What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$7,244 to $45,321 a year, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $83,271 a year. Average need-based aid package: $68,901.Aid and debt
47.4%
receive need-based grants
$27,861
average debt at graduation
354
students got merit aid
about 4% of undergraduates
$16,569
average merit award
Getting In
Key dates
Test scores
SAT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 1460–1540. The school doesn't say what share of the class submitted.
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 33–35. The school doesn't say what share of the class submitted.
92% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What they value
- Very important
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- Class rank
- GPA
- Personal essay
- Recommendations
- Extracurriculars
- Special talent
- Character
- Volunteer work
- Important
- SAT/ACT scores
- First-gen status
- Considered
- Legacy status
- Where you're from
- In-state residency
- Work experience
- Not considered
- Demonstrated interest
What this means for you
Notre Dame rates four things you can work on as Very Important: course rigor, your essay, your recommendations, and your activities.
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Rigor means AP, IB, and dual enrollment carry real weight — make sure your mix of AP or IB courses is strong. The essay is weighted like your GPA. Choose recommenders who can be specific about you, not just confirm your transcript. And depth in a few activities beats a long list.
Notre Dame doesn't consider demonstrated interest in admissions at all — visits and follow-up emails won't move the needle here.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section C7 (admissions factors)
Notre Dame just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-Notre Dame essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
60.2% of Notre Dame classes have fewer than 20 students.
60.2%
under 20 students
31.2%
20 to 49
8.6%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. Notre Dame CDS 2025–26, I-3.
8:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
84.1%
first-years from out of state
81%
live on campus
0%
of men in fraternities
0%
of women in sororities
Who attends
- White58.1%
- Hispanic15.8%
- Asian5.8%
- Multiracial5.3%
- Black4.6%
- Unknown / other2.6%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. Notre Dame CDS 2025–26, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
89.8% of Notre Dame students graduate in 4 years.
89.8%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2019
95.4%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2019
98.2%
return after first year
Finishing late means paying for extra semesters, so the 4-year rate is the one that shows the cost.
Students with Pell Grants
91.3% finish in 6 years, against 95.4% of all students.
A 4.1-point gap: Pell Grant students finish less often than students overall.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Notre Dame.
Notre Dame sits in exurban St.
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Joseph County, about five miles north of downtown South Bend, and the campus is built to feel self-contained — two lakes, wooded quads and its own skyline anchored by the Golden Dome rather than a surrounding city block. There is no transit line onto campus and no walkable downtown at the gate; the nearest major metro, Chicago, is a two-hour drive away. The trade-off is the reverse of an urban Catholic peer like Boston College or Loyola Chicago: Notre Dame is a world unto itself first, with the city something students drive to on a break rather than something woven into daily life.
The City
College town
Notre Dame, IN
Best For
Notable alumni
Notable Alumni
Amy Coney Barrett
Earned her J.D. from Notre Dame Law School in 1997, graduating first in her class, then spent nearly two decades on the Law School faculty before being confirmed in 2020 as the first Notre Dame graduate to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Class of 1997
Joe Montana
Quarterbacked Notre Dame to the January 1979 Cotton Bowl comeback win over Houston his senior year and earned a business administration degree in marketing. Went on to win four Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers and is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Class of 1979
Regis Philbin
Graduated with a degree in sociology in 1953 and went on to host Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee/Kelly and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, at one point holding the Guinness World Record for most hours on American television. He was buried on Notre Dame's campus after his death in 2020.
Class of 1953
Tom Mendoza
Earned a sociology degree in 1973, then rose to president and later vice chairman of NetApp, helping build it into a Fortune 500 data-storage company. A $35 million gift in 2000 led Notre Dame to rename its business school the Mendoza College of Business in his honor.
Class of 1973
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
Traditions
Traditions
Touchdown Jesus
The Word of Life mural on the south side of the Hesburgh Library — 132 feet tall, showing Christ with arms raised — faces directly into Notre Dame Stadium's north end zone, so it appears behind every kick and touchdown on the home broadcast. It has linked the library and the football team in campus shorthand since the 1960s.
The 33-hall residence system
Notre Dame recognizes no fraternities or sororities. Instead, first-years are randomly assigned to one of 33 single-sex residence halls and most stay there all four years, each with its own colors, mascot, interhall sports teams and signature events — the structure that fills the role Greek life plays elsewhere.
The Grotto
A scaled replica of the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, lit by rows of votive candles and open around the clock. Students visit to light a candle and pray, especially before exams and before home football games — a habit that shows up in campus life more than any single scheduled event does.
Weekend escapes from Notre Dame
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Notre Dame
Chicago, Illinois
About 2 hoursThe closest major city, reachable by car via the Indiana Toll Road, and the single most common destination for both a weekend trip and a first job after graduation.
Indiana Dunes National Park
About 1 hourLake Michigan beaches and dune trails on Indiana's own shoreline, the closest real outdoor escape from campus.
Shipshewana, Indiana
About 1 hourThe heart of northern Indiana's Amish Country — markets, buggies and a well-known flea market — a short enough drive for an afternoon.
Getting there and game days
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
South Bend International Airport (SBN)
15 minutes from campus
For international flights: Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) — about 2 hours by car.
Pro sports nearby
- Chicago Bears NFLAbout 2 hours away
- Chicago Cubs MLBAbout 2 hours away
- Chicago Bulls NBAAbout 2 hours away
- Chicago Blackhawks NHLAbout 2 hours away
Internships and jobs nearby
Career Proximity
Notre Dame's own career-outcomes reporting puts about 67% of the Class of 2024 employed and roughly a quarter headed to graduate school within six months of commencement, with Chicago and New York the two most common destinations. The Mendoza College of Business feeds a recruiting pipeline into those cities' consulting and financial-services firms despite Notre Dame's own campus being a two-hour drive from either.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- Deloitte
- JPMorgan Chase
- Goldman Sachs
- PwC
- Epic
Chicago — about 2 hours by car, and the single most common first destination for graduates
Who thrives here
Who Thrives Here
Notre Dame admits 9.4% of applicants, and there's no early decision plan to improve those odds — the only early option is a non-binding, single-choice early action (apply by Nov. 1, hear back Dec. 16), so the low admit rate applies whenever you apply. Completion numbers are among the strongest in this catalog: 98.2% of first-years return for sophomore year, 89.8% finish in four years and 95.4% within six. Class sizes back that up — 8 students per faculty member and 60.2% of classes under 20. Business and marketing is the largest major at 20.7% of degrees conferred, followed by social sciences (15.7%) and engineering (11.8%). The culture is unusual for a school this selective: Notre Dame recognizes zero fraternities or sororities, and 81% of undergraduates live on campus inside a 33-hall, single-sex residence system that assigns students to one hall for all four years and runs the social calendar in its place. The trade-off is location. Notre Dame sits in exurban St. Joseph County, two hours by car from Chicago — the nearest major metro — and the local airport has no international nonstop service. On cost, the sticker price is real: tuition and fees run $69,794, and while Notre Dame meets 100% of demonstrated need, only 47.4% of undergraduates receive any need-based aid, so most families are paying close to full price. Those who do borrow graduate with $27,861 in average debt.