Notre Dame is a mid-sized private Catholic research university located just outside of South Bend, Indiana (Pete Buttigieg, anyone??). It’s probably the country’s most famous Catholic school, but they don’t require you to be religious to attend. Culturally, ND is nuts about football (Rudy, anyone???) and while religion might not be a prerequisite, school spirit might be. Over the last few years, their acceptance rate has gotten even lower, hopping from 19% last year to 14% this year.
Some of the questions have changed since last year, but the Why Notre Dame question remains. They also seemed to opt for a few more serious prompts rather than the sillier ones they had before, which seems to fall in line with changes other schools have made too. Let’s dive in.
Notre Dame is a Catholic university, founded by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, with a mission to educate the hearts and minds of students. What excites you about attending Notre Dame?* (200 words)
A classic Why essay. First, decide what you’re going to study. We don’t care that you’re undecided, pick something! Try to identify your niche. Biology is great but computational biology is even better. You’re going to tell ND what drove you to be interested in this — the inception point of your major. This origin story should be brief and end in you declaring a major. Next, pick an upper-level class in your niche and a professor you’d want to research with. Explain how that class and working with that professor gives you the best education possible. Find a club or extracurricular that you’d want to do too, especially if it draws a line from what you did in high school to your future plans. If you were on yearbook, maybe you want to be on the student paper. Boom. Why Essay: done.
The next section has 4 questions, but you’ll only pick one. They’re all 200 words.
1. People in the Notre Dame community come from many different places, backgrounds, and walks of life. How is where you’re from a part of who you are?
This is a fun one! This is especially great if you feel a deep connection or affinity to your home. You don’t have to write this one if you feel like you’d have to dole out a hefty serving of your trauma to answer it, because we don’t think you should have to do that to get into college and you can get into college without it.
But, if this is the question for you, then tell us a story about it. Maybe growing up in a coastal town got you interested in the environment, or having parents who were artists drove you to pursue something a little more structured. Maybe you got into politics because you grew up in a state’s capitol city and witnessed all the hot state government drama! But it can also be something about how a shared value of your town or city has shaped you. Whatever you choose, you’re going to tell a story (this will be a recurring theme in this post) and make sure it has a set start, middle, and end.
2. Tell us about a time when you advocated for something you believe in.
We encourage you to think local on this one. Was there an issue at school, on a team, or at home where you stood up for yourself and a value you hold? Maybe your school didn’t allow girls on the water polo team, so you started one yourself. Whatever your example is, tell the story rather than say “I stood up for what I believed in when…” because that’s boring and a story is way more interesting to read. There should be a distinct beginning, middle, and end to your story.
3. If you were given unlimited resources to help solve one problem in your community, what would it be and how would you accomplish it?
Like above, this needs to be a small-ish problem. You’re not going to solve corruption in City Hall immediately or fix all infrastructure or eradicate food deserts. Think of something smaller, like increasing transparency in local elections or the potholes in your neighborhood or changing the zoning laws on that one spot that would be perfect for a grocery store. Also, it’s better if it’s something you’ve already tried to tackle and have already shown effort in trying to fix. Tell us the story of the problem — how does it impact you and your community? Next, outline your plan to fix it. They are offering unlimited resources, so don’t be afraid to get creative and specific.
4. What is the greatest compliment you have ever been given? Why was it meaningful to you?
Please don’t use this one to humble brag about your perfect skin or fancy car. But you can absolutely use this one to talk about a trait or value of your character and personality that you want to highlight. Did you solve a big problem and get called resourceful? Did you take charge of a situation and someone said you were a great leader? Did you help a friend in a time of need and get told how caring you were? You don’t need to explicitly answer why it was important with words, rather tell us the story of the moment, show your feelings, and let it speak for itself.
Notre Dame’s supplements have changed a little, but at the end of the day, they are still trying to get a feel for you and your values and how you’d fit into their campus. None of these questions are giant traps designed to undermine you as an applicant (p.s., no questions on any application are this), but we know they’re stressful anyways. Good luck!
If you need help with your Notre Dame essays, your Common App, or have any questions about the college application process, reach out today.