Notre Dame Deferred You: Now What?

Submit a strong, standout letter of desire as soon as possible, and afterward, have your guidance counselor call or at least email the admissions office to update them concerning all of your awards, publications, accomplishments, and grades since you applied. They should affirm that no matter what other admission decisions you receive, you will choose to attend Notre Dame if offered a spot.

But not just any letter of desire. This letter should be one of the most inspired pieces of writing you've ever composed. In it, you need to let your heart write a love song for Notre Dame and translate that into giving the reader a concrete picture of exactly who you will be as a person on their campus. This includes demonstrating how you will contribute to spaces and organizations on campus and reminding the reader of your academic hook. In reintroducing your hook, the academic niche you spent time and effort carving out in high school to distinguish yourself from others, you want to remind the reader how you can change the world for the better if you have the opportunity to leverage specific academic opportunities at Notre Dame.

I personally recommend starting the letter of desire with something funny or lighthearted. It is naturally awkward reading something from someone whom you, in a sense, rejected. To make the experience as cringe-free as possible for the admissions officer, I wouldn't reference the deferral explicitly or convey any feelings of disappointment.

After a lighthearted and positive introduction, I would then proceed to talk to the reader about something related to your niche, such as a new cutting-edge development or something new that you learned. I would then connect this new piece of information regarding your niche to something currently going on at Notre Dame and explain how, by leveraging certain opportunities there, you can achieve some goal, and make the reader understand how achieving this goal can change the world. Notre Dame's mission centers on developing graduates who seek to make the world a more just and humane place, if your goals align with this ethos, weave that into your letter.

Afterward, I would paint them a picture of you on their campus. Have fun here. Feel free to write a hypothetical scenario of you making some of the best memories of your life there. You want the reader to feel like by not admitting you, they will be denying you the opportunity to live your best life for four years. Show them you doing activities that have garnered you friends in high school on their campus. Show them how your hobbies or talents will brighten up the days of your Notre Dame classmates. Present yourself as someone they want in their community.

To conclude the letter, I would thank the reader for their time and add something to the effect of thanking them for the opportunity to share with them your favorite subjects and hobbies. Finally, I would tell them that no matter what other decisions you receive, you are absolutely resolute in attending Notre Dame, and that if you are offered a seat, you will immediately accept it no matter what. I would then include a signed signature.

Upload the letter directly to your applicant status portal. When it comes to bragging about grades, prizes, or publications, please save it. If you made it this far in the admissions process at an elite school like Notre Dame, then you already have enough academic credentials to be a strong candidate. If you did not, then you wouldn't be deferred and reevaluated in the regular decision round—you would have been rejected.

Your guidance counselor should be the one bragging on your behalf. When they do it, it carries much more weight and shows the colleges that there is something beyond those accomplishments to consider. By your guidance counselor going out of their way to share your accomplishments with the admissions office, it demonstrates to them that there is something compelling enough about your personhood for them to be doing this.

One important note: Notre Dame does not encourage additional letters of recommendation beyond what you originally submitted. However, your guidance counselor can still play a vital role by calling or emailing the admissions office to advocate on your behalf and share significant updates since you applied.

Given how accomplished you must be to be even deferred from Notre Dame in 2025, where the Restrictive Early Action acceptance rate was just 12.9% from a record-breaking pool of over 12,900 applicants, this intangible quality they can infer is what will distinguish you from other overachievers. Notre Dame is deliberate about which students they choose to defer, and they only do so if they feel you may be competitive later in the process.

Don't forget to ensure your first semester senior year grades are sent to Notre Dame. Many high school counselors will do this automatically, but if not, this should be a top priority for you. The admissions committee wants to see that you are maintaining a strong academic performance throughout your senior year.

If you'd like help writing your letter of desire for Notre Dame or any other school, please schedule a free consultation with us below.