University of Notre Dame Pre-College Programs Russia and the West

David Gasperetti, a professor emeritus (retired professor) of Russian who has been on the Notre Dame faculty since 1989, is the course's academic director. His research centers on 18th- and 19th-century Russian novels, especially Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, and his book The Rise of the Russian Novel: Carnival, Stylization, and Mockery of the West looks at how early Russian novels imitated, transformed and rejected Western European models. He won a teaching award at the University of Tulsa in 1988 and undergraduate teaching awards at Notre Dame in 1999 and 2014.

Notre Dame says it keeps Summer Scholars classes small, although it doesn't publish a class size for this course.

Summer Scholars is open to current high school sophomores and juniors who will be at least 16 on 1 August 2027, and Notre Dame makes no exceptions to that age rule, citing its insurance and child-protection policies. Beyond that it looks for strong academic standing, solid extracurricular activities and real maturity and self-discipline. It publishes no acceptance rate or cohort size, so there's no way to judge your odds from the outside.

The application includes two essays, and Notre Dame calls them very important: it wants to know why you're interested in this particular course and what you'd bring to it. It also says it's helpful if your recommendation comes from a teacher who can support your interest in the course. You can show your activities in the application's list, in a resume or both. SAT, ACT or PSAT scores are encouraged but not required, while applicants whose high school doesn't teach in English need a TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo English Test or PTE Academic score.

You apply online through Notre Dame's Summer Scholars application portal.

1. 1

   Ask a teacher to recommend you and get their OK before adding their details, and have your counselor's name and email ready.

2. 2

   Start the online application and add your counselor's and teacher's details. Notre Dame then emails your counselor for your transcript, school report and school profile, and your teacher for the recommendation, and it's up to you to check with both that the emails arrived.

3. 3

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

4. 4

   Submit the application with its two essays and pay the $75 fee by 17 February 2027, which is also the date Notre Dame gives for all supporting documents.

5. 5

   If you need financial aid, a parent or guardian submits the Financial Aid Request Form by 17 February 2027, and the aid decision arrives with your admission letter.

The course costs $5,200 for 2027, plus a $75 application fee you pay whether or not you're admitted. The $5,200 covers tuition, room and board, extracurricular activities and class field trips, so the main extra is getting to and from campus, and Notre Dame recommends buying travel insurance. Parents also pay any medical costs during the program, so the student needs health insurance.

Once admitted, you pay a $300 enrollment fee by 23 April 2027 to secure your place and the $4,900 balance by 14 May 2027. None of it is refundable. A student sent home for breaking the rules gets nothing back either, and the family covers the trip home.

Help is limited. Notre Dame has a small pool of need-based scholarships covering part or all of tuition and offers no merit aid. A Lilly Endowment grant covers tuition, room and board for qualifying Indiana residents, and a donor-funded grant does the same for qualifying students from the Philadelphia area. Asking for aid doesn't affect the admission decision.

Complete all the course requirements and you can earn one transferable Notre Dame college credit with a Satisfactory (S) grade, which shows up on a transcript you order from the University Registrar. Because the grade is a pass mark, the transcript shows you finished the course rather than how well you did. Notre Dame doesn't say which colleges accept the credit, so check with the ones you're considering before you count on it.

Students live in a Notre Dame residence hall with Resident Counselors and can't leave campus except on supervised activities or with a staff or Resident Counselor chaperone. Notre Dame's code of conduct for summer high school residents requires students to be back in their own hall by 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and by midnight on Friday and Saturday, and in their rooms by 12:30 a.m. every night. Students can't have visitors or go into other halls. Attendance at classes, meals, field trips and scheduled events is required, and students can't drive.

Staff don't store or hand out medication, so students manage their own, and parents need to arrange any medical or mental health accommodations at least 30 days before the program starts. Notre Dame's standards and policies are strict on alcohol, vaping and conduct, and breaking them can mean being sent home.