Is Notre Dame or Boston University harder to get into?

Notre Dame is harder to get into than Boston University. Both are selective, but Notre Dame is typically viewed as the more difficult admit, with a smaller entering class, a more compressed academic profile among admitted students, and a very strong national applicant pool. In practice, most students would treat Notre Dame as the tougher reach of the two.

One concrete difference is applicant competition relative to class size. Notre Dame enrolls a smaller undergraduate class and gets intense interest from students across the country who are drawn to its academic reputation, residential campus culture, and strong alumni network. That combination tends to make each spot especially contested.

Another differentiator is admissions positioning. Boston University is definitely selective and attracts a huge volume of applicants, but it also operates at a much larger scale as an urban research university with more overall undergraduate capacity across many schools and programs. That does not make BU easy, but it usually places it a step below Notre Dame in raw selectivity.

The type of applicant each school draws also matters. Notre Dame tends to attract a very self-selecting pool of students with high grades, rigorous coursework, and strong institutional interest, including many applicants who are specifically committed to its mission and campus environment. BU’s pool is also strong, but Notre Dame is more often the school students and counselors label the steeper admissions climb.