University of Notre Dame: Catholic Tradition, Fighting Irish, and the Most Devout Top 20 University

Published on May 15, 2026

Tied at #18 nationally in US News, located in the small Indiana town of South Bend, home to the Fighting Irish football team and the Touchdown Jesus mural, Notre Dame is the only Catholic university in the Top 20 and one of the schools with the highest alumni loyalty in the United States.

Notre Dame can be summed up in one sentence: “Faith, football, and family legacy.” An alumni giving rate above 40% (among the highest in the country), three generations of a family attending Notre Dame, students going to Mass at the Basilica on Sundays, and 100,000 people gathering across town on football game days: this powerful “sense of identity” is the biggest difference between Notre Dame and other Top 20 schools. If you are a Catholic family, Notre Dame is a dream. If not, you should think carefully about whether the fit truly makes sense.

1. Basic Information

2. World Rankings

Notre Dame’s lower QS / THE rankings are related to its scale, but Mendoza, its undergraduate business school, is in the Top 10. This is one of Notre Dame’s strongest calling cards.

3. Admissions Data (Class of 2028)

Notre Dame uses REA (Restrictive Early Action), which is more flexible than ED (not binding), but stricter than EA (you cannot simultaneously apply EA to other private universities).

SAT/ACT Middle Ranges

International Students

• International students make up about 8% of the student body (one of the lowest shares among Top 20 schools)
• Students come from 60+ countries
• Taiwan typically has about 1-3 admits per year

Notre Dame has one of the lowest proportions of international students among Top 20 schools because, at its core, it is a school for American Catholic families.

4. Tuition and Financial Aid

2024-2025 Cost of Attendance

Need-Based Aid

• Family income < $65,000: full tuition + housing covered
• Family income < $125,000: full tuition covered
• International students: Need-Aware
• Average Aid: USD $52,000/year
• No-Loan Policy (since 2022)

Notre Dame is not Need-Blind for international students, but it still offers significant aid for middle-class families.

5. Academic Structure / Signature Programs

Colleges and Schools

1. College of Arts and Letters: undergraduate liberal arts
2. Mendoza College of Business: Top 10 undergraduate business school
3. College of Engineering
4. College of Science
5. School of Architecture: 5-year BArch
6. Keough School of Global Affairs

Undergraduate Majors

• 70+ majors in total
• Top 5 popular majors:

1. Finance
2. Marketing
3. Mechanical Engineering
4. Political Science
5. Accountancy

Notre Dame’s most popular majors lean toward business + engineering, which is the biggest difference between Notre Dame and schools like Brown / Yale, which are more philosophy- and literature-oriented.

Signature Programs

• Mendoza College of Business: Top 10 undergraduate business school, especially strong in Accounting and Finance (ranked #1 Undergrad Business by Bloomberg for many consecutive years)
• Notre Dame Law School / Medical School pathway: a traditional powerhouse for Pre-Law and Pre-Med
• Architecture (BArch): a 5-year program and one of the few architecture schools in the United States that teaches in a classical tradition
• ROTC Programs: Army, Navy, and Air Force ROTC, making it one of the Top 20 schools with the strongest military tradition

Core Curriculum

Notre Dame follows a Catholic Liberal Arts core curriculum and requires all students to take:

• 2 Theology courses
• 2 Philosophy courses
• 1 History course
• 1 Social Science course
• 1 Fine Arts / Literature course
• And more

Every student must study theology, even if you are not Catholic. This is one of Notre Dame’s cultural markers.

6. Campus Culture / School Personality

Notre Dame’s personality can be summarized in one line: “Family, faith, and sports.” More than 80% of students on campus are Catholic, and about 40% of students are “Legacy” students (their parents or grandparents also attended ND). This powerful sense of inheritance is the strongest among Top 20 schools.

Faith Life

• The campus has 57 chapels. Every residence hall has its own small chapel
• Sunday Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart is an important weekend ritual for students
• Mandatory theology courses: all students must take 2 Theology courses
• Most residence halls are single-gender (Notre Dame is one of the very few Top 20 schools that still maintains separate men’s and women’s dorms)

Greek Life

• Notre Dame has no Greek Life. The university prohibits fraternities / sororities
• In its place is the residence hall system: students live in the same residence hall for all 4 years, and the residence hall becomes their core community

Athletics Culture (Fighting Irish)

• NCAA Division I (football is Independent)
• Fighting Irish football is Notre Dame’s soul: an independent team, its own national NBC broadcast contract, and top-tier coach salaries
• Touchdown Jesus: the Jesus mural on the library exterior wall, with arms raised facing the football stadium. Whenever players score, from a distance it looks as if Jesus is cheering
• The Shirt: a newly designed student T-shirt every year, worn by the whole school to football games

7. Location / Campus Environment

City Setting

Notre Dame is located north of South Bend, Indiana, a typical small industrial city in the Midwest with a population of 100,000. It is 2 hours from Chicago by car and 3 hours from Detroit. South Bend itself is not lively; most student activity revolves around campus.

The campus is as beautiful as an Italian classical estate: the Main Building with its Golden Dome, the Basilica, Notre Dame Stadium, and academic courtyards. Among Top 20 universities, it is the campus that feels most like a European monastery.

Climate

• Winter: -10°C to 0°C, with frequent snow
• Summer: 20-30°C, humid
• Spring and fall are pleasant

Campus Landmarks

• Main Building (Golden Dome): the golden dome and campus landmark
• Basilica of the Sacred Heart: a Gothic basilica
• Hesburgh Library / "Touchdown Jesus"
• Notre Dame Stadium: the football stadium
• Grotto: a prayer grotto dedicated to the Virgin Mary, where students often light candles

8. Research and Resources

Libraries

• Hesburgh Library holds 3 million volumes
• 9 libraries across the university

Notable Labs / Research Centers

• Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study
• Kellogg Institute for International Studies: Latin American studies
• Wireless Institute
• Notre Dame Stadium Crypts: underground laboratories

Notre Dame’s research scale is not comparable to Harvard / MIT, but its humanities and theology research is world-class, especially in Catholic theology and medieval history.

9. Notable Alumni

• Politics / Public Service: Condoleezza Rice (former faculty member), Joe Donnelly (former Indiana senator), Pete Buttigieg (attended, later transferred to Harvard to complete his degree)
• Technology and Entrepreneurship: Edward DeBartolo Jr. (49ers owner), Jim Donovan (Goldman Sachs)
• Finance / Business: Phil Purcell (former Morgan Stanley CEO), Don Keough (former Coca-Cola COO)
• Academia: Eric Wieschaus (Nobel Prize in Medicine, former faculty member)
• Entertainment / Sports: Joe Theismann (NFL), Joe Montana (legendary NFL quarterback), Regis Philbin (television host), Rudy Ruettiger (the inspiration for the film Rudy)

The defining feature of Notre Dame alumni is their giving rate to the university. More than 40% of alumni continue to donate, one of the highest rates among all universities in the United States.

10. Notre Dame Fun Facts

1. "Touchdown Jesus": The Jesus mural on the exterior wall of Hesburgh Library is 41 meters tall and is one of the largest “Jesus paintings” in the United States. The raised arms resemble a referee signaling a touchdown.
2. The school song, "Notre Dame Victory March": Written in 1908, it is considered one of the best-known fight songs in the United States. Even people who do not watch football can often hum it.
3. The gold leaf on the Golden Dome: The golden dome on the Main Building uses real gold leaf and must be reapplied every few decades.
4. The Rockne legend: Knute Rockne was Notre Dame’s legendary football coach in the 1920s and an inventor of modern football tactics. "Win one for the Gipper" came from him (and later became a Ronald Reagan campaign slogan).
5. Notre Dame is the only NCAA football powerhouse that does not belong to a Conference. It plays independently and negotiates its own NBC broadcast contract.

11. Typical Admitted Student Profile

• GPA Unweighted ~3.9+
• SAT 1470+ or ACT 33+
• 6-10 AP courses / strong IB curriculum
• Spike tends to lean toward leadership + service: student government, community service (Notre Dame especially values “Service to Others”), sports teams, and faith-related activities
• Essays must show a genuine reason for “Why Notre Dame”. The admissions office is very sensitive to applicants treating Notre Dame as a backup
• Recommendation letters should speak to your “character + community contribution”
• Legacy status provides a meaningful advantage (family alumni connections are a real benefit)

Notre Dame admits students who care about others and give back, not just students who are smart.

12. What Kind of Student Is a Good Fit?

✓ Good fit for:

• Students from Catholic families or with a faith background
• Students interested in Mendoza Business, Pre-Law, or Pre-Med
• Students who strongly value school community + tradition + alumni network
• Students drawn to sports culture (football game day is very real)
• Students willing to take theology courses and respect a faith-centered atmosphere
• Students who do not need big-city life (South Bend is genuinely rural)

✗ May not be the best fit for:

• Students with no religious background who dislike faith-centered environments
• Students who want a major city (New York, San Francisco)
• LGBTQ+ students should evaluate carefully (Notre Dame’s culture is conservative on gender and sexuality issues)
• Students who want a Greek Life party culture
• Students seeking a highly multicultural / international campus (international students make up only 8%)

Conclusion

Notre Dame is the Top 20 university with the strongest sense of identity. It does not pretend to be neutral. It is a Catholic university, and every corner of campus reminds you of that fact. If your family identifies with these values, Notre Dame is the Top 20 choice with one of the tightest alumni networks and the strongest sense of home. If you do not identify with them, the four years can feel very uncomfortable.

The most important reminder for Taiwanese families: Notre Dame’s “fit” matters more than academics. You can enter as an atheist, but you must be able to respect Mass, take theology courses, and play football under “Touchdown Jesus.” These are not decorations. They are ND’s DNA. If you are willing to become part of this community, Notre Dame gives you more than a 4-year education. It gives you a lifelong family.