University of Notre Dame Admission Requirements for International Students 2027: Acceptance Rate, Tuition, Scholarships and Deadlines

Notre Dame admission requirements for international students come down to a Common App or Coalition application, a short Notre Dame Writing Supplement, one teacher letter, your school records and an English test score. SAT and ACT scores are optional for students applying for fall 2027. The University of Notre Dame admitted 3,320 of 35,401 first-year applicants for fall 2025, an acceptance rate of about 9.4%, and it is No. 20 among National Universities in the U.S. News 2027 edition.

The money side is better than at most American colleges. Notre Dame says its admission decisions are need-blind for international applicants, and since December 2024 it has promised to meet 100% of demonstrated need for international students with scholarships. The full 2026-27 cost of attendance is $91,986. For fall 2027 entry, Restrictive Early Action closes on 1 November 2026 and Regular Decision closes on 4 January 2027.

Notre Dame at a glance

1. Ranking: No. 20 among National Universities, U.S. News 2027 edition, the same place it held in the 2026 edition.
2. Size: 8,950 undergraduates in fall 2025, of whom 678 were nonresidents (the Common Data Set term for international students).
3. Acceptance rate: about 9.4% for fall 2025 first-years.
4. Cost for 2026-27: $91,986 including tuition, fees, housing, food, books, personal costs and travel.
5. Aid for international students: need-blind admission and a commitment to meet full demonstrated need, plus a small number of merit scholarships.
6. Application fee: $85, with Common App and Coalition fee waivers accepted.
7. Testing: SAT and ACT optional through the 2026-27 cycle; English test expected from non-native speakers.
8. Retention and graduation: 98% of first-years return for a second year, and 95% graduate within six years.

Notre Dame ranking

U.S. News places Notre Dame at No. 20 among National Universities in its 2027 edition, published in September 2026. It held the same spot in the 2026 edition. That puts it in the same band as Vanderbilt and Rice (both No. 16) and just ahead of Georgetown and Emory (tied at No. 23).

Few colleges this selective are both need-blind for international students and committed to meeting full need, and that is the main reason for an international applicant to look closely at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame acceptance rate and class profile

The figures below come from Notre Dame’s Common Data Set 2025-26, which reports the class that entered in fall 2025.

Notre Dame does not publish a separate acceptance rate for international applicants. It says it receives applications from more than 100 countries and enrolls students from more than 80. With 158 first-time first-year nonresidents in fall 2025, international students make up a small share of each class, so the competition from your own region can be tight.

Notre Dame tuition for international students in 2026-27

International students pay the same tuition as everyone else. Notre Dame’s financial aid office gives this average cost of attendance for 2026-27.

The transportation line is an average. A return flight from Lagos, Nairobi or Delhi to Chicago can cost more than $750 on its own, so budget your real travel cost on top.

Does Notre Dame give scholarships to international students?

Yes, and generously. Notre Dame’s financial aid page for international undergraduates states that admission decisions for international applicants are need-blind. The university’s December 2024 update to its affordability announcement adds that it will provide scholarships to meet 100% of an international family’s demonstrated need.

In practice that means:

• Asking for aid does not count against you in admission.
• If you are admitted and Notre Dame calculates that your family needs help, the aid offer is meant to cover that gap.
• Aid offers for students entering from fall 2025 no longer include loans, according to the same announcement. The page does not say whether this applies differently to international students, so check your offer.
• Notre Dame’s Common Data Set reports that 363 nonresident undergraduates received institutional aid, averaging $68,653 each.

From 2026-27 Notre Dame also guarantees at least full tuition in need-based aid for families earning up to $150,000, and half tuition for families under $200,000. The university’s pages do not say whether these income bands apply to international families, so treat them as a domestic guide unless Notre Dame confirms otherwise.

There are also merit scholarships. Notre Dame offers a limited number to admitted first-years for exceptional accomplishment, leadership, service and intellectual promise. International applicants are considered automatically. If you receive both merit and need-based awards, the need-based part may be reduced.

CSS Profile and financial documents

If you want need-based aid, you file the CSS Profile with the College Board. Notre Dame’s school code is 1841, and the Profile for the 2027-28 year opened on 1 October 2026.

After you submit the Profile, Notre Dame may ask for documents through the College Board’s IDOC service. These can include your parents’ tax returns (US or foreign) or a non-filer statement, and 2025 earnings statements such as an employer letter showing annual salary. All non-US citizens also complete a Certification of Finances in the applicant portal. The CSS Profile has no fee waiver for international students, according to Notre Dame’s international FAQ.

Testing and English requirements

Notre Dame is test-optional through the 2026-27 application cycle, which covers fall 2027 entry. Testing becomes required again from the 2027-28 cycle (fall 2028 entry). International students can also show their academic level through IB Diploma, three or more A Levels or French Baccalaureate predicted results.

English proficiency is expected if English is not your first language. Notre Dame’s recommended minimums are:

Scores must come straight from the testing agency (TOEFL code 1841), and TOEFL Home Edition is not accepted. You may be excused from the English test if you score 650 or higher on SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, or 26 or higher on ACT English or Reading.

What goes into a Notre Dame application

1. Application form: the Common Application or the Coalition Application on Scoir.
2. Notre Dame Writing Supplement: one required essay and two short answers.
3. Transcript: official records from secondary school, including national exam results such as WAEC, KCSE or the Matric where you have them.
4. Teacher evaluation: one letter from a teacher in a core academic subject who knows you well.
5. Second letter: ideally from your school counselor. If your school has no counselor, another teacher or a mentor can write it.
6. English test: TOEFL, IELTS, PTE or Duolingo, sent by the agency.
7. SAT or ACT: optional for fall 2027.
8. Fee: $85, or a Common App or Coalition fee waiver.
9. Interview: Notre Dame does not run alumni or campus interviews. You can send an InitialView or Vericant interview if you want to.

Supporting documents such as letters and scores can arrive after the deadline, but the earlier the better.

Notre Dame deadlines for fall 2027

Restrictive Early Action is non-binding, so you can still compare offers until 1 May, but it limits where else you may apply early. Read Notre Dame’s REA rules before you choose it. Early applicants are admitted, denied or deferred to Regular Decision. The financial aid office’s own table lists 1 January 2027 for Regular Decision, while the admissions page says 4 January, so submitting by 1 January removes any doubt.

How to write the Notre Dame supplemental essays

The 2026-27 supplement is short. You write one essay of up to 150 words about your “non-negotiable” factor or factors in choosing a college, then pick two of four short-answer questions at 50 to 100 words each:

• how your faith influences your decisions
• what is distinctive about your experiences and how you would add to the Notre Dame community
• how you foster service to others
• what you would fight for

With so few words, every sentence has to carry a fact about you. A few rules I would follow:

• Answer the non-negotiable question with something real. If what you need is a place where faith and science sit together, say why, using one moment from your own life. Generic answers such as “academic excellence” waste the space.
• Use the short answers to show range. If your main essay is about faith, choose service or “what you would fight for” for the short answers so the reader sees a different side of you.
• Be concrete. Names of projects, numbers of people helped and what changed are more convincing than adjectives.
• You do not need to be Catholic. The faith prompt is optional, one of four choices.

A sample opening, for illustration only:

“My non-negotiable is a chapel I can walk to from the lab. In Enugu I spent two years running a weekend malaria survey with my parish youth group, and I learned that the data and the people praying for the results belonged in the same room.”

Write your own version from your own life. Admissions readers can tell when an essay was built from someone else’s template.

What happens after you apply

1. Portal access: you get a Notre Dame applicant portal where you track missing items, upload the Certification of Finances and see your decision.
2. Financial aid review: after your CSS Profile and any IDOC documents arrive, the aid office works out your demonstrated need.
3. Decision: REA applicants hear by mid-December. Regular Decision applicants hear by late March, with the aid offer close to the decision.
4. Compare and reply: you have until 1 May 2027 to accept and pay the deposit.
5. I-20 and visa: after you enroll, Notre Dame issues your Form I-20. You then pay the SEVIS fee and book your F-1 visa interview.

Common mistakes international applicants make

• Skipping the CSS Profile because aid “never goes to internationals”. At Notre Dame it does, and need-blind review means asking costs you nothing in admission.
• Missing the 15 November or 15 January aid deadline. The application and the aid file have different dates.
• Sending TOEFL Home Edition scores. Notre Dame does not accept them.
• Writing a long essay and cutting it down at the end. At 150 words, plan the essay for the limit from the start.
• Ignoring the predicted results route. If you are in an IB, A Level or French Baccalaureate system, strong predicted grades help when you choose not to send the SAT.
• Treating the $150,000 income band as a guarantee. It is published for families generally; Notre Dame has not said it applies to international families.

Costs that Notre Dame aid does not cover

Even a full-need package leaves some costs to plan for:

• The $85 application fee if you cannot get a waiver, and English test fees.
• The CSS Profile fee, which has no waiver for international students.
• The SEVIS fee and the US visa application fee.
• Flights above the $750 transportation average.
• Winter clothing. Northern Indiana has cold, snowy winters, and students from warm countries often arrive without a proper coat.
• Health insurance and any medical costs your aid offer does not list. Check your aid letter for how insurance is handled.
• Summer costs. Notre Dame’s aid page says summer session aid is extremely limited.

Majors and strengths

Notre Dame is best known for business (the Mendoza College of Business), engineering, the sciences, the humanities and theology, and its Keough School of Global Affairs. Many students also join research in the sciences and engineering early. The Catholic identity runs through campus life, with residence hall chapels and a required theology component, but students of any faith or none are admitted.

Campus and city

The campus sits in Notre Dame, Indiana, next to the city of South Bend and within driving distance of Chicago. It is a residential campus where almost everyone lives in single-sex residence halls that act as small communities. Football weekends dominate autumn. The setting is quieter than a big-city college, which some international students like and others find isolating, so think honestly about which suits you.

Graduate admissions at Notre Dame

Graduate study is handled by the Graduate School (master’s and PhD programmes) and the professional schools, including the Mendoza College of Business for the MBA and the Law School. PhD students are usually funded through stipends and tuition scholarships, while professional master’s degrees are mostly self-funded. Requirements, English minimums and deadlines differ by programme, so check the department page for the programme you want.

Notre Dame compared with similar colleges

Of these four, Notre Dame offers the strongest aid policy for international students. Vanderbilt and Georgetown give some aid but are not need-blind for international applicants, and Boston College expects families to pay unless a merit award comes through.

Who should apply to Notre Dame

Apply if you have top grades, you want a close residential community, and you are comfortable at a Catholic university that takes faith seriously. Students who need substantial financial aid have a real chance here, because asking for aid does not affect your admission.

Think twice if you want a big-city campus or if a strongly religious setting would make you uncomfortable. If you want more need-blind options, look at MIT and Amherst, and see our list of the best American scholarships for international students.

FAQ on Notre Dame admission requirements for international students

What is the Notre Dame acceptance rate for international students?

Notre Dame does not publish a separate international rate. Its overall first-year acceptance rate for fall 2025 was about 9.4% (3,320 admitted from 35,401 applicants).

Is Notre Dame need-blind for international students?

Yes. Notre Dame states that admission decisions for international undergraduate applicants are need-blind, and it has committed to meeting 100% of demonstrated need for international students with scholarships.

How much is Notre Dame tuition for international students?

Tuition for 2026-27 is $69,280. With fees, housing, food, books, personal costs and travel, the estimated total is $91,986.

What TOEFL score does Notre Dame require?

Notre Dame recommends at least 100 on the TOEFL iBT with 25 in Speaking, 7.5 on IELTS or 125 on Duolingo. TOEFL Home Edition is not accepted.

Sources and updates

I checked these figures on Notre Dame’s own pages on 29 October 2026: the Office of Undergraduate Admissions application overview and its international applicant pages, the Office of Financial Aid costs and affordability page for 2026-27 and its international students page, the university’s 2024 announcement on affordability and access (updated for international students in December 2024), The Observer’s March 2026 report on the expanded aid commitment, and Notre Dame’s Common Data Set 2025-26. The U.S. News profile page could not be opened, so the 2027 rank comes from published reports of the new edition. Some older Notre Dame FAQ pages still describe international admission as need-aware; the newer financial aid page says need-blind, and this guide follows it. We update this guide when Notre Dame changes its dates, costs or aid rules.

Jude Chinecherem

I am Jude Chinecherem, a final-year MBBS student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I know what it feels like to want an education your family cannot afford. When my parents could not pay for my schooling, I had to learn how to find scholarships and work the system out on my own, with nobody to guide me. I came out the other side, and now I share everything I learned so the next student does not have to figure it out alone. This is the advice I wish someone had given me back then.