Notre Dame Essays 2025-2026

The University of Notre Dame recently released their supplemental essays for the 2025-2026 admissions cycle. In this article, we will explain exactly what they are looking for in responses from applicants, so you can write essays that will get you admitted there.

1. 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. (150 words)

A non-negotiable part of your education must be acquiring the tools needed to achieve your life's goal, one that will better the world in some tangible way. In this essay, articulate your life's goal and the specific tools that a university can provide to help you accomplish it. These should be your most important factors.

Beyond this mandatory element, consider mentioning other factors such as a community that can strengthen your faith, a commitment to diversity of thought, and access to real-world opportunities. To make these factors uniquely yours, given that many applicants will likely discuss similar themes, briefly connect them to your personal experiences. This will help you form a distinctive connection to these values and allow the reader to understand why they matter so deeply to you. Focus on 1-3 factors for maximum impact.

2. Please choose three questions from the options below. Your response to each short-answer question should be between 50-100 words.

How does faith influence the decisions you make?

For this essay, begin with a brief but compelling example of a decision that carries consequences regardless of your choice. For instance, standing up to friends who are mistreating someone, whatever you decide, there will be repercussions. Then explicitly demonstrate how your faith guided the choice you made and your acceptance of those consequences. Keep this section concise, as you only have 100 words. Next, explain as metaphorically or personally as possible how faith remains a constant presence in your life, providing you with strength that defies rational explanation. Finally, conclude by discussing how faith will continue to influence your future decisions.

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

For this essay, you should briefly and vividly show the reader one of the most formative experiences in your life, and then explain how this experience has colored some of your other experiences. After outlining this main experience and how it contributed to your ability to interpret other experiences in your life, you should cite specific organizations at Notre Dame, such as student clubs, that you would like to participate in and explain how these experiences and the lessons you learned from them will enable you to make a positive impact in those organizations.

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?

Start this essay with a vivid first-person depiction of how you foster service to others in your community. After showing the reader how you give back to your community, explain the deep-seated personal reason that makes you truly value serving others. Discuss how vital community is to you and how your self-actualization cannot take place outside the confines of a community. Conclude with either a statement about how you will continue to foster service at Notre Dame or an explanation of how continuing to foster service intersects with a pivotal event in your life that made you value serving others.

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

The compliment should acknowledge something you were genuinely unsure about due to your humility. Perhaps you were advising a friend and feared you were being too judgmental, but instead they praised you for being so understanding. Write this essay about a single experience. Show this experience in vivid detail, demonstrating how it showcases your empathy and humility, as well as your ability to tangibly help someone.

What would you fight for?

Think of the single most important thing that you value. Now imagine if some authoritative body tried to outlaw anything that expressed this value. That is what you should write about.

Begin the essay with a powerful experience in your life that led to the formation of the value you cherish most. Establish a strong connection to this experience, and then explain how you would fight for it. Avoid discussing the use of violence.

Research how Catholic Saints fought for their values and try to mirror their response in a genuine way. If you have examples from your life where you have fought for this value, show what was at stake for you and the risks you took by defending this value.

To conclude, explain the importance of not only fighting for this value yourself, but also encouraging others to do so. It is important that what you would fight for has universal value.

Notre Dame asks very probing questions. Most high school students haven't had much time to formulate answers to these philosophical, theological, and moral questions. If you're struggling with some of these responses, that's completely natural.

We can help you reflect on your most formative experiences and use our expertise to craft standout answers to these challenging questions, answers that demonstrate you embody the ethos of a Catholic research university.

If you want to see how we can help you get into Notre Dame, schedule a free consultation with an admissions expert today to have all your questions answered.