December 16th, 2025, was a fateful day for University of Notre Dame Early Action applicants. All told, a record-setting 13,711 hopefuls applied for admission (well over 6% more than last year’s record tally of 12,917), and only 1,617 of these prospective Fighting Irish, or 11.79%, earned admission via Notre Dame’s Early Action round.

Early Action applicants to Notre Dame do not necessarily have to demonstrate the same level of interest as Early Decision applicants would, as ND’s only Early round admissions program is not binding and thus doesn’t command the same level of heightened commitment ED commands. But Notre Dame admissions officers still appreciate their Restrictive Early Action applicants for putting it all on the line and applying as early as possible, even if these applications don’t come with a binding commitment to attend. Notre Dame applicants are, after all, quite passionate about their school of choice, always have been, and likely always will be. Notre Dame admissions officers know they do not need to implement a binding program to continue reaping record-setting admissions cycles year after year.

Speaking of, let’s review the University of Notre Dame’s Early Action admissions statistics over seven years.

Notre Dame Early Action Admissions Statistics Over 8 Years

To contextualize the 2025-2026 admission cycle, let’s review Notre Dame’s recent surge in popularity among high school seniors. The last six admissions cycles have resulted in record-breaking application volume, and the last five have consecutively broken records for the lowest EA acceptance rate. Beginning with the Class of 2025 to the present moment, Notre Dame has drawn continuously larger pools of Early Action applicants: 7,744 students for the Class of 2025, 9,683 for 2026, 11,163 for 2027, 11,498 for 2028, 12,917 for 2029, and 13,711 for the most recently admitted cohort. In other words, they had a lot of momentum going into the Class of 2030’s admissions cycle, and it seemed to pay off!

Below is a breakdown of Notre Dame’s Early Action admission statistics over the past eight years:

Notre Dame Class Year	Number of Early Action Applications	Number of Early Action Acceptances	Early Action Acceptance Rate
Class of 2030	13,711	1,617	11.79%
Class of 2029	12,917	1,669	12.92%
Class of 2028	11,498	1,724	14.99%
Class of 2027	11,163	1,701	15.24%
Class of 2026	9,683	1,675	17%
Class of 2025	7,744	1,673	21.6%
Class of 2024	7,295	1,540	21%
Class of 2023	7,334	1,534	20.92%

Breakdown of Notre Dame’s Class of 2030 Early Action Admits

According to a Notre Dame press release, the Class of 2030 Early Action applicants are “from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.” Moreover, among the applicant pool as a whole, “2,608 applicants (19% of total REA applicants) were deferred for reconsideration in the spring.”

Ivy Coach’s Assistance with Student’s Notre Dame Deferral or Rejection

If Notre Dame deferred you in the Early Action round for the Class of 2030, hold onto the faith that you should have (ideally!) expressed on your application to align yourself with Notre Dame’s Catholic values. Wow them with your sincere love for their school instead of bragging to the Notre Dame admissions office about all you’ve accomplished in the weeks since you applied.

How? Through a compelling Letter of Continued Interest! Ivy Coach’s team of former elite college admissions officers will help you craft a letter that optimizes your chances of admission to Notre Dame after a deferral. However, we can’t put the cart ahead of the horse, so we must understand what went wrong with your application in the first place and equip you with the tools you need to strategically pivot your case for admission around a singular admissions hook.

And if you were rejected, the time is now to spring into action and reassess your options for the Regular Decision round, but not until you’re equipped with a new competitive strategy that rights the wrongs of your Notre Dame application.

To get started with this process to make the most out of your Notre Dame’s Class of 2030 post-deferral or post-rejection, fill out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form, and we’ll be in touch to delineate our PostMortem service for deferred and rejected candidates.