisions:

• Admission to Notre Dame
• Denial for admission
• Waiting list

Decisions are released by the end of March, and if you are accepted and decide to enroll, be aware that you’ll need to pay a $500 deposit no later than May 1. If you are denied admission, you may consider attending a different university for one or two years and reapplying to Notre Dame as a transfer student.

If you are waitlisted, you will receive the final admission decision by the middle of June. Of the waitlisted students who applied for the class of 2026, 107 ultimately earned admission.

In the meantime, confirming your interest in staying on the waitlist via your online application portal would be a good idea unless you have chosen to attend a different university. 

If you are accepted and choose not to enroll at Notre Dame, you need to let the Undergraduate Admissions Office know so that space can be available for students on the waitlist. 

Applications for admission to the University of Notre Dame become available each year on August 1. The school accepts three applications:

• The Common Application
• The Coalition Application
• The QuestBridge Application

All three of these applications are available online and cannot be completed in paper form. You can, however, send paper forms for letters of recommendation and your high school transcripts after submitting an electronic application for admission. 

The university asks that, although you can print-preview your electronic application online, you do not mail it to the office. You can, however, print your application and retain it for your personal records.

The evaluation criteria for Notre Dame are exceptionally stringent in order to find the world’s most extraordinary applicants. The university is extremely proud of its students and admits applicants who excel within the context of each applicant pool. 

Notre Dame cannot offer entry to every exceptional student, so to make an impression on the admissions committee, you will need to be more than exceptional.

Students from more than 8,700 high schools applied for admission to the class of 2026. About 2,200 high schools are represented among applicants who were accepted. The breakdown of admitted students is as follows:

• 47% are from public school systems
• 33% went to Catholic high schools
• 19% attended non-Catholic private high schools
• Almost 19% are international students
• 15% are Hispanic or Latino
• 14% are black
• 11% are Pacific Islanders or Asian
• 1% are Native American

In addition, 14% are first-generation students, and almost 20% of the class of 2026 has at least one parent who is a Notre Dame alum. Admitted students for the class of 2026 represent 95 countries and all 50 states.

The University of Notre Dame follows a need-blind admissions policy for permanent residents and U.S. citizens. This means that your financial situation and ability (or inability) to pay are not considered in the decision-making process.

The school states that it is fully committed to meeting every student’s need for financial aid and that the financial aid department is completely separate from the admissions department.

As with most of the other top-ranking universities in the country, there is no minimum grade point average (GPA) that Notre Dame requires for admission, and the same is true regarding class rank. However, the university does remind applicants that they are competing for an admission spot against the brightest minds in the world.

The estimated average GPA of incoming students is an unweighted 4.06. You will need to earn an exceptionally high GPA from the start of your freshman year and maintain it through your entire high school career. 

Class rank is said to weigh more heavily on admission decisions than GPA. Approximately 90% of students accepted to the Notre Dame class of 2026 graduated in the top decile of their high school classes, and 98% were in the top 25%.

To remain competitive with other Irish hopefuls, you also must take classes that are more difficult and challenging than average. If your high school offers Advanced Placement (AP) and/or International Baccalaureate (IB) classes, you should take as many as possible. 

This is because Notre Dame seeks students who rise to a challenge and don’t settle for the easy way out. Taking a rigorous course load also shows the university that you are ready to take college-level courses and are capable of excelling in them.

If your high school does not offer these advanced courses, it won’t be held against you, and your application will not be disadvantaged. Many schools, including Notre Dame, may require a statement explaining your reasons for not taking AP or IB courses. 

Keep in mind that Notre Dame, like most other institutions of higher learning, looks more favorably on an A- in an advanced course than an A+ in a standard course. 

Notre Dame does not require AP and IB tests. If you do take these tests, be aware that your scores will be used during your application journey only if they enhance your application. Your scores might also be used for placement and college credit toward your first year.

The university awards credit for scores of 4 and 5 on Advanced Placement exams and for scores of 6 and 7 on International Baccalaureate exams. Note that some specific scores and tests are accepted but not others.

There are no set requirements for SAT or ACT scores for admission to Notre Dame. In addition, for the past few admission cycles, the university has joined many others in moving temporarily to a “test-optional” policy, no longer requiring students to submit their scores as part of their admission packet until further notice.

However, if you choose to submit your scores, it’s important that you understand how you stack up against other students. When scores are required, the university generally admits applicants who have scored in the top 5% of the class on standardized tests. 

The average scores of admitted students for each test are:

• 1400 and 1550 (25th and 75th percentile SAT scores)
• 32 and 35 (25th and 75th percentile ACT scores)
• Average SAT composite score: 1475
• Average ACT composite score: 34

The University did not report the lowest accepted SAT composite score, but it’s estimated to be about 1320. Notre Dame ranks #22 for the highest average SAT scores in the country. It comes in at #21 for ACT scores and #1 in Indiana for both tests.

The average SAT math score is 750, and the average reading score is 725. For the class of 2026, about 40% of students elected to submit their SAT scores for consideration. 60% of ACT test-takers chose to submit their scores.

If you submit your test scores with your application, the university asks that you self-report them. If you are offered admission and choose to enroll, you will be required at that time to have official score reports sent to Notre Dame before your enrollment is permitted.

You should know that the university will verify your scores if you choose to enroll. Make sure you accurately self-report your scores because if there is a discrepancy between your self-reported scores and the official scores, you may lose your offer of admission.

Notre Dame will superscore your test scores if you choose to take the tests multiple times and you submit all of your scores. In other words, the university will consider only the highest composite scores, regardless of when the test date was. 

Since the College Board has discontinued the SAT essay, Notre Dame does not require the writing portion of either the SAT or the ACT.

If you are an international student applying to the University of Notre Dame, there are special considerations you need to be aware of. Make sure you become familiar with the university’s standardized testing policies.

As long as test scores are not required for admission purposes, the university will rely more heavily on your application answers and transcripts to get an idea of your grades, your involvement in and out of the classroom, and the rigor of your curriculum for merit purposes.

If students elect not to send in their test scores, they are not excluded from opportunities for merit scholarships. Every application is considered for these opportunities. You will be informed if you are invited to apply for the school’s merit scholarship program.

Notre Dame has specific class requirements for high school students interested in applying to the university. You must take 16 units during your high school years; however, the exact distribution of those units will vary slightly depending on your intended area of study during college.

Even though the distribution will differ, there are still specific courses that must be completed during high school in order for you to be considered for admission. These include:

• Four units in English
• At least three units in mathematics (algebra I and II and geometry)
• At least two units of social science/history
• At least two units of science
• No fewer than two units of a foreign language, though more are recommended

A “unit” is equal to credit received for a year of work during high school. Typically, then, a unit represents one year.

Take note that four units of math are required if you intend to major within the College of Engineering, the College of Science, the School of Architecture, or the College of Arts & Letters. These units must include advanced math, such as calculus or pre-calculus.

In addition, if you plan on majoring in a field within the College of Engineering or the College of Science, you must take one chemistry unit during high school. The following majors have the additional requirement of one unit of physics:

• Physics in medicine
• Physics
• All engineering majors
• Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Chemistry with business
• Chemistry with computing
• Mathematics
• Applied and computational mathematics and statistics

Students who plan on majoring in the following fields are not required to take physics during high school, although the University of Notre Dame strongly recommends it:

• Statistics
• Architecture
• Science-education
• Biological sciences
• Science-computing
• Environmental sciences
• Science-business
• Neuroscience and behavior
• Arts and letters pre-health
• Science preprofessional studies

The most competitive applicants at Notre Dame are those with four units in every major academic area. The university will give you credit if you completed algebra or a foreign language during your eighth-grade year.

Regarding extracurricular activities, it’s beneficial to keep one thing in mind: The university is not interested in the number of activities you participated in as much as it is in the quality of activities and your role in them. 

If you are preparing and researching how to get into Notre Dame, you need to show interest in activities because the university wants active students.

The University of Notre Dame is interested in people who are passionate about multiple issues. Those who are well-rounded and involved in their communities make strong candidates, as do those who are involved in the classroom and the pursuit of truth (remember the mission of the university).

The organizations and activities in which you participate should speak about your interests, your passions, and you as a person. What drives you? What do you care about? Are you a class leader? A hard-working artist? A talented musician? An athlete? 

Notre Dame isn’t interested in long lists of “shallow” activities in which you were scarcely involved. The admissions staff wants to see a list of a few beloved activities in which you made an impact.

Your involvement can include anything from church groups and activities to employment and community service. The university is interested to see how you balance school, work, family, and your social life. 

The admissions committee is looking for applicants with a strong sense of leadership and service. Admissions counselors want to see you seek out opportunities in high school to lead, make an impact, and improve life for others. They seek out students who have a team-oriented, can-do attitude. 

Make sure to demonstrate how you have been able to balance your school schedule with other aspects of your life.

Notre Dame states that it does not prefer students from one specific type of school and instead puts preference on the strength of the school. School strength is determined by graduation rates, average test scores, the rigor of classes offered to students, and more.

Home-schooled students are encouraged to submit one or two additional letters of recommendation if evaluations come from a parent. Your professor can write one if you have taken dual-credit courses at a local college. If an adult who has worked with you during one of your extracurricular activities knows you well, that person can write one.

Keep in mind that even though the university is Roman Catholic, spirituality and religion are certainly not a requirement for admission. You don’t have to be involved with religious activities or even be religious at all to be offered admission to this esteemed university.

Every university has its own requirements for recommendation letters, and Notre Dame is no exception. The school requires one letter of recommendation written by a high school teacher who instructed you in a core academic subject. 

Core academic subjects include foreign language, math, science, English, and social science. Ensure that the teacher who writes your letter knows you well and can testify to your academic and personal strengths. 

Furthermore, the teacher should be one who taught you in 11th or 12th grade, although that is not required. Since they would have taught you most recently and in a more rigorous course than teachers from your freshman or sophomore year, letters of recommendation from 11th- and 12th-grade teachers are common.

You can also have your high school counselor complete a letter of recommendation for you in addition to the teacher’s recommendation. It can be either from a guidance counselor or a college counselor at your high school. 

The university understands that it’s not always possible or pertinent to an application to get a counselor’s recommendation. Notre Dame offers the option for students with a counselor who is knowledgeable about their accomplishments within and outside of the classroom. Although this counselor’s letter is recommended, it’s not required.

You can send additional recommendations if you want to, but make sure they come from someone who can add context to your application. Common “other” people that often write letters for students include:

• Club mentors
• Work supervisors
• Coaches
• Pastors

Notre Dame stresses that the extra letter(s) should add value to your application in one way or another. Additional letters do help, as long as they are from people who know you personally. However, also keep in mind that the university is looking for high-quality recommendation letters, not a high quantity of them.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many colleges and universities have stopped offering or requiring applicant interviews. Some have substituted optional two-minute video introductions in their place, and others simply no longer have anything to do with interviews.

Notre Dame does not include interviews as part of its admission decision-making process. The university encourages students to “let your story shine” through the application, along with all of the supplemental components.

With that being said, the University of Notre Dame does have regional admissions counselors and encourages students to ask them specific questions regarding admissions. 

The school also recommends that students who are interested in applying to join the Fighting Irish visit the campus to experience the spiritual nature and tradition of the university for themselves. 

There are many virtual experiences you can take part in to help you gain valuable insight into everything about the school, from academics to the community. Various tours and sessions are hosted by admission counselors, alumni, faculty, and others who welcome families to become more familiar with the University of Notre Dame.

No, demonstrated interest is not tracked at Notre Dame, and it will not help or hinder your application in any way. The university receives applications from around the globe, so taking part in tours, Q&A sessions, or any other visitation-related activities will not affect the decision of whether you are granted admission.

However, it is still important that you make contact with the admission office, visit the campus, meet with representatives at college fairs, and connect with the university through social media. 

All these activities will prove invaluable in your journey to learn as much as possible about how to get into Notre Dame. They will also assist you in learning if the campus is a good fit for you and your educational goals.

Some departments of Notre Dame require or recommend that supplemental materials be included with students’ applications. However, these requirements are typically reserved for students interested in studying architecture, art, or music.

Music students may send in auditions for scholarship opportunities as well as placement standings. Students who plan on studying architecture may send in portfolios, and art students may do the same.

All submissions of supplemental materials must be completed using the SlideRoom application, which is available through the Coalition Application and the Common Application. Notre Dame cannot accept physical submissions.

If you plan on submitting additional application materials using SlideRoom, you must submit your application before uploading your media. This way, the admissions department will be able to direct your submission to the correct department.

Notre Dame emphasizes the importance of being yourself when you answer the essays; they are not meant to cause you stress and are designed to let you have fun and show the admissions committee who you really are. 

Therefore, it’s vital that you don’t repeat statistics or facts that have already been presented in other areas of your application. The essay portion is meant to give admissions staff the chance to get to know you personally through information you have not previously stated.

Since the university does not offer admission interviews, your essay answers provide the best window to your dreams, aspirations, talents, interests, and adventures. The admissions committee needs to get a sense of the real “you” that reaches beyond the numbers and activities.

The most recent required essay prompt for Notre Dame applicants was:

• What gets you excited about going to Notre Dame?

Students must also choose one additional essay prompt to answer out of the four presented. Most recently, these four were:

• In what ways is where you’re from an integral part of the person you are?
• What is the greatest compliment someone has ever given to you? Why?
• Discuss a time when you advocated for something you firmly believe
• What is one problem you would solve in your community if you had unlimited resources?

Students are encouraged to begin writing their answers to the essay prompts early in order to have plenty of time for additions, corrections, and revisions. This is especially important if you are planning on applying for the Early Action option. 

Notre Dame’s admission committee also encourages students to let their sense of humor, passions, traditions, culture, and anything else shine through in their essay answers.

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions requires that you have all of the items listed below submitted before a review can be initiated:

• The actual application
• Official high school transcripts
• Letters of recommendation
• The Notre Dame writing supplement essays
• ACT or SAT scores (unless you are applying during the “test-optional” policy)
• A non-refundable application fee of $75

To have the best chance of being accepted to Notre Dame, begin preparing early, from the beginning of your high school career, and remember that quality weighs more heavily than quantity in almost every factor for admission. Enlisting the best professional Notre Dame admission help will be a valuable asset on your journey to joining the Fighting Irish.