Notre Dame Transfer Acceptance Rate and Requirements — 2024
December 14, 2023
By any measure, the University of Notre Dame is an elite and highly selective institution. Incredibly, last year, 87 of every 100 freshman applicants were turned away. In more cheerful news for Fighting Irish hopefuls, the transfer acceptance is often two to three times higher than the first-year clip. Continuing with good news, they generally accept 200-300 individuals each year via transfer. This blog will share the Notre Dame transfer acceptance rate as well as other essential pieces of information like the Notre Dame transfer deadline, Notre Dame transfer application requirements, the Notre Dame transfer decision date, and much more.
Notre Dame Transfer Acceptance Rate
Below we present the most current available Notre Dame transfer acceptance rate as well as historical data.
In the fall of 2022, 794 students applied for transfer admission, and 212 were successful. This means that the Notre Dame transfer acceptance rate is 26.7%. If we break this down by gender, the acceptance rates are as follows:
- Male transfer applicants: 21.5%%
- Female transfer applicants: 33%
In the fall of 2021, Notre Dame received 1,076 applications and accepted 277 individuals. This means that the Notre Dame transfer acceptance rate was 25.7%.
When trying to get the complete picture of how difficult it is to transfer into a given school, it is important to also look at historical data. Many schools have wild fluctuations in transfer acceptance rates from year to year. Notre Dame is one such school, as their acceptance rate has been as low as 22% and as high as 43% in recent cycles.
Historical transfer rates are as follows:
| Year | Acceptance Rate |
| 2020 | 43.4% |
| 2019 | 30.1% |
| 2018 | 22.8% |
| 2017 | 22.6% |
Notre Dame Transfer Application Deadline
The university offers both a fall and spring transfer option. The Notre Dame transfer deadline for fall applicants is March 15. Spring applicants have an October 1 deadline.
Notre Dame Transfer Application Requirements
The transfer requirements are as follows:
- Completed application, available through the Notre Dame Transfer Portal
- Final high school transcripts
- Official college transcripts
- Course syllabi for all courses listed on your transcript. This can be uploaded to your Notre Dame transfer portal.
- Mid-Term Report
- College Student Record Form
- SAT/ACT (optional in 2023 & 2024)
- Letter of recommendation (optional but encouraged)
Students who have the best chance to gain admission have done the following:
- Earned at least 24 transferrable credits. However, the most competitive applicants have earned between 15-18 credit hours per semester.
- Are an incoming sophomore. The College of Arts and Letters accepts a small number of first-semester juniors, but most other majors do not.
- Completed the required courses for their area of study. According to admissions, “The closer your completed coursework aligns with Notre Dame’s typical first-year curriculum for your intended major(s), the more competitive your application will be.”
- Earned mostly A’s in their first year at a community college or 4-year university.
- Possess a strong high school record.
- Have strong SAT/ACT and AP/IB results (even though they are test-optional)
Transfer GPA
In recent years, the school reported that the average GPA among enrolling transfers was 3.75.
Writing Supplement
- Knowing that you are still early in your collegiate career, what are your current postgraduate goals? What do you envision your academic journey at Notre Dame will look like as you pursue these dreams? (500 words)
- Why are you seeking to transfer? (100 words)
- What aspect of Notre Dame’s mission most resonates with you? (100 words)
- In order to fully experience the University of Notre Dame, a transfer student will need to demonstrate initiative, humility, and resilience. Share a time you faced a challenge, and how you overcame it. (100 words)
- Community is the cornerstone of Notre Dame. Tell us about a time you have created or contributed to a community. (100 words)
Transfer Decision Date
Transfer decisions are made within a 4-5-week span. Fall decisions are made between May 20 and June 14. Spring decisions are released as early as December 1 and as late as January 5.
Final Thoughts – Notre Dame Transfer Acceptance Rate
As the acceptance rate indicates, getting in as a transfer is far from a one-in-a-million shot. If you earn spectacular college grades, you will be given serious consideration to join this prestigious university.
One of the nice things about this university is that their enrollment goals for transfer students are independent of their first-year enrollment goals. This means that they try to keep 200+ slots open for prospective transfers no matter what the overall number of students is in a given class.
If you are looking for information on how to apply to Notre Dame as a first-year student, you may find the following blogs to be of interest:
Those searching for application info on other institutions may wish to visit our Dataverse pages/blogs:
