University of Notre Dame Pre-College Programs Cryptography: From Classical to Quantum-Secure Systems

The course is led by Catie Adamo, Ph.D., who joined Notre Dame's Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics department as an Assistant Teaching Professor in 2022. She taught high school math for six years before earning her graduate degrees at North Carolina State University, and she now supervises undergraduate research in post-quantum, lattice-based cryptography, which is exactly where the course ends up.

Notre Dame says it keeps Summer Scholars classes small and faculty attention high, but it doesn't publish a class size or staff ratio.

You can apply if you're a high school sophomore or junior now, and you have to be 16 by 1 August 2027. Notre Dame makes no exceptions to the age rule, citing its insurance and child-protection policies, so check your birthday against it before you start, especially if you're a sophomore. Beyond that, it looks for strong academic standing, solid extracurriculars, self-discipline and maturity, and a sincere wish to be part of the Notre Dame community for the two weeks.

Notre Dame calls the two essays very important and uses them to learn why you want this particular course and what you'd bring to it. The teacher letter should speak to whether you can handle college-level material, along with your maturity, integrity and leadership, and Notre Dame prefers a teacher who can back your interest in the course's subject. Test scores are optional. If you don't attend an English-speaking high school, you'll 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.

You apply through Notre Dame's enrollment portal, where an application checklist shows which documents have arrived.

1. 1

   Create an account on the portal and start the online application, which went live on 19 October 2026.

2. 2

   Ask a teacher to recommend you, then add their email and your counselor's so Notre Dame can request the letter, transcript, counselor report and school profile from them.

3. 3

   Write the two essays and share your activities in the application's activities section, a resume or both.

4. 4

   If you want SAT, ACT or PSAT scores considered, upload them by 31 January 2027.

5. 5

   Submit the application and pay the $75 fee by 17 February 2027, after checking with your counselor and teacher, because making sure everything arrives is your job.

6. 6

   If you're admitted, pay the $300 enrollment fee by 23 April 2027 to secure your place and the $4,900 balance by 14 May 2027.

Expect to pay $5,275 if you're admitted, which is the $75 application fee everyone pays plus $5,200 for tuition, housing and enrollment. The $5,200 comes in two parts, a $300 enrollment fee by 23 April 2027 that holds your place and counts toward the total, then the $4,900 balance by 14 May 2027. That covers tuition, room and board, extracurricular activities and class field trips. Travel to Indiana isn't listed among Notre Dame's costs, and any medical care during the program is the family's to pay.

None of these payments is refundable, so settle your summer plans before paying the enrollment fee.

For help with costs, Notre Dame offers a limited number of need-based scholarships covering part or all of tuition but no merit awards. Grants that cover tuition, room and board are available to qualifying students living in Indiana (the Lilly Endowment grant) or the Philadelphia area. A parent or guardian requests aid through the Financial Aid Request Form by 17 February 2027, and any award comes with the admission letter. Application fee waivers are rare.

Under Notre Dame's most recently published rules, written for summer 2026, students stay on a campus whose boundaries the university defines street by street, and can leave only on a scheduled, supervised activity or with a staff member or Resident Counselor. The rules also keep students out of residence halls of the opposite gender, ban guests without written approval and bar driving any vehicle. Students have to attend every class, meal, check-in and scheduled event unless it's clearly marked as optional.

Medication is the part to plan for. Staff don't store or hand out medicines, so students manage their own, and parents must arrange any medical or mental health needs at least 30 days before the program starts. A student dismissed for breaking the rules goes home at the family's expense with no refund. The full standards and policies are on Notre Dame's site.

If you complete every program requirement, you can receive one transferable Notre Dame credit with a Satisfactory (S) grade rather than a letter grade, and you order the transcript from the University Registrar. Notre Dame calls the credit transferable but doesn't say how other colleges treat it. You also leave having written Python implementations of cryptographic algorithms yourself.