Applicants around the world logged onto the Notre Dame application status portal at 6:42 p.m. EST last Thursday, the time serving as a nod to the University’s founding year of 1842.
Notre Dame admitted a total of 3,399 students to the class of 2027 in this year’s cycle, combining 1,701 restrictive early application (REA) applicants with 1,698 regular decision (RD) applicants. Drawing from a pool of 28,351 applicants, the University hit an 11.9% acceptance rate, “the lowest in Notre Dame history” according to vice president for undergraduate enrollment Micki Kidder.
Admitted students represented “approximately 7,700 high schools across 50 US states, the District of Columbia, 5 U.S. territories, and 143 countries,” she added in an email.
In an interview with The Observer, Kidder celebrated the qualifications of the incoming class.
“What I think is really important that I would love to celebrate about these 1,698 students, in addition to their academic success and pursuit, is just the incredible human beings that they are. And that’s hard to quantify in a stat,” she said.
While the regular decision cycle saw a 2% increase from the previous year, the REA cohort saw a 25% growth.
The University maintained a test-optional policy for this year’s application, seeing a 3% increase in applications where students remained test-option.
Kidder said that admissions continues to measure the impact of test-optional applications, and will be releasing a public determination on the future of test-optional admissions.
“We are currently doing a review and analysis to understand what the impact of this has been in the classroom at Notre Dame. And so I anticipate that within the next probably three months, we will announce what our practice will be moving forward. That may be on an interim basis that may be in a more permanent basis. It depends on how this analysis goes and how comfortable I feel in placing any type of permanency to that policy,” Kidder said.
Kidder said that applicants continue to be evaluated on a holistic basis, looking at compatibility with the University’s character and mission.
“There are a lot of intangibles that are really really important. You know, commitment to the mission. Right? How passionate are you about being a leader of character, educating the heart and the mind and going out being a means for good in this world? So how students respond and exhibit enthusiasm around that type of question [matters],” she said.
Kidder mentioned how the yield rate — around 60% — still reveals differences in demographics from those accepted to those that choose to enroll.
“It’s difficult and to enroll does change based on the demographics of who we’re admitting, frankly. So as Notre Dame continues to invite more first-generation students, as Notre Dame continues to invite more under-resourced students, I think that it's difficult to show a flat line if you will, over decades, from admit to enroll, because the demographic of the student body is changing,” she said.
More detailed statistics about the class of 2027 will be published in May after students have accepted their offers.
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