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The Notre Dame law school acceptance rate and requirements is 16.1 percent: 575 offers on 3,579 completed applications for fall 2025. Medians were 170 and 3.89, with 25th percentiles of 166 and 3.78. Here is how to get in against those numbers.
16.1 percent for the fall 2025 entering class: 575 offers of admission on 3,579 completed applications, per Notre Dame's own 2025 ABA 509 report.
A 16.1% acceptance rate for a school that places fourth in the country in federal clerkships. For a clerkship-focused applicant, this is the best value in American legal education.
Verified figureValueAcceptance rate16.1% (575 offers on 3,579 applications)LSAT 25/50/75166 / 170 / 171GPA 25/50/753.78 / 3.89 / 3.95Annual cost of attendance$99,420Median grant / share receiving$30,000 to 92% of studentsClass of 2025 graduates164Firms of 101+ attorneys40.9% (67 graduates)Federal clerkships17.1% (28 graduates)Employed at 10 months97.6%Top marketsIL 41, NY 17, CA 15CityNotre Dame, INCar neededYesJanuary average low / July average high17.0F / 82.7F
Sources: Notre Dame's 2025 ABA 509 report (https://law.nd.edu/assets/642870/std509inforeport_2025.pdf), its class of 2025 ABA Employment Summary (https://law.nd.edu/assets/655386/aba_employment_summary_vinny_versagli.pdf), and its admissions pages (https://law.nd.edu/admissions/apply/). Climate from NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals. Verified July 26, 2026.
The enrolled class tells you what Notre Dame actually takes. LSAT percentiles were 166 at the 25th, 170 at the median and 171 at the 75th.
A 170 clears the median and makes you numbers-competitive. A 171 puts you in the top quarter, which is where merit money conversations start. Below 166 you are under the disclosed floor and the rest of the file has to carry an unusual amount.
Moderately friendly.
GPA percentiles were 3.78 at the 25th, 3.89 at the median and 3.95 at the 75th. The 25th percentile is the number that matters most if your transcript is the weaker half of your file, because it is the disclosed floor rather than the advertised middle.
The spread between the median and the 25th is 0.11, which is moderate, so a below-median GPA needs the LSAT to compensate.
Moderately friendly.
No school publishes admit rates by score band, so this grid is directional and built strictly from where each combination sits against the disclosed percentiles above.
Your positionRead on your oddsWhat to doLSAT 171+ and GPA 3.95+Above both 75th percentilesApply early and negotiate; you are who the aid budget exists forLSAT 170-171 and GPA 3.89-3.95At or above both mediansCompetitive; timing and the essay decide the marginLSAT 170+ and GPA below 3.78SplitterLSAT carries the file; addendum only if the GPA has a real storyLSAT 166-170 and GPA 3.89+Reverse splitterRetake is usually the highest-value moveLSAT 166-170 and GPA 3.78-3.89Below the class midpoint, inside the rangeEverything early and flawless; expect little aidBelow 166 or below 3.78Below the 25th percentileRetake, then rebuild the list
Percentile anchors from the 2025 ABA 509; the readings are our framework, not published admit rates.
Moderately friendly. Moderately friendly.
The disclosed evidence behind that: the GPA spread is 0.11 and the LSAT spread is 4 points. A wide GPA spread means the school routinely enrolls students well below its own transcript midpoint; a wide LSAT spread means the same on the test.
Yield protection: Moderate.
Generous relative to peers, including named full-tuition awards.
The disclosed figures: a median grant of $30,000 reaching 92 percent of students, against a cost of attendance of $99,420. That puts the median student at roughly $69,420 a year before interest.
Since July 1, 2026 federal borrowing for professional students is capped at $50,000 a year and $200,000 in aggregate with Grad PLUS eliminated, under the Reimagining and Improving Student Education final rule, which attributes the change to the Working Families Tax Cuts Act (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/01/2026-08556/reimagining-and-improving-student-education-federal-student-loan-program-final-regulations). That leaves about $49,420 a year at sticker to close privately, our arithmetic.
Early decision: NONE. Notre Dame eliminated binding Early Decision, announced August 31, 2022 and effective for the cycle opening September 1, 2022. Stated reason: to promote a more inclusive admissions process.
Interviews: Yes: invitation-only, telephone or Zoom, evaluative. Unusual feature: the Admissions Committee may request an interview either BEFORE or after submission of an application. Requests are refused; due to application volume the committee cannot consider applicant requests.
Scholarship effect of applying early: No ED aid tradeoff exists, which is the point. Notre Dame's stated reasoning was that early decision tends to advantage wealthier students and creates anxiety around choosing an application program.
Both lines come from the school's own admissions pages (https://law.nd.edu/admissions/apply/), verified July 26, 2026. No entry-year label printed.
One caution for anyone cross-checking us against a secondary summary. Widely circulated write-ups of this school's early decision and interview policy are out of date on this point, which is why every line above carries the school's own URL rather than a citation to a compilation.
Both get a page of their own: the full early decision terms and the interview format and prep.
Notre Dame asks why you want to be at Notre Dame specifically, and it expects an answer engaging with the school's mission. You need not be Catholic, but you cannot be indifferent to what the school says it is.
Work experience: Neutral.
Values-driven and unusually explicit about it. Notre Dame states that it educates 'a different kind of lawyer,' and its students, Catholic and otherwise, largely buy in.
A small Catholic law school in Indiana that places graduates into federal clerkships at the fourth-highest rate in the entire country.
The outcomes: 40.9 percent into firms of 101 or more attorneys, 17.1 percent into federal clerkships, 97.6 percent employed at ten months, concentrated in IL 41, NY 17, CA 15.
For the daily texture see what Notre Dame Law is really like, and for the verdict see our honest take.
The fall 2025 enrolled medians were 170 LSAT with a 166 twenty-fifth percentile and a 171 seventy-fifth. A 170 is numbers-competitive; 171 puts you in the top quarter.
16.1 percent for fall 2025, 575 offers on 3,579 completed applications, per its 2025 ABA 509 report.
Median 3.89, with a 3.78 twenty-fifth percentile and a 3.95 seventy-fifth. The spread of 0.11 between median and floor is what tells you how far below the middle the school will go.
Generous relative to peers, including named full-tuition awards. The disclosed median grant is $30,000 reaching 92 percent of students.
Moderately friendly.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
July 30, 2026
July 30, 2026