Notre Dame testing policy at a glance: No, Notre Dame does not currently require the SAT or ACT. The university is test optional for all applicants through the 2026-27 school year, covering first-year and transfer candidates alike, and it will require the SAT or ACT again beginning with the 2027-28 cycle, for fall 2028 entry. The important nuance sits in Notre Dame’s own words: significant quantitative evidence is typically demonstrated by its strongest applicants. Families planning a testing timeline around Notre Dame can schedule a consultation to build a complete testing and application strategy.
Sources: Notre Dame Undergraduate Admissions, Application Considerations and Standardized Testing Policy.
Does Notre Dame Require the SAT or ACT?
No. Notre Dame is test optional for students applying in the 2026-27 cycle for fall 2027 entry, and the policy applies to both first-year and transfer applicants. Beginning with the 2027-28 cycle, first-year and transfer applicants seeking to enroll in fall 2028 will need to submit ACT or SAT scores. For now, students may self-report SAT and ACT results on the application or through the applicant status portal, and they can also submit AP or predicted IB exam results to demonstrate academic strength when the traditional tests are absent.
Notre Dame’s framing rewards careful reading. The university states that it considers a number of academic factors that demonstrate quantitative evidence, and that significant quantitative evidence is typically demonstrated by its strongest applicants, a sentence that quietly tells families how the committee thinks about files that arrive without numbers. On mechanics, Notre Dame has no preference between the exams, treats the ACT science and writing sections as optional, and superscores, evaluating the highest score in each section across sittings. Admitted students must submit official scores that match their self-reported scores before enrolling, and Notre Dame says discrepancies may jeopardize a student’s place in the class, which makes accuracy in self-reporting a matter of consequence rather than convenience.
How Has Notre Dame’s Testing Policy Changed?
Notre Dame adopted test-optional admissions in 2020 and extended the policy in dated increments, and it has now announced the end: testing will be required again beginning with the 2027-28 cycle, the same cycle in which Princeton and Columbia return to required testing. That makes the current 2026-27 cycle the last optional one at Notre Dame.
The landscape around Notre Dame sharpens the decision. With Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, and six of the eight Ivies now requiring scores, and Princeton, Columbia, and Notre Dame itself requiring them for fall 2028 entry, the optional choice at Notre Dame is real for one more cycle. Notre Dame’s quantitative-evidence framing suggests a committee that welcomes numbers when they exist. Optional at Notre Dame is genuine, but it has never read as indifference to testing.
| Policy Detail | Notre Dame |
|---|---|
| Requirement status | Test optional for fall 2027 applicants; SAT or ACT required from the 2027-28 cycle (fall 2028 entry) |
| Encouragement | Strongest applicants typically show significant quantitative evidence, per Notre Dame |
| Accepted evidence | SAT and ACT may be self-reported; AP and predicted IB results can also show academic strength |
| Superscoring | Yes; highest score in each section across sittings; ACT science and writing optional |
| Enrollment rule | Admitted students submit official scores matching their self-reported scores before enrolling |
| Deadlines | Restrictive Early Action November 1; Regular Decision January 4 |
What SAT and ACT Scores Are Competitive at Notre Dame?
For families deciding whether to submit, the calculus at Notre Dame follows the pattern of its optional-era peers. Notre Dame sets no minimum scores, so the question is whether your number strengthens the file. Notre Dame’s own language raises the bar for omission: when the university says its strongest applicants typically demonstrate significant quantitative evidence, a file without scores needs that evidence elsewhere, through AP and IB results, exceptional performance in the most rigorous curriculum available, or demonstrated strength in quantitative coursework. Our working guidance is to submit anything from roughly 1480 upward and to fill the gap deliberately when withholding.
How Should You Plan Testing for Notre Dame?
Notre Dame’s Restrictive Early Action deadline falls November 1 and Regular Decision January 4, so the comfortable arc remains a first official sitting in spring of junior year and a fall retake, finishing by October for early applicants and December for regular. Because Notre Dame superscores, additional sittings carry no downside for a prepared student, and self-reporting through the portal keeps costs down until enrollment. Students leaning on the optional route should assemble their quantitative evidence early: AP exams from junior year, predicted IB marks requested in the fall, and a transcript that shows the hardest available math sequence, since those pieces substitute for what the missing score would have said.
For the picture across every top school, see our full guide to which colleges require the SAT and ACT. From there, How to Get Into Notre Dame Mendoza, Notre Dame Supplemental Essays Strategy: Prompts, Approach, and Strategy for 2025-2026, and SAT and ACT Prep Timeline: 9th Through 12th Grade Roadmap for Elite Admissions can help you put testing inside a complete Notre Dame application strategy.
What Does This Policy Mean for Your Application Strategy?
Strategically, Notre Dame belongs to the same playbook as Duke: test as though scores were required, then decide with a real number in hand. The reasons stack. Nearly every Notre Dame peer now requires testing, so the preparation is needed anyway; the university’s quantitative-evidence framing tilts the field toward submitters; and current juniors, who apply in the 2027-28 cycle, will face the requirement outright. Transfer applicants share the optional choice this cycle only. The score built for the rest of the list will usually belong in the Notre Dame file too, and a student targeting Notre Dame’s most quantitative programs should assume the committee wants to see the math either on a score report or unmistakably on the transcript.
Frequently Asked Questions About Notre Dame’s Testing Policy
Yes, for students applying in the 2026-27 cycle for fall 2027, both first-year and transfer. Notre Dame will require ACT or SAT scores beginning with the 2027-28 cycle.
Notre Dame does not say it prefers submitters, but it notes that significant quantitative evidence is typically demonstrated by its strongest applicants, which tilts the practical field toward submitters.
Yes. Notre Dame evaluates the highest score in each section across all sittings of a test, and it has no preference between the SAT and the ACT.
They can help. Notre Dame says applicants can submit AP or predicted IB results to demonstrate academic strength, which matters most for applicants choosing the optional route. For students studying outside the United States, predicted IB Diploma, A-Level, or French Baccalaureate results are accepted in lieu of SAT or ACT results.
Notre Dame sets no minimum score. We suggest submitting anything from roughly 1480 upward and treating the mid 1500s as strong positioning within the holistic review.
Not this cycle. The test-optional policy covers transfer applicants through the 2026-27 school year, but transfer applicants seeking to enroll in fall 2028 will need ACT or SAT scores.
Yes. Notre Dame will reinstate its testing requirement beginning with the 2027-28 admissions cycle, so first-year and transfer applicants seeking to enroll in fall 2028 must submit ACT or SAT scores.
Only after admission: admitted students submit official scores that match their self-reported scores before enrolling, and Notre Dame verifies them, so accurate self-reporting is essential.
Sources: Notre Dame Undergraduate Admissions, Standardized Testing Policy; Notre Dame Undergraduate Admissions, Application Considerations; Notre Dame Undergraduate Admissions, Decision Planning.
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