What are the acceptance rates at Notre Dame, Georgetown, and Boston College?
Notre Dame admitted approximately 9% of applicants for the Class of 2030 from a pool of roughly 36,102 applications, continuing a decade-long compression from 24% a decade ago. Georgetown's most recent published rate (Class of 2029) was 12% from 26,900 applications, with the School of Foreign Service running tighter than the College and McDonough. Boston College admitted 16% of Class of 2029 applicants from 41,898 applications, the largest pool of the three, with Early Decision yields driving roughly half the class.
| School | Class of 2029 / 2030 Admit Rate | Applications | Yield | Median SAT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notre Dame | ~9% (Class of 2030) | ~36,102 | ~58% | 1500-1550 |
| Georgetown | ~12% (Class of 2029) | ~26,900 | ~46% | 1450-1530 |
| Boston College | ~16% (Class of 2029) | ~41,898 | ~37% | 1430-1510 |
Notre Dame is the most selective on raw rate, but Georgetown is more selective for specific programs (SFS runs in the 6-8% range some years). Boston College's higher overall rate is partly a function of its much larger pool and lower yield – it admits more applicants because fewer enroll, and ED applicants make up an increasingly large share of admitted students.
Which school has the strongest Early Decision advantage?
Boston College has the most pronounced ED advantage among the three, with ED I and ED II combined producing roughly 45-50% of the admitted class at admit rates near 28-30%. Notre Dame uses Restrictive Early Action (REA), not ED, and admits approximately 14-16% of REA applicants compared to roughly 8% in Regular Decision – a meaningful boost but without the binding commitment. Georgetown uses Restrictive Early Action (non-binding, but applicants cannot apply to a binding Early Decision program elsewhere) at approximately 10-11% admit rate versus 12% RD, offering only a marginal calendar benefit rather than a real selectivity advantage.
| Early Application Dimension | Notre Dame | Georgetown | Boston College |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early program type | Restrictive Early Action (non-binding) | Restrictive Early Action (non-binding) | Early Decision I & II (both binding) |
| Early deadline(s) | November 1 | November 1 | ED I: November 1; ED II: January 3 |
| Class of 2030 early admit rate | ~11.8% (1,617 of 13,711) | Data not yet released (Class of 2029: ~11%) | ~29% combined (4,934 ED applications) |
| Class of 2029 early admit rate | ~12.9% (1,669 of 12,917) | ~11.1% (917 of 8,254) | ~30% |
| Class of 2029 Regular Decision admit rate | ~7.3% | ~12.3% | ~11.5% |
| Early vs RD selectivity advantage | Meaningful (~5 pts) without binding commitment | No statistical advantage | Strongest (~18 pts higher) but binding |
| % of class admitted via early round | ~50% of incoming class typically | ~30% of incoming class typically | ~45-50% of incoming class |
| Can apply ED elsewhere? | No (REA prohibits binding ED elsewhere) | No (REA prohibits binding ED elsewhere) | N/A (BC ED is itself binding) |
What makes each school's academic identity distinct?
Notre Dame's identity centers on undergraduate primacy, residential life through its First Year of Studies and signature dorm system, and the Mendoza College of Business (a top-five undergraduate business program). Engineering, architecture, and arts and letters all enroll meaningful undergraduate cohorts, but Mendoza is the brand magnet for business-bound applicants. Georgetown's academic identity is dominated by the Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS), the only undergraduate program of its kind globally, paired with the McDonough School of Business and a strong College of Arts and Sciences with notable concentrations in government, philosophy, and theology. Boston College's structure emphasizes the Carroll School of Management, the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, the Connell School of Nursing, and the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, with the Jesuit Core curriculum running through every undergraduate degree.
How do these three schools compare on financial aid for higher-income families?
All three meet 100% of demonstrated financial need and use the CSS Profile, which means families with incomes between $200K and $400K typically face higher Expected Family Contributions than at FAFSA-only schools. Notre Dame is need-blind for domestic applicants and has the largest endowment-per-student of the three, which translates to more flexibility on borderline aid cases. Georgetown is also need-blind for domestic applicants and meets full need but tends to expect higher parent contributions in the $250K-$400K bracket due to a more conservative aid formula. Boston College is need-aware (officially need-blind for domestic but with practical limits on its aid budget) and offers the strongest merit-aid posture of the three through the Presidential Scholars Program and Gabelli Presidential Scholars. For families in the $200K-$300K bracket, Boston College frequently produces the lowest net cost when merit aid lands; for families above $400K, Notre Dame's lower published cost-of-attendance often nets out best.
What are the differences in geography and college culture?
Notre Dame sits in South Bend, Indiana – a small college town built around the university, with intense school spirit, football culture, and a residential model that keeps roughly 80% of undergraduates living on campus through senior year. Georgetown is in northwest Washington, D.C., embedded in a major metropolitan area with extensive internship pipelines into federal agencies, embassies, and think tanks; the campus is compact and walkable but the city is the campus for most upperclassmen. Boston College is in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, six miles west of downtown Boston, accessible by Green Line trolley; the campus is residential and self-contained but with easy access to Boston's biotech, finance, and consulting hubs. Cultural fit varies sharply: Notre Dame is the most cohesive and traditionally Catholic in observance; Georgetown is the most cosmopolitan and politically diverse; Boston College sits in between with strong Jesuit identity and a New England undergraduate culture.
Which school has the strongest career outcomes for finance and consulting?
For investment banking, consulting, and traditional finance recruiting, Boston College's Carroll School and Notre Dame's Mendoza College both place strongly into bulge-bracket banks and MBB consulting firms. Carroll has stronger New York and Boston pipelines through its alumni base in those markets; Mendoza has a stronger Chicago and Midwest presence with a notable Notre Dame loyalty effect at firms like Goldman Sachs Chicago, JPMorgan, and McKinsey. Georgetown McDonough places into finance and consulting at high rates but with a more pronounced D.C.-policy and international finance bent (World Bank, IMF, Treasury, sovereign wealth funds, international development consulting). For pure pre-MBA finance into the elite NY/Boston banks, Boston College Carroll has the most direct on-campus recruiting access; for global development, policy-adjacent consulting, or international finance, Georgetown McDonough wins.
Where does each school place graduates in government and law?
Georgetown is the dominant feeder among the three for federal government careers, U.S. State Department, intelligence agencies, congressional staff, and law school placement (especially Georgetown Law itself, Harvard Law, Yale Law, and Stanford Law). Notre Dame has a strong but more regional government presence with notable federal judiciary placement and a top-15 law school placement profile. Boston College places into law school at high rates – Boston College Law itself is top-30 – and produces strong outcomes in state and regional government, particularly across New England. For an applicant whose career horizon is government service, foreign service, or constitutional law, Georgetown is the clearest pick. For federal judicial clerkships and Catholic intellectual tradition in law, Notre Dame holds its own with any Ivy. For New England-based legal and government careers, Boston College is the strongest.
How do their alumni networks compare for long-term professional advantage?
Notre Dame's alumni network is widely regarded as one of the most loyal and active in higher education, with strong national reach through 270+ regional alumni clubs and a tradition of alumni hiring preference at firms with significant Notre Dame leadership presence. The Notre Dame brand opens doors in Chicago, Indianapolis, Columbus, and across the Midwest with particular strength, and produces meaningful national networks in finance, law, and engineering. Georgetown's network is smaller in absolute terms but disproportionately concentrated in Washington, D.C., New York finance, international development, and global affairs – if your career horizon is policy, foreign service, or international finance, Georgetown's network is denser and more accessible than Notre Dame's. Boston College's network is strongest in the Northeast, Boston-area finance and healthcare, and Catholic education leadership, with growing presence in tech and biotech through its proximity to the Route 128 corridor.
What admission strategy works for each school?
For Notre Dame, the most effective strategy is REA combined with strong demonstrated interest, a clear articulation of why Notre Dame specifically (the residential community, faith tradition, or Mendoza fit), and academic credentials in the top quartile of the admitted profile. The Notre Dame essay set rewards applicants who can articulate a values-driven worldview without sounding rehearsed. For Georgetown, applicants must apply to a specific school (College, SFS, McDonough, NHS) at the time of application – SFS applicants need a clear international or policy orientation backed by demonstrated activities. The Georgetown application uses its own form (not the Common App) and includes substantial supplemental essays. For Boston College, ED I or ED II provides the largest selectivity advantage, and applicants should align their essay strategy with the Jesuit values of cura personalis, men and women for others, and discernment – the supplemental essay rewards reflective writing about formation and purpose.
How should higher-income families weigh these three schools financially?
Cost-of-attendance for the 2025-2026 academic year runs approximately $87,000 at Notre Dame, $89,000 at Georgetown, and $86,000 at Boston College. For families at $200K-$300K HHI, expect Boston College to produce the lowest net cost if merit aid lands (Presidential Scholars, Gabelli) and to produce moderate need-based aid through its institutional formula. Notre Dame frequently produces meaningful need-based aid in this bracket as well, with awards averaging $35,000-$50,000 per year for families with incomes near $250K and one student in college. Georgetown is the most conservative aid school of the three at this income level, often expecting parent contributions of $55,000-$70,000 from families in the $250K-$300K bracket. For families above $400K, all three schools typically produce zero need-based aid, and the cost differential narrows to merit aid availability (Boston College) versus published cost-of-attendance (Notre Dame is slightly lower than Georgetown).
Frequently Asked Questions About Notre Dame vs Georgetown vs Boston College
Notre Dame is the most selective overall at approximately 9% Class of 2030 acceptance rate. However, Georgetown SFS runs tighter at 6-8% in some years, making it more selective for that specific program. Boston College is the most accessible of the three on a raw rate basis at approximately 16%, though ED applicants face a substantially different selection bar than RD applicants.
Boston College offers the strongest merit aid posture through its Presidential Scholars Program and Gabelli Presidential Scholars, both of which are full-tuition awards open to top applicants. Notre Dame and Georgetown are essentially need-only schools with minimal merit aid. For families in the $200K-$300K HHI bracket who are confident in top-decile academic credentials, Boston College should be ranked highest on financial expected value.
Boston College International Studies major within the Morrissey College is the closer functional analog to SFS than anything at Notre Dame. Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs is graduate-only and not directly comparable. For an SFS-focused applicant building a portfolio of three Catholic schools, Boston College International Studies plus Notre Dame Political Science plus a non-Catholic school like Tufts or Johns Hopkins SAIS-prep typically provides better strategic coverage than three Catholic schools alone.
Notre Dame considers demonstrated interest meaningfully and rewards REA applications, campus visits, and substantive supplemental essays. Boston College considers demonstrated interest and rewards ED applications heavily. Georgetown does not consider demonstrated interest as a formal factor and explicitly states this in its admissions process, though strong supplemental essays demonstrating program-specific knowledge function similarly in practice.
Notre Dame REA (Restrictive Early Action) is non-binding – applicants admitted in REA can decline and apply elsewhere – but applicants cannot apply to other private universities' binding ED programs in the same cycle. Boston College ED is binding – admitted applicants must enroll and withdraw all other applications. ED I deadline is November 1, ED II is January 1. The selectivity boost is more pronounced at Boston College ED than at Notre Dame REA, reflecting the binding commitment.
Notre Dame has the highest yield among the three at approximately 58%, reflecting its strong appeal among admitted students and its loyal Catholic applicant pool. Georgetown yields approximately 46% and Boston College approximately 37%. The yield gap reflects both ED commitment patterns and the cross-admit dynamics with Ivy League schools, where Boston College loses more cross-admits than Notre Dame does.
All three are highly selective national universities with strong professional pipelines, but they are typically ranked differently in cross-admit decisions. Among admitted students who hold offers from multiple Catholic universities, Notre Dame typically wins the cross-admit battle most often, followed by Georgetown, then Boston College. However, this varies sharply by intended major and geography: a finance-focused Northeast applicant may rank Boston College Carroll first, while a foreign-service-focused applicant nearly always ranks Georgetown SFS first.
Yes – all three actively welcome non-Catholic applicants and have substantial non-Catholic enrollment. Boston College is approximately 70% Catholic; Notre Dame is approximately 80% Catholic; Georgetown is approximately 50% Catholic. Religious affiliation is not a formal admissions factor at any of the three. The most important consideration for non-Catholic applicants is fit with the Jesuit or Catholic intellectual tradition (theology requirements, service expectations, campus religious life), which can be evaluated through campus visits and conversations with current students.
Sources: Notre Dame Office of Undergraduate Admissions; Georgetown Office of Undergraduate Admissions; Boston College Office of Undergraduate Admission; Common Data Set; NCES College Navigator; IPEDS; NACAC.
About Oriel Admissions
Oriel Admissions is a Princeton-based college admissions consulting firm advising families nationwide on elite university admissions strategy. Our team includes former admissions officers from leading Ivy League and top-ranked institutions. We offer a complimentary 30-minute discovery call to discuss your family’s situation, evaluate fit, and outline next steps. Schedule your discovery call →
