How do Notre Dame and UPenn compare in admissions selectivity for a typical high school applicant?

The biggest practical difference is that UPenn sits in a more extreme admissions tier, while Notre Dame is still very selective but usually a bit more attainable for a strong applicant. For a typical high-performing high school student, both should be treated as reaches, but Penn is the tougher reach. Penn draws an especially intense pool with very high academic credentials and a large share of applicants who are aiming at the most selective private universities in the country.

Notre Dame is also highly selective and gets many excellent applicants, but it is not usually viewed as quite as difficult to crack as Penn. A strong student with rigorous coursework, high grades, and compelling activities may have a somewhat more realistic shot at Notre Dame than at Penn. That does not make Notre Dame close to predictable, just somewhat less compressed at the top.

Another practical difference is how the applicant pools feel. Penn’s pool tends to include a very high concentration of applicants with near-perfect academics, polished extracurriculars, and strong institutional awareness, so small distinctions can matter a lot. Notre Dame also evaluates holistically, but applicants sometimes have a bit more room to stand out through fit, character, service, leadership, and demonstrated alignment with the school’s mission.

If you are deciding where to spend application energy, it makes sense to view Penn as the longer shot and Notre Dame as the slightly more realistic of the two, though still far from safe. The right mindset for most applicants is Penn as a high reach and Notre Dame as a reach rather than assuming they are on the same exact selectivity level.