The University of Notre Dame is a Catholic research university outside of the city of South Bend, Indiana that is ranked among the top 25 universities nationally. Notre Dame is home to nearly 9,000 undergraduate students who share a passion for learning, community, and service. It has gained widespread popularity among students from a wide swath of faith traditions (or no faith tradition at all), and two-thirds of admitted students express interest in studying business, science, or engineering. Notre Dame is an interesting balance of tradition and innovation, pushing students to discover and explore while remaining ground in its history as a Catholic school.
In the 2022-2023 application cycle, Notre Dame received more than 28,354 applications and accepted about 3,400 students leading to an acceptance rate of 12%. They aim for an enrolled class of about 2,000, and the yield — or the percentage of accepted students who choose to enroll — is about 60%. This is an enormously high yield ratio compared to similarly-sized colleges. But Notre Dame also knows that they are extremely popular among the top-most students nationally, and that those same students may be shooting for an Ivy League acceptance. So, Notre Dame plans to have a buffer between the number of students they accept and the number they can actually accommodate on campus. Sometimes, though, their math is a little off and they end up with a few extra beds to fill. This is where the waitlist comes in.
Notre Dame has a waitlist, but they don’t share the numbers. In the 2022-2023 Common Data Set, they went so far as to omit the waitlist numbers from the reporting form, even though comparable highly-selective schools share them. They don’t give a reason for withholding the waitlist stats, so all we know is that they didn’t want to share it. They do, however, say that they accept between 50 and 120 students off of the waitlist most years. Accepting a few dozen students off of the waitlist is more than many other top schools, but since we don’t know how many students were on the waitlist to start with, we have no way of knowing whether the accepted students account for 10%, 5%, or less of the waitlist.
What we do know, though, is that Notre Dame gives very detailed instructions for what they want waitlisted students to do to increase their chances of admission. In this post, we’ll go through those instructions and guidelines to ensure that you have what you need to make a difference for your application.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by a waitlist decision, we can help. Send us an email to learn more about how we help outstanding students get into their dream schools.
Get on the Waitlist
Notre Dame gives clear steps for what to do if you receive a waitlist decision. We really appreciate this, because it makes it easier for you to give them what they need. First, though, you need to let Notre Dame know that you want the spot on the waiting list by confirming through the applicant status portal.
Once you’ve confirmed, you’ll need to keep your head in the game and aim for the best — but you also need to plan for an alternative.
Line up a Backup
Getting off the waitlist at any school is hard, and it doesn’t just have to do with you. There are forces beyond your control — namely the yield rate this application cycle — that will determine if they even take another look at your application. Because you don’t have control, you need to have a plan for if you don’t make it off the waitlist. To do this, you need to accept a spot at a school you were accepted to that you would be happy to attend. For most schools, this will include a non-refundable deposit. Unfortunately, you will lose this deposit if you are accepted by Notre Dame and chose to enroll. That’s simply the cost of playing the waitlist game.
Reinforce Your Interest
Once you’ve lined up a backup, it’s time to get to work on making a case for your application to Notre Dame. The university requests that you submit a Letter of Continued Interest, or LOCI, but April 15th through the “Upload Materials” section of the applicant status portal. They don’t simply say that you can do this, they say that you want you to. If you don’t write this letter, you have basically no chance of getting into Notre Dame. So, it’s optional, but not really.
This letter will also include an application update, and it needs to be addressed to your regional admissions counselor even though it’ll be submitted through the applicant portal (do not email the counselor directly, they really don’t like this). You can find your counselor on the Notre Dame website. Once you know who you are addressing this letter two, it’s time to start drafting.
Formal Greeting: Notre Dame appreciates professionalism and formality, so you need to start this letter with a “Dear Mr./Ms./Mx.” — whatever fits the counselor. Then, start off with one sentence reintroducing yourself and setting your objective. In this case, the objective is something along the lines of reaffirming that Notre Dame is your top choice school, and you will attend if accepted off of the waitlist.
Reinforce Interest: Next, you need to take 200-400 words to not just tell Notre Dame that they are your favorite, but why they are. You need to be super specific, and to show that you know Notre Dame deeply. Go into your prospective academic path, and why Notre Dame is the best place for you to pursue it, and your community goals and ideological alignment.
Application Update: After reinforcing your interest, you need to let them know about any major positive updates that have happened since you submitted your application. This could include awards, recognitions, and accomplishments inside or outside of the classroom. It should, though, be fairly short. Keep it to-the-point, and try to limit yourself to 200 words and 2-4 updates.
Closing: End with a final sentence reinforcing yet again that Notre Dame is your first choice, and then a “Sincerely,” “With Gratitude,” or something similar.
And, of course, proofread it about a thousand times before submitting.
Separately, but at the same time, Notre Dame also wants you to send documents pertaining to “significant application updates” through the same method — the applicant status portal. They want your application to be as up-to-date as it can be when they revisit it, so these documents can include evidence of awards, news clippings, and updated grades. They absolutely do not, however, want you to include additional letters of recommendation.
Follow Instructions
Which leads us to what is perhaps the most important aspect of this whole process: you need to follow instructions. Notre Dame prefers that you submit your LOCI and any updates in one ‘package,’ rather than trickling information in. Plan to submit everything by April 15th, and then the ball is in their court.
Be Patient
You won’t hear anything from Notre Dame until after May 1st, but they say most students accepted off of the waitlist will know by May 15th. You should use this time to update your financial aid information through the applicant portal, if this is applicable to you. When May does approach, it’s important to remember that Notre Dame likes to call waitlisted students to offer a spot, so make sure your phone number is correct — and that your voicemail message isn’t embarrassing.
Once you’ve checked all the boxes for the Notre Dame waitlist, you need to try your best to relax and enjoy senior spring. We know this process is stressful, but you’ve got a senior spring to enjoy!
If you’re struggling to figure out how to structure your LOCI, we can help. We’re pros at this.