CollegeVine College Essay Team August 12, 2024 14 Essay Guides 2024-25,Notre Dame University

How to Write the University of Notre Dame Essays 2024-2025

The University of Notre Dame has two supplemental essay prompts, with the second multiple options to choose from. 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 prompt asks you to reflect on the most important factor(s) you’re looking for in a college—the one or two things that you absolutely must have in your college experience. Notre Dame wants to know what you value most in your education and why that specific factor is so crucial to you. This will help them understand how you approach your college decision-making process and how well Notre Dame aligns with your goals.

Brainstorming Questions

• What is the one thing you cannot compromise on when choosing a college? Is it a specific academic program, a particular type of campus culture, or something else?
• Why is this factor so important to you? How has your past experience shaped this priority?
• How does this non-negotiable factor connect to your future goals or personal values?
• How will having this factor in your college experience help you succeed or feel at home?

What Makes a Good Response

A strong response will:

• Be highly specific: Clearly articulate your non-negotiable factor(s) and avoid vague or generic responses. Explain precisely why this factor is critical to you.

• Show personal connection: Tie your non-negotiable to your personal experiences, values, or aspirations. Demonstrate how this factor has influenced your past and will shape your future.

• Align with Notre Dame’s values: While you should be honest, consider how your non-negotiable might fit with Notre Dame’s mission, culture, and offerings. This can subtly show why Notre Dame is a good match for you.

• Stay focused: Given the 150-word limit, keep your response concise and on-topic. Avoid listing multiple non-negotiables; instead, focus on the one or two that matter most to you.

Hypothetical Student Examples

• A student passionate about social justice who values a university’s commitment to community service and ethical leadership. Their non-negotiable is a strong service-learning program that allows them to actively engage with and support underserved communities. They explain how volunteering at a local shelter in high school inspired them to seek a college that integrates service with academics.
  

• A student dedicated to sustainability and environmental science whose non-negotiable is a college with a robust sustainability initiative, including green buildings, renewable energy use, and opportunities for environmental research. They connect this to their upbringing in a rural area heavily impacted by climate change, where they saw firsthand the importance of environmental stewardship.
  

• A student interested in religious studies who prioritizes a college with a vibrant faith community that allows for deep exploration of spirituality and theology. They discuss how their involvement in their church’s youth group led them to seek a college where they can continue to grow spiritually and intellectually within a supportive community.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Being too broad or generic: Don’t say your non-negotiable is “good academics” or “a friendly campus” without providing specific reasons why these are vital to you. Explain why this factor is the dealbreaker for your college decision.

• Listing too many factors: Focus on one or two key non-negotiables rather than trying to cover everything you want in a college. This will help you craft a more focused and powerful response.

• Ignoring the connection to Notre Dame: Even though the prompt doesn’t ask directly about Notre Dame, it’s helpful to consider how your non-negotiable might connect with what Notre Dame offers, subtly indicating why you see it as your future home.

Good and Bad Examples

Good Example:

My non-negotiable factor is a strong service-learning program that allows me to integrate community service with my academic studies. In high school, I spent my weekends volunteering at a local homeless shelter, and this experience shaped my desire to pursue a career in social work. I’m looking for a college where I can continue this work while gaining the skills and knowledge to make a lasting impact. A college that emphasizes ethical leadership and community engagement is essential to my growth, both as a student and as a future advocate for social justice.

Why This is Good: This example is specific, ties the non-negotiable to the student’s past experiences and future goals, and subtly aligns with Notre Dame’s emphasis on service and ethical leadership.

Bad Example:

The most important factor for me is finding a college with a strong academic reputation. I want to attend a school where I can be challenged academically and have access to good resources. This is non-negotiable because I believe that a good education is the foundation for a successful future.

Why This is Bad: This example is vague and could apply to almost any college. It lacks personal connection, specificity, and fails to explain why this factor is crucial to the student’s unique goals and values.

A Quick Note About Prompt 2:

The main thing to note about Prompt 2 is its very small word limit. Rather than having 150 words like you do for Prompt 1, you’re only allotted 50 words for each of your responses to Prompt 2. However, these prompts are generally personality questions, so have fun with the few sentences you do have!

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’s 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 over the course of 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 each new obstacle.

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.

Brainstorming your topic:

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:

Raised in a tight-knit Filipino-American community, I learned the importance of bayanihan—the spirit of communal unity. Every weekend, our neighborhood gathered for potlucks, where elders shared stories of their struggles as immigrants and the younger generation learned the value of helping each other. Inspired by this, I organized cultural workshops at my high school, teaching classmates about Filipino traditions and encouraging cross-cultural understanding. At Notre Dame, I’ll contribute to the community by fostering cultural exchange and creating spaces where diverse voices are celebrated, much like the supportive network that shaped my upbringing.

This is a pretty straightforward community service essay. You’re being asked to showcase the ways in which 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.

Brainstorming your topic:

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 in order 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. Really highlight the experiences you’ve had that say the most about who you are; the 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 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 was going to get to as many as I could.” Not only does this paint a far more vivid picture of what the experience meant to you, but it 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 the ways in which 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. You can write about forming or joining study groups, your desire to find community service opportunities at Notre Dame, or even how you hope to gain and listen to new perspectives both inside and outside of the classroom. 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.

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 to 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 totally 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 personal 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:

The compliment I’m most proud of receiving came from my grandmother when she said, “You have a heart like your grandfather’s.” After I spent my summer helping her neighbors with groceries and organizing weekly visits for elderly community members, she saw in me the same compassion and dedication that defined my grandfather’s life. That compliment means the world to me because it reassured me that I’m carrying forward his legacy of kindness and service, something I strive to embody every day.

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 played out and won’t contribute to an impressive response that resonates with your reader.

Instead of using one of those, try to explore more specific 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 therefore argue that the preservation of linguistic history is worth fighting for. You could write a response like the following:

“My Spanish grandparents speak Basque, which they’ve been trying to teach me. I love how Basque looks, sounds, and feels so different from other languages. Sadly, Basque has fewer than a million speakers. Considering all the languages that have been lost to time, preserving linguistic history is worth fighting for.”

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 the ways in which the topic is meaningful to you, as in the example above.

Where to Get Your Notre Dame Essays Edited for Free

Do you want feedback on your Notre Dame essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it might become difficult to see where your writing can be improved. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool, where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

Need feedback faster? Get a free, nearly-instantaneous essay review from Sage, our AI tutor and advisor. Sage will rate your essay, give you suggestions for improvement, and summarize what admissions officers would take away from your writing. Use these tools to improve your chances of acceptance to your dream school!