Notre Dame SAT Scores, GPA, and ACT (2026)

The middle 50 for Notre Dame SAT scores runs from 1455 to 1560, with an average of 1520 in the 2024-2025 federal data. Land inside that range and your score does its job: half of enrolled students scored there, so admissions readers see a number that fits the class. Notre Dame admits 11.3% of applicants. In plain terms, roughly 1 of every 9 people who apply gets in, so a score inside the range does not carry you alone, but a score below it hands the committee an easy reason to pass.

The private nonprofit campus in Notre Dame, Indiana enrolls 8,818 undergraduates, small enough that each seat is contested hard. The section splits tell you where the bar sits: Math runs 735 to 790 while Reading and Writing runs 720 to 770, a 15 point gap at the bottom of each range. Testing is optional in the 2024-2025 cycle, and that changes your strategy in a specific way. Optional means you decide whether the number enters your file at all. With an enrolled average of 1520, a submitted score at or above the range floor works for you, while withholding a score leaves readers to judge you on everything else, against applicants who did submit one.

Read the range in 3 zones. Below 1455, you are under 3 out of 4 enrolled students, and at an 11.3% admit rate that is a steep hole unless the rest of the file is exceptional. Inside 1455 to 1560, your score matches the class and the decision shifts to grades, activities, and essays. Above 1560, you outscore roughly 3 out of 4 students who enrolled, which makes the test a genuine plus rather than a neutral line. The width of the band matters too: only 105 points separate the 25th percentile at 1455 from the 75th at 1560, so modest gains move you a long way through the class.

The sections are not symmetric. Math sets the higher bar at 735 to 790, against 720 to 770 for Reading and Writing. A 780 in Math is ordinary here while a 780 in Reading and Writing clears the 75th percentile. If your Math score lags your verbal score, that is the gap to close first. On the ACT, the equivalent band is 33 to 35, which leaves almost no room at the top of that scale.

Admitted students at Notre Dame typically present an unweighted GPA around 3.8 to 4.0. That is close to a clean transcript: mostly A grades, with little room for off semesters. At an 11.3% admit rate, the GPA is table stakes rather than a differentiator. Nearly everyone left in the pool shows the same strong transcript, so a high GPA keeps you in the conversation without ending it.

What sits behind the number matters as much as the number itself. An A in AP Calculus or an honors science sequence signals more than an A in a lighter section, and readers weigh the two differently. Rigor is what separates files once the letter grades all look alike. If your GPA sits at the lower edge of that band, the fastest offset is a strong SAT. A score at or above the 1520 average gives the file a second data point that says you can handle the work, and it is the one credential you can still move in a few months. Grades are history by senior fall. The test is not.

Set 2 targets. Hitting 1455 or better keeps you in range, meaning your score no longer works against you. Hitting 1560 or better puts you in the top quarter of enrolled students and turns the test into an argument for admission. Those 2 numbers are not guesses. The 25th percentile of the enrolled class sits at 1455 and the 75th at 1560, so they mark the real boundaries you are climbing between. Along the way, aim to clear the section floors too: 735 in Math and 720 in Reading and Writing, since a lopsided 1470 reads differently than a balanced one.

Work backward from your current number. Take a diagnostic to find out where you stand today, then use score plans to map the point gap to a week by week schedule. Because Notre Dame is test optional, the plan carries a built in exit: if your practice scores settle below 1455 near the deadline, you can withhold the score and lean on the rest of the file. Your next step: get a baseline this week, subtract it from 1455, and let that gap set how many hours you put in before your test date.