Is Cornell or Notre Dame more selective for undergraduate admissions?

Cornell is typically viewed as slightly more selective for undergraduate admissions than Notre Dame, though the gap is not huge and it can feel different depending on the applicant pool in a given year. Cornell is an Ivy League university with a very large and varied applicant base, and that scale tends to make admission especially competitive across many of its colleges. Notre Dame is also highly selective, but in broad reputation and admissions context, Cornell is more often placed a notch tougher overall.

That said, the comparison is not as simple as one school being clearly easier. Notre Dame draws a very self-selecting pool, often with strong academic records and a high level of demonstrated interest in the school’s mission, campus culture, and Catholic identity. For a student who strongly matches Notre Dame’s values and community style, it may feel more accessible than Cornell, while for a student who is applying broadly to elite research universities, Cornell may be the harder admit in the abstract.

Cornell tends to fit students drawn to a large university with many undergraduate colleges, extensive research opportunities, and a broader range of academic niches. That breadth attracts a huge volume of applicants with different goals, which adds to the perception of higher overall selectivity.

Notre Dame tends to appeal to students who want a more unified undergraduate experience, a strong residential community, and a campus culture shaped by tradition, school spirit, and service. Its applicant pool can be somewhat narrower in profile, but still extremely competitive.

So if your question is purely about general admissions difficulty, Cornell usually has the edge as the more selective of the two. But for an individual applicant, perceived difficulty can shift a lot based on academic fit, school-specific alignment, and how naturally your application matches each campus culture.