Notre Dame is a top private research university with an outstanding track record of launching students into successful careers. The university, located in Notre Dame, Indiana, is rooted in its Catholic origins. This faith is central to the identity and culture of the university, and students of all faiths are drawn to Notre Dame from around the world thanks to the combination of academic rigor and high expectations for personal development. Students at Notre Dame make a difference, whether in the classroom, volunteering in the community on the weekends, or creating opportunities for others to find success and growth. The acceptance rate for the Class of 2028 was a record low of 11.1%.
Legacy admissions, or the practice of giving preference to applicants with a family connection to a university, has long been a standard of most top-tier colleges and universities in the United States. However, that standard has been shaken up in recent years. Scrutiny of legacy admissions practices was further heightened following the Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action. This has meant that some colleges are deprioritizing legacy, and others are doing away with legacy admissions altogether.
This is not the case at Notre Dame. Instead, Notre Dame has doubled down on the role of legacy admissions in their admissions process. In this post, we’re going to dive into the history and role of legacy admissions at Notre Dame, and what applicants (and their families) absolutely must be doing to take full advantage of the boost that legacy offers.
At Notre Dame, legacy admissions are a deep tradition with very real benefits for applicants with a family connection to the university. So, if an applicant with a legacy connection to Notre Dame wants to get in this is the step-by-step guide you must follow.
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What’s going on with Legacy Admissions?
Notre Dame is highly committed to legacy admissions. In an August 2023 interview, Micki Kidder, Vice President for Undergraduate Enrollment, underlined why the university gives special attention to legacy applicants. “Notre Dame alumni are deeply devoted….,” she said, “This dedication is something we greatly value and we don’t want to ignore it.”
The devotion truly does run deep among the Notre Dame alumni. A very high percentage of alumni make financial contributions to the university, more than almost any other elite research university.
There is also statistical strategy involved. Notre Dame, like all top schools, wants a high yield rate — they want as high a percentage as possible of accepted students to pick Notre Dame over any other options they might have. About 75% of admitted legacies pick Notre Dame, while the yield rate for non-legacy applicants is about 50%. So, admitting legacies offers layered benefits.
Ultimately, legacy admissions is Notre Dame’s thank you to the community that makes what the university is and does possible, and up to 25% of first-year admits are legacies. But they insist that they don’t admit unqualified applicants, even if they are a legacy. So, students who are legacies must have a strong application. It’s a balance between “recognizing and appreciating the dedication of alumni children,” and yet “never placing an unfair advantage to those individuals.” Below, we break down what that requires.
What Should You Do?
“Being a legacy does not equal admission,” the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Notre Dame reinforced in their own admissions podcast. It is not an easy route into the university. Every student must earn their spot. While legacy gives an application additional attention, you need to prove that you deserve it to get an acceptance.
Below, we’ll go into the three things students need to do to get that attention, as well as what families should do to support their legacy applicants. And you should note that, at Notre Dame, legacy specifically means a parent — not a grandparent, not an aunt, and not a sibling.
For the Family Member: As we just said, you must be a parent of the applicant. If you are not a parent of the applicant, this is not a legacy situation, and the applicant will not receive the benefits of being a legacy.
If you are the parent, there are a few things you need to be doing.
First, donate regularly.
Next, you need to be involved with the school beyond writing a check. Attend alumni events, and look for opportunities to engage on campus. Based on your career, there may be chances to volunteer as a speaker for a student event or course, or to guest judge a competition on campus. Ultimately, you want to be present.
Finally, you need to step back. Pestering the admissions office with emails or calls about your child is not helpful. In fact, it can undermine a strong application. Instead, focus on supporting your child in doing their best, most authentic work.
For the Applicant: There are three things legacy applicants need to do to strengthen their application.
Grades
Notre Dame expects a lot. While there is “no minimum grade point average or class rank required,” they warn prospective applicants that they are “up against the best and the brightest in the world.” So, what’s next?
There are three key things they look for on a transcript:
High grades
Rigorous courses
High class rank
These are non-negotiable for Notre Dame. They want to see every applicant, legacy or not, achieving at a high level in the most difficult courses they have access to, especially in their prospective area of study. A high class rank confirms that a student is truly a stand-out, and not benefiting from an inflated transcript.
You need to be pushing yourself, and not trying to float through on the legacy advantage. If it feels to admissions like you don’t have your foot on the gas, they’ll reject you. And, obviously, that is not the goal.
Students should also look at the suggested, and sometimes required, course distributions to ensure that they are eligible for their prospective program. For example, students intending on pursing certain majors are required to have taken four unite of mathematics, including an advanced course such as pre-calculus or calculus.
Class Rank of the Class of 2028
Scores
Notre Dame has not required applicants to submit scores in recent years, a decision stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. This may change soon, but for now students can apply without submitting an ACT or SAT score. However, that doesn’t mean that legacy applicants should stop studying or skip sending scores in.
Just like with course selection and grades, Notre Dame wants to see students that are pushing themselves. Strong standardized test scores are a great way to spotlight focus and dedication. For the Class of 2028 and Class of 2027, strong test scores were a 1500 or above on the SAT or a 34 or above on the ACT. These are not cut-offs, but they are something to aim for.
Extracurriculars
As a Catholic university rooted in faith, Notre Dame cares about service and caring for your community in an ongoing way. One off service trips or missions do not make a strong impact on an application, as so many of the applicants have done these types of short-term experiences.
Instead, the admissions team wants to see students who are aware that they are part of something bigger than themselves, and who are passionate about supporting those around them in achieving great things.
And, of course, leadership is important.
They would rather see quality over quantity when it comes to what an applicant does outside of the application. So instead of packing your days with things just to fill time, do less but deeper. So, we recommend that our students try to pursue activities that can become long-term commitments with potential for a leadership role. If you can’t become a leader in something, it may not be worth putting on your application.
Apply Early
The final step literally comes last: apply early. Legacy matters at Notre Dame, but it matters more if you apply early. The restrictive early action acceptance rate in December 2023 was just a hair under 15%, or about 3% higher than the overall acceptance rate. The regular decision acceptance rate that same year was only 8.7%. So, if a student wants to get into Notre Dame, they need to apply early — and that is especially true for legacy applicants.
Getting into Notre Dame as a legacy isn’t simple. The application needs to be strong, legacy or not. Planning ahead and approaching the application process with a clear strategy is crucial to pulling off an acceptance.
Being a legacy isn’t a free pass. We help students make the most of the advantages they have to get into their dream colleges and universities. Learn more.