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The short answer on should I go to Notre Dame law school: pick it if you want a federal clerkship. Skip it if you want a secular environment. It costs $99,420 a year and places 40.9 percent into large firms. The argument follows.
A small Catholic law school in Indiana that places graduates into federal clerkships at the fourth-highest rate in the entire country.
The verified position: a 16.1 percent acceptance rate, a 170 LSAT and 3.89 GPA median, $99,420 a year with a $30,000 median grant reaching 92 percent of students, and 40.9 percent into firms of 101 or more attorneys.
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.
For the numbers you need before you get here, see our page on Notre Dame law school acceptance rate and requirements.
You want a federal clerkship, you are drawn to the school's mission, or you want Chicago with strong grades.
Clerkship hopefuls, students drawn to the conservative legal movement or to Catholic social thought, and anyone targeting Chicago or DC with strong grades.
The disclosed numbers behind that: 40.9 percent large-firm placement, 17.1 percent federal clerkships, 97.6 percent employed at ten months, and a placement pattern of IL 41, NY 17, CA 15.
You want a secular environment, a large city, or the highest Big Law placement rate at this rank.
Someone seeking a secular environment, an urban campus, or the highest Big Law hit rate at this rank.
The complaint current students actually make, which is the fairest warning available: South Bend is small and cold, the Catholic identity is central rather than incidental, and Big Law placement at 30% is well below peers at the same rank.
Notre Dame placed 17.07% of the Class of 2025 into federal clerkships, fourth in the entire country, ahead of Harvard, UT Austin, Duke, and every school ranked between #7 and #19. For a clerkship-focused student this is the most mispriced school in American legal education.
It is checkable. Every number we have used is in Notre Dame's own filings, linked above, and we would rather you verify it than trust us.
Only 40.9% of graduates enter large firms, which is low for this rank, and the religious identity is central rather than peripheral. Both facts are features for the right student and disqualifying for the wrong one.
Price it rather than dismissing it. The three-year net cost at the median grant is roughly $208,260, our arithmetic before interest, and that is the sum you are putting against the risk.
Since July 1, 2026 federal borrowing 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). Any gap above that cap here has to be closed privately, which sharpens every risk on this page.
You accept South Bend and an explicit religious identity in exchange for one of the strongest clerkship pipelines in the country.
Run the comparison on net cost after your actual offer rather than on sticker, because the median grant is a midpoint and half of recipients received less. Then weigh the outcome columns against the market you actually intend to practice in.
For the daily texture rather than the verdict, see what Notre Dame Law is really like. For where it sits against every other school on outcomes and cost, our value table ranks all 31.
You want a federal clerkship, you are drawn to the school's mission, or you want Chicago with strong grades. You want a secular environment, a large city, or the highest Big Law placement rate at this rank.
Clerkship hopefuls, students drawn to the conservative legal movement or to Catholic social thought, and anyone targeting Chicago or DC with strong grades. The verified case is 40.9 percent large-firm placement, 17.1 percent federal clerkships and 97.6 percent employed at ten months.
Someone seeking a secular environment, an urban campus, or the highest Big Law hit rate at this rank. South Bend is small and cold, the Catholic identity is central rather than incidental, and Big Law placement at 30% is well below peers at the same rank.
Only 40.9% of graduates enter large firms, which is low for this rank, and the religious identity is central rather than peripheral. Both facts are features for the right student and disqualifying for the wrong one. Against a three-year net cost of roughly $208,260 at the median grant, that risk deserves an explicit price.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
July 30, 2026
July 30, 2026