Notre Dame Law School (NDLS) isn’t a T-14, but, in its own interesting way, it has many of the same qualities as one. It’s one of the T-20s we frequently see admitted students choose over T-14 schools—and it’s one of the schools we hear most often is a top choice.

Why is this? Notre Dame is respected across the board, carrying strong name recognition, and it places students into a variety of legal careers. It’s also a Catholic school, and one that has been around since the 1800s; it’s arguably the best Catholic school in the country. Many students with a strong faith background, Catholic or not, are drawn to a law school that sees legal work as grounded in a philosophical and spiritual condition.

There are two Notre Dame Law Schools. The first is the regionally and nationally strong South Bend program always on the cusp of breaking into higher rankings, with good Big Law placement and strong ties to the Chicago market housed within a university with a robust, happy general student culture. This Notre Dame feels like a special place, with a strong sense of identity and a collaborative, supportive character. For most students, it’s a school that feels good to attend, one that promotes belonging as well as a sense of duty and meaning.

The second Notre Dame Law School is the best meaningfully Catholic law school in the country, a program that views its competitors not as Georgetown or UT Austin or WashU, but Yale. There’s sort of a rule in law school admissions: if you want to do flashy, intellectual things like clerk or contribute meaningfully to shaping how the law works in America, you usually need to not go to a T14, but a T6 or even T3. Notre Dame offers an alternative: it’s the hot spot for religious and/or conservative leaning students to connect with each other and contribute to a certain intellectual (and political) project. This Notre Dame has better clerkship placement rates than even Penn and Columbia, largely due to its deep ties to right-leaning judges.

Both of these Notre Dames, of course, are the same law school—but the key to NDLS admissions is knowing which Notre Dame you’re applying to. You don’t need to like both, but you should signal positive reasons why you’d be a good fit. Notre Dame admissions knows they have “a South Bend problem.” Expect their AOs to ask, “Will this person actually move to Indiana for the amount we’re willing to give them in scholarships?” There are three winning arguments: either a regional tie to Chicago/the Midwest/ the Rust Belt, an ideological tie to advancing a certain version of how the law should treat religious life in America, or a Catholic identity you care about.