University of Notre Dame Pre-College Programs Climate Change: Fighting for the Future of Our Planet

Two Notre Dame academics lead it. Phil Sakimoto directs the university's Minor in Sustainability, where he oversees senior capstone projects and teaches sustainability courses, and before that he was program manager and acting director of NASA's Space Science Education and Public Outreach Program. He trained in physics and holds a PhD in astronomy from UCLA.

Michelle Marvin is an assistant teaching professor and associate director of Notre Dame's Writing Center, and she teaches multimedia writing and rhetoric with a focus on sustainability and digital media. Between them you get a scientist and a writing teacher, which matches the course's mix of science and reading, writing and multimedia work. Notre Dame says it keeps Summer Scholars classes small but doesn't publish a class size.

Notre Dame looks for students with strong grades, solid extracurriculars and the self-discipline and maturity to manage college-level work, plus a sincere wish to be part of the Notre Dame community for the two weeks. The age rule is strict: you must be 16 by 1 August 2027, and Notre Dame makes no exceptions because of its insurance and child-protection policies.

Notre Dame calls the two essays very important and wants them to show why you're drawn to this particular course and what you'd bring to it. It also says it helps to have a recommendation from a teacher who can speak to your interest in the subject, so a teacher who has seen you engage with environmental or social questions makes sense here. SAT, ACT or PSAT scores are encouraged but not required. International applicants whose high school doesn't teach in English need a TOEFL (5.5+), IELTS (7.5+), PTE (55+) or Duolingo (120+) score. Notre Dame doesn't publish how many students apply or how many places the course has.

Everything goes through Notre Dame's online application portal.

1. 1

   Create an account and add your counselor's and recommending teacher's contact details, asking the teacher's permission first.

2. 2

   Notre Dame emails them automatically, and it's your job to check they've received the requests for your transcript, school report, school profile and recommendation letter.

3. 3

   Write the two essays and show your activities in the application's activities section, as an uploaded resume, or both.

4. 4

   Upload any SAT, ACT or PSAT scores by 31 January 2027 if you choose to send them.

5. 5

   Submit the application and pay the $75 fee by 17 February 2027, which is also the last day you can change your recommender. Your counselor and teacher get one extra week to upload their documents, and if you're asking for financial aid, a parent or guardian sends the Financial Aid Request Form by 17 February as well.

6. 6

   Notre Dame reviews your file once everything has arrived, and asking for aid doesn't affect the admission decision. Any financial aid decision comes in the same letter as your admission decision.

The course costs $5,200, which covers tuition, your room and meals, extracurricular activities and class field trips. On top of that you pay a $75 application fee, which isn't refunded, and your own travel to and from Indiana. Notre Dame strongly recommends travel insurance.

Once you're admitted, a $300 enrollment fee is due by 23 April 2027 to hold your place and counts toward the $5,200, and the $4,900 balance is due by 14 May 2027. None of it comes back once paid. A student sent home for breaking the rules gets no refund either, and the family pays for the trip home, as it does for any medical care during the program.

Financial help is limited. Notre Dame offers some need-based scholarships, from partial to full tuition, but no merit aid, and it waives the application fee only rarely, in extreme circumstances. Students living in Indiana can be considered for a Lilly Endowment grant, and those in the Philadelphia area for a donor-funded grant, each covering tuition, room and board for those who qualify. A parent or guardian asks for all of these through the Financial Aid Request Form by 17 February 2027.

Students live in residence halls with Resident Counselors and can't leave campus except on a scheduled, supervised activity or with a staff member or Resident Counselor as chaperone. They can't enter residence halls of the opposite gender, have visitors without written approval or drive any vehicle.

Families need to plan ahead for medication, because staff don't store or give out medicines and students manage their own. Parents must also arrange for any known medical or mental health needs at least 30 days before the program starts. The full rules are in Notre Dame's standards and policies for pre-college students, last published for summer 2026, and in the residential handbook.

If you meet all the course requirements, you may receive one transferable Notre Dame credit with a Satisfactory (S) grade, which you order on a transcript from the University Registrar. It's a Satisfactory grade rather than a letter grade, and whether another college counts it is up to that college. Notre Dame makes no claim that the course helps an application to its own undergraduate program, so treat the credit, your projects and the experience of a college course as the real return.