Notre Dame is a famed research university with a strong religious backbone. The school is welcoming to students of all faiths, traditions, and backgrounds, but it’s Catholic character “.” There are more than 40 priests in residence, and more than 100 masses are celebrated each week at more than 50 on-campus chapels. They don’t consider any of this to be in conflict with being a globally-renowned scientific research institution. At Notre Dame, the pursuit of truth in the lab, in the classroom, and in oneself is considered a practice of faith. The university has steadily risen in popularity, and the acceptance rate for the Class of 2028 was .

It's not surprising that Notre Dame is popular. Grounded in Notre Dame, Indiana, the university attracts students who want to shape the world, and of students pursue engineering, science, or business. 77 majors across 8 colleges, and are regularly ranked as one of the top 25 universities in the country. Just under 9,000 undergraduates call the campus home, and the undergraduate are outstanding.

If you’re considering applying, you should also know that Notre Dame is at least through 2025. Before you stop studying, though, it’s important to note that of the 2075 students who enrolled as first-years in the fall of 2023 had submitted an ACT or SAT. So, if you can get a high score (for Notre Dame, that means at least a 1500 on the SAT or 34 on the ACT) it may be very worth your time to study a big harder and a tad longer to help your application stand out.

In this post, we’ll give you an equally powerful tool for standing out: exceptional supplements. The Notre Dame supplements are an opportunity to differentiate yourselves from the tens of thousands of other applicants, so it’s important to take them super seriously and plan ahead. Below, we’ll break down how best to approach each supplement to increase your chances of admission.

If you think “optional” means “optional” when it comes to college application supplements, contact us. We debunk admissions to make getting into college a smooth ride.

When Notre Dame is reviewing your application, there are they are looking for in particular. The most important is your academics: both the grades on your transcript and the rigor of your course load. Basically, they want to see you getting the best grades in the hardest classes you have access to. Next, they look at your scores. Yes, they are test optional. However, if you do submit scores, they consider them quite important. Finally, there are your essays.

Notre Dame doesn’t offer interviews, so the essays are a critical way for them to get to know you. :  

“Your essays are the most enjoyable part of the application reading process. Why? Because we learn about important decisions you’ve made, adventures you’ve survived, lessons you’ve learned, family traditions you’ve experienced, challenges you’ve faced, embarrassing moments you’ve overcome.”

It’s super important, then, that you give them supplements that are honest, vulnerable, and, importantly, fun. Below, we break down each prompt to help you do your best work.

Everyone has different priorities when considering their higher education options and building their college or university list. Tell us about your “non-negotiable” factor(s) when searching for your future college home. (150 words)

They call this a “short essay,” but at only 150 words it’s really just a normal-length paragraph. However, it is important to clock that they are calling it an essay. They’ve asked a pretty straightforward question that you could answer in a few dry sentences that are honest and clear, but that don’t actually communicate much about who you are. Instead, they want an essay. This means they are looking for story and asking for narrative.

Start drafting this essay by coming up with between one and three non-negotiables. If you are doing just one, it should be related to your academic path and the program you want to pursue at Notre Dame. If you choose to do more than one, though, it is fun to have a non-negotiable that is, let’s say, less weighty. Pasta day anyone?

Once you have your core non-negotiable, by which we mean the academic one, we want you to craft a story around it, and include specific reason why Notre Dame is your perfect fit given this non-negotiable. This could be a story about an internship where you were exposed to lab-based research, and you absolutely want to do research in college. Or maybe you absolutely must be at a school that cares at its core, and you are inspired by how the professors at Notre Dame serve their community their scholarship.

Please choose three questions from the options below. Your response to each short-answer question should be between 50-100 words.

For these very short answer prompts, you’ll have to pick three of the five to answer in an extremely succinct way. This requires strategy and a commitment to storytelling — because even with only 100 words you need to paint a picture and tell a story.

Option 1: How does faith influence the decisions you make?

Obviously, you shouldn’t pick this prompt if you don’t feel like it applies to you. If faith doesn’t influence your decisions at all, then just move on. However, if there is anything you believe in that is bigger than you, whether through an organized faith system like a religion or through a more personal relationship that is outside of a structured religion, this may be a great prompt to pick. Notre Dame doesn’t care enormously if you are Catholic, but they do care if you believe in something. Students of faith are their sweet spot, regardless of belief system. So, if this applies to you, tell them how. Ideally, spotlight a small story that exemplifies your decision making through a faith perspective.

Option 2: What is distinctive about your personal experiences and development (e.g., family support, culture, disability, personal background, community, etc.)? Why are these experiences important to you and how will you enrich the Notre Dame community?

This is a prompt where Notre Dame is opening the door to talking about lots of pieces of yourself that aren’t necessarily academic, but that are important aspects of who you are and how your experiences have shaped you. This prompt can be an amazing opportunity to reflect on what is important to you, and to share that with the admissions officers. What’s most important, though, is telling whatever you want to focus on through story. So, if you are going to talk about disability, pick a story to introduce it like having to navigate a space that wasn’t accessible for you or someone you care about. If you want to write about culture, focus on a single tradition that embodies why your culture matters so much to you. You’ll be writing about big ideas, but through a focused story — and this is how best to connect with anyone reading your application on a human level.

Option 3: Notre Dame’s undergraduate experience is characterized by a collective sense of care for every person. How do you foster service to others in your community?

If you are applying to Notre Dame, service and caring for others should be at your core. Applicants showing a sense of caring and a feeling of responsibility towards your community is extremely important to them. So, don’t pick this prompt if you don’t have something good to write about. And, by good, we don’t mean volunteering at a soup kitchen one time during your freshman year. Whatever you focus on, whatever way you foster service to others, should be a cornerstone of your last 12 months or more. It should be something you are deeply engaged with, and truly passionate about. Maybe you organize friends around a cause that matters to you, or maybe you have volunteered with the same organization for years. Maybe you use any opportunity to fundraise for a particular cause, so if you sell sno-cones during the summer to try to change the world — tell them. 

Option 4: What compliment are you most proud of receiving, and why does it mean so much to you?

This prompt is tricky, and we’re not huge fans of it. It is extremely easy for any answer to this prompt, even the most gentle or sensitive, to come off as self-aggrandizing or boastful. For this reason, we generally advise skipping it. There are other better options, so take them.

Option 5: What would you fight for?

We love this prompt. Tell a story that illustrates what you care about most, but think values over tangible things (including people). So, instead of writing about your family, you might write about togetherness or care. Or you could focus on honesty, integrity, or stability. You could write about transparency, equity, or equality. Whatever you pick, make it an idea that you illustrate through an experience, as opposed to a literal thing (i.e., a noun) that requires the application reader to extrapolate out from on their own.

The Notre Dame supplement offers so many opportunities to show your full and authentic self, and we love it for that. They want to see you, so show them who you are.

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