CollegeVine College Essay Team August 21, 2025 16 Essay Guides 2025-26,Notre Dame University

How to Write the University of Notre Dame Essays 2025-2026

The University of Notre Dame is a private, Catholic research university that was established in 1842. The university has an undergraduate focus; most students live on campus, and the alumni network is considered one of the strongest in the nation. 

Notre Dame has three supplemental essay prompts, with the third offering five short response options from which you need to answer three of them. These essays are short, so it’s important to use your word count wisely. Here’s how to write strong essays to improve your chances of acceptance.

Read these University of Notre Dame essay examples to inspire your writing. 

University of Notre Dame Supplemental Essay Prompts

This is a classic “Why This Major?” essay. Colleges like to ask this question to understand what your motivations are for pursuing the field you’ve chosen. The key for a successful essay is to demonstrate a genuine passion and interest for your major. 

There’s no one right or wrong way to go about answering this prompt, however, we do recommend you center your essay around an anecdote. Highlighting a specific story or moment to capture your interests is more effective than just telling the admissions officers why you like something. 

For example, here’s what it looks like for a student to tell the reader they like psychology:

This essay is bland and wildly generic. The consistent use of “I” statements at the beginning of each sentence is a good way to check that this student is telling us about their thoughts and feelings, rather than sharing them with us directly. Contrast this example with the following one:

Chances are, you enjoyed reading this essay a million times more than the first. Because it centers on one extremely specific thing (in this case, the movie Inside Out), it allows the student to show us where their interest in psychology came from. They also don’t tell us point blank that they enjoy this field, but instead they used creative ways to show it: “Joy had taken full control of my brain, buzzing with excitement.” 

If you are currently undecided, don’t fret! You can still write a compelling essay. Rather than focusing on one specific anecdote, you should highlight the experiences that are drawing you towards your top two or three choice majors. You might be able to pick one story to connect the majors you are considering. For example, a student torn between Computer Science and Business could write about the website they created for their family’s restaurant and how they loved engaging their technical side coding the website, but they are also fascinated by the logistics of operating a successful business. Two birds (or majors), one stone (or story).

The key is to focus on your personal motivation behind pursuing your topic, whether that’s psychology, chemical engineering, accounting, etc. Even if you are motivated to study Classics because you read The Odyssey—a rather mainstream source of motivation—you can make it your own by describing the specific aspect that drives you. Was it the notion of a hero’s journey that you found captivating or was it the descriptions of the Trojan War that sparked your interest in learning more about ancient battles? As long as your essay focuses on the specifics and you don’t just say, “Reading The Odyssey inspired me to study Classics in college,” you should be in good hands.

Remember, if you’re ever unsure if your essay is specific and personal enough, give it to a friend or family member. If they can confidently identify it as something only you could write, you’re on the right track.

Just as the first prompt addressed the classic “Why This Major?” essay, this prompt tackles the equally popular “Why This College?” essay. Notre Dame isn’t simply asking for your non-negotiables—they want to know how Notre Dame checks those boxes for you.

The biggest mistake students make with this essay is listing out their non-negotiable factors like they did when they made their college list. That is not the purpose of this essay. Please do not write that you are looking for a mid-size school in the Midwest that has good school spirit and a strong program in X major. 

Rather than doing that, the purpose of this essay is to demonstrate why Notre Dame is the right college for you. Since you don’t have a lot of space to work with, we recommend focusing on 1-3 opportunities or resources Notre Dame has that you are looking for in a college.

Tips for writing your essay

A good way to approach this essay is to follow this structure:

1. Identify a non-negotiable you have for college
2. Explain why that’s a non-negotiable for you
3. Find a way that Notre Dame fulfills that non-negotiable

Let’s break down this approach with some examples from prospective applicants.

Caroline is extremely passionate about social justice. A non-negotiable for her is a college that shares her commitment to community service and ethical leadership. This is a non-negotiable for her because she grew up in a community that was very divided by socioeconomic status, and it pained her to see the gap in opportunities afforded to people simply based off of what part of town they came from. Not only does Notre Dame emphasize community service as an important value, but the ABP Food Delivery program and Big Brothers Big Sisters partnership Notre Dame has with the city of South Bend will allow her to continue volunteering.

Peter has been part of the youth choir at his church his whole life. Two non-negotiables for him are that his college has a commitment to faith and that it has a strong music program. These are important for Peter because he found a sense of belonging as part of his church choir. The combination of faith and music got Peter through tough times in his life, but also helped him appreciate the beauty of the world around him. As a Catholic school, Notre Dame’s commitment to faith is just what Peter is looking for, plus the Music program has a concentration in performance, which Peter hopes to continue doing. He’s also planning to join the Magnificent Choir to continue engaging with his passion.

Oscar wants to work on cancer research one day. The biggest non-negotiable in a college is one that supports undergraduate research. This is a non-negotiable because ever since he lost his grandmother to cancer when he was 10, he’s been determined to find a cure. Oscar doesn’t have an interest in going to medical school—he wants to be a researcher. Thus, he’s looking for an undergraduate school that will allow him to conduct research as a basis for his PhD. The fact Notre Dame has the dedicated Harper Cancer Research Institute and professors allow undergrads to conduct research means Oscar can learn from the best to develop a cure.

One thing to note is that you don’t necessarily want your essay to be written in this rigid structure we’ve used above to demonstrate the examples. You still want to incorporate your voice and writing abilities. There’s a difference between an essay that reads very organized and sounds like it’s just including a sentence for each part of the prompt, and one that reads more like this:

This still hits on the three key points of the essay, but it presents the information in a more engaging and narrative fashion. This is what you should be aiming for for your final product.

This question asks you to reflect on your faith and its impact on your behavior and decision-making. It’s important to recognize that Notre Dame is a Catholic university and was founded on Catholic beliefs and principles. However, it is by no means just a Catholic school—it is open to students of all spiritual and religious backgrounds. So while about 80% of students at Notre Dame practice some form of Catholicism, there is plenty of space for students of other faiths to feel comfortable at Notre Dame.

Therefore, don’t feel like you can’t answer this prompt if you’re applying to Notre Dame as a member of another faith. “Faith” simply just refers to your religious background—and can even be extended to a more secular trust in something—so if your background has shaped or influenced your decisions, this is still a great prompt to answer.

However, if you’re not religious and you are applying to Notre Dame, consider answering another prompt instead. Not choosing to answer this prompt has no impact on your admission decision; Notre Dame is just giving students who have a special relationship with their faith a space to elaborate on what it means to them.

With all that being said, if you’re a Catholic student choosing to answer this prompt, it’s important to reflect not only on what your faith means to you now, but also on what that faith might mean to you at Notre Dame.

At Notre Dame, faith is directly tied to service learning and helping others in need, with more than 80% of students participating in service or service learning before they graduate. Perhaps you were part of a Catholic youth group throughout your life—consider writing about the volunteer opportunities that you embarked on and how those experiences shaped your perspectives.

The prompt is specifically asking you to elaborate on how faith has shaped the decisions you make, so be sure to tie those experiences and perspectives to how you approach each day and new obstacles you face.

If you are a member of a different faith, this is a great opportunity to shed some light on how your background has shaped you. Are there any cultural traditions or principles that you follow? Were there any obstacles or challenges to your faith you’ve faced along the way? Ask yourself these questions and more, and treat your faith as another aspect of your identity that has shaped who you are. In doing so, you should be able to see how you may fit in at Notre Dame and contribute to the principles of community service, generosity, and kindness. 

This is a standard diversity essay in which you’re being asked to elaborate on some aspect of your identity. However, the main purpose of this prompt is not just for Notre Dame to understand the communities that have been essential in shaping your identity, but also to get some idea of how your experiences in your chosen community will translate to your future as a Notre Dame student.

Remember that diversity encompasses several disparate aspects. It can include an ethnicity/race, country of origin, language, gender or sexual identity, geographical location, income class, disability or illness, personality trait, extracurricular interest, or something else entirely!

An aspect of diversity might also be something that taught you or inspired your passions, something that you were born into, or something you’re just now learning that you’re a part of. Basically, the chosen aspect of your diversity just needs to represent a part of yourself that is infallibly true.


We recommend focusing on just one aspect of identity to write about. While there may be several communities or groups you feel are a core part of your identity, 100 words will not be enough space to write about them all equally. However, if you do feel that one community is not enough to represent who you are, see if there’s a common thread between the communities you want to mention before diving in.

A quick note if you intend to write about your racial background: In June 2023, the United States Supreme Court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions. The ruling, however, still allows colleges to consider race on an individual basis, which is one reason many schools are now including diversity prompts as one of their supplemental essay prompts. If you feel that your racial background has impacted you significantly, this is the place to discuss that.

Tips for writing your essay

Once you’ve chosen the aspect of your identity you want to write about, reflect on the impact that it’s had on your life and begin weaving that into your response. Think about the lessons you’ve learned along the way, the people you’ve met, and the experiences you’ve shared with them, or even perhaps the experiences they’ve shared with you. Also consider how being a part of this chosen community has impacted your goals and hopes for the future.

The part of your identity you’ve chosen to write about will have hopefully left all these impressions on you and more—and it will hopefully just be a matter of condensing your response to 100 words. It’s important to showcase your passion for and genuine investment in the part of your identity you write about, but make sure to keep it short and sweet.

Don’t feel like you have to embellish your diversity either. Remember that diversity can be defined as practically anything that makes up your identity—it doesn’t necessarily have to be something that has changed the course of your life. Take this example:

This is a pretty straightforward community service essay. You’re being asked to showcase how you’ll contribute to the overall campus community at Notre Dame. It’s important to note that this isn’t an essay about what communities you’ve been a part of in the past—instead, you should discuss how you’ve been an active service member in your community in the past or present.

The best route to follow when answering this prompt is to reflect on past experiences you’ve had with community service, and relate them to what the prompt says about Notre Dame as a whole. The answer for the prompt is practically laid out in the phrasing—right off the bat, the prompt tells us that Notre Dame is a school where the individual is characterized by the community. 

The school is portrayed as a place where no one is left behind, and everyone looks out for one another. So, to respond successfully to this prompt, try to dissect how your past experiences may prove to be an example of this philosophy.

As with other similar community service essay prompts, it’s always better to write about a long-term commitment than something you’ve only done once or twice. While volunteering at a soup kitchen with classmates for a night is undoubtedly a good act of service to the community, it doesn’t reveal anything extraordinary about you or your passion for community service.

There’s a general rule of thumb for supplemental essays: the more specific you can be, the more unique you’ll sound. Highlight the experiences you’ve had that say the most about who you are, so your essay is less about what you did and more about why you did it.

Your chosen experience should also be something that changed your perspectives or preconceived notions. Perhaps you realized the importance of rescuing animals from your time spent volunteering at the animal shelter, or maybe you developed more patience and empathy when working with children with special needs or disabilities. Whatever you choose to write about, it should highlight a passion or perspective of yours that you feel is important to your identity.

Tips for writing your essay

With only 50-100 words to work with, it’s essential that you make your point strong so that it sticks with your reader. A great way to do this is to weave your actions, motivations, and perspectives into a vivid, relevant anecdote. This strategy gives you the chance to hook the reader right away and put them in your shoes. Write about what you saw, heard, or felt while volunteering or doing your act of community service. You might do this using the present tense for effect.

For example, writing “Last Christmas, I drove around town to collect gifts for underprivileged families who otherwise couldn’t afford to give presents” doesn’t say anything about you, your perspective, or the impact the act had on you.

Instead, try “As the hours ticked by and snow began piling on the street, I pushed my foot harder on the gas. Today was the last day I had to pick up donations for kids who would otherwise not be receiving Christmas gifts, and I wasn’t going to be the reason the holidays would be a source of disappointment for them.” Not only does this paint a far more vivid picture of what the experience meant to you, but it also shows your genuine passion and care for the act itself.

Once you’ve written about what you did, it’s time to connect your response to how you’ll take your experience and passion to Notre Dame. In the final few sentences of your response, write about what community service means to you overall, and why you’ll continue your efforts, both on and off campus at Notre Dame.

Community service can be as simple as lending a helping hand when needed, whether that be to a classmate, a friend, or someone in the broader community. Keep it short and sweet, and most importantly, keep it genuine!

Mistakes to avoid

Besides keeping your response short, the biggest pitfall to avoid is having a pretentious or privileged tone. If your response makes it seem like you’re painting yourself as some kind of savior, embellishing your efforts, or looking down on those you helped, it will leave a sour taste in the admissions officers’ mouths.

It’s important to truly reflect on what community service means, not only to you, but to others. Even if you did a truly good thing for someone who needed it, make sure you maintain a balanced tone in your essay that doesn’t sound like excessive self-praise. 

This prompt asks you to reflect on a compliment that holds significant meaning for you. Notre Dame wants to learn about your values, personality, and what you take pride in. The compliment you choose to highlight should reveal something meaningful about who you are, and the explanation should connect this compliment to your personal experiences or character traits. Given the short word count, it’s meant to be concise but impactful.

Provide some brief context on who gave you this compliment and why, as well as how it stands out compared to others you’ve received. The history here is not the goal, though; establishing the nature of a personal relationship and the situation behind the compliment is fine, but make sure you’re focusing on what it means more broadly about your character.

The compliment you’re writing about should be one that made you feel particularly proud or appreciated and resonated with your values or self-image. The most important part of this prompt is to be specific and personal.

Choose a compliment that is unique to you and provides insight into your character. Avoid generic statements like “You’re smart” or “You’re kind” that could be said to anyone. Instead, opt for deeper compliments along the lines of “You have a natural ability to connect with people” and “You have a gift for storytelling.” These compliments are much more personal and can be tied back to talents, interests, and skills that you may have.

Then, explain why it matters so much to you. You can use it as a jumping-off point to discuss a wider aspect of your identity or to reveal more about your values and priorities. With a tight word limit, every word counts. Make sure your response is clear, focused, and free of unnecessary details.

Here’s an example:

This is another relatively profound question that you’re tasked with answering within 100 words, but your answer can be very revealing and insightful—you can discuss your hopes, goals, beliefs, values, and more. This is a great opportunity to showcase your priorities and how the first 18 or so years of your life have shaped your current perspectives.

Profound questions often elicit profound answers, and while this would be the place to share if you have a powerful and moving insight about life, by no means does your answer need to be some extreme revelation. It just has to be you.

Writing something authentic and personal will have a far greater impact than trying to overextend yourself and claim something bold like “humanity is worth fighting for.” That’s not to say that you can’t go that route, but it will take a lot more elaboration than you have space for in this response.

The nature of this prompt and the limited word count you have to work with means you’re going to have to think outside the box. Most of the answers you might think of quickly are likely too clichéd to make for a strong response—this includes things like fighting for love, family, the truth, change, etc. These statements are all arguably true, but they’re somewhat overused and won’t contribute to an impressive response that resonates with your reader.

Instead of using one of those, try to explore more niche things you truly value and think about why they’re important to you personally. For instance, perhaps your family comes from a culture with a language that doesn’t have too many native speakers remaining. You might argue that the preservation of linguistic history is worth fighting for. You could write a response like the following:

No matter what your actual answer is, it’s essential that you weave a personal voice and connection to the topic into your response. With only a few sentences to work with, you might consider leading with a personal anecdote, then transitioning to how the topic is meaningful to you, as in the example above. 

Where to Get Your Notre Dame Essays Edited for Free

 
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