The University of Notre Dame has published its 2024-2025 supplemental admissions essays for applicants to the Class of 2029. This year, in addition to the Personal Statement on The Common Application, Notre Dame applicants are asked to respond to two of three essay questions in a maximum of 150 words and three of five short-answer prompts in 50 words or fewer.

2024-2025 Notre Dame Essay Topic and Short Answers

Short Essay Prompt

Applicants are asked to respond to the following essay question in 150 words or fewer:

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.

Students will ideally pick something that sings Notre Dame! Because the admissions committee isn’t asking, “Why Notre Dame,” students do not need to include a specific reference to a Notre Dame program, institute, activity, or tradition. But they should choose something that Notre Dame either does extraordinarily well or one can’t find at most other top universities.

Short Answer Questions

Students are asked to respond to three of the following five short-answer essay prompts in 50-100 words.

1. How does faith influence the decisions you make?

As a Catholic university, Notre Dame wants to understand how an applicant’s faith drives how they live their life. Students need not be religious to earn admission to Notre Dame. In fact, students need not even be Catholic. But Notre Dame’s admissions committee wants to feel that you appreciate the role faith can play in the lives of your peers and that you’re open to believing in something bigger than yourself.

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

In the wake of the Supreme Court outlawing the practice of Affirmative Action, many highly selective universities like Notre Dame have included this sort of community question in their supplements. To answer this essay question powerfully, students need not be underrepresented minorities to write a powerful response. The question is intentionally open-ended. If a student wishes to write about their faith and how they’ll bring their spiritual beliefs to Notre Dame, that works! If a student wishes to write about their disability and how they’ll bring a sense of activism for people with disabilities to Notre Dame’s community, that works too!

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?

Notre Dame, as a Catholic university, wants to see how you serve humanity. Ideally, applicants will showcase how they serve their community through their singular hook.

If their hook is applied mathematics, it would behoove an applicant to highlight how they’re addressing a community issue — like recycling or the school budget. If their hook is political science, they should write about how they’re agitating for change from a political standpoint with their town or city board (or its equivalent).

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

Applicants should avoid giving themselves a big pat on the back in their responses. The compliment should not relate to a significant accomplishment or be superficial. Instead, through brief storytelling, it should reflect their open-heartedness or depth of thought.

5. What would you fight for?

Notre Dame’s admissions committee wants to understand what matters to a student, what makes them tick, and how they’ll go about agitating for the change they wish to see in the world — starting on Notre Dame’s campus. In order to get a sense of the change they’ll fight for each day, the best predictor is the change they’ve fought for to date.

So Notre Dame applicants will ideally zero in on one specific story — one that hopefully ties into the singular hook they present to Notre Dame (rather than well-roundedness) — and, through that story, make it clear what matters to them and why.

Also, it’s important to note that students do not need to have successfully swayed others to take action. Maybe they failed to persuade their peers. That’s ok! The mere act of trying to agitate for change in a specific area, ideally related to the student’s hook, will present the applicant in a good light — even if they’re ultimately unsuccessful. In fact, their failure will only make them more human and more likable to the admissions committee.

Ivy Coach’s Assistance with Notre Dame Essays

If you’re interested in giving yourself the best chance of earning admission to Notre Dame by submitting essays that wow Notre Dame admissions officers, fill out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form, and we’ll be in touch to go through our college counseling services for seniors.