The Mendoza College of Business is the business school at the University of Notre Dame, a private in Notre Dame, Indiana. Founded in 1921, it offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is ranked among the top 30 business schools in the United States for graduate and MBA programs. A part from its main campus, it also offers an executive MBA in Chicago. The school was renamed in 2000 following a donation to the school by Tom Mendoza.
History
Business and commerce classes had been taught at Notre Dame since its foundation, and already in 1853 there was a Mercantile Department. The teaching of business was yet fragmented for many years, with the Department disappering from 1856 to 1860, and then being reformulated as a Two-year Commercial Course in 1863. This course taught Book-keeping, Penmanship, Arithmetic, Algebra, English Grammar and Composition, Elocution, Geography, History, German, Business Practice, and Commercial Law and was stable for several years. In 1905, it was renamed Commercial School and it became a one-year program. In 1910 meanwhile, the program was inserted into the preparatory school curriculum and became a for year course. Meanwhile, in 1913, a proper Department of Commerce was established within the College of Arts and Letters. This included several courses on secretarial and business work but also training for managerial and executive positions. The main program offered was a four-year Bachelor of Philosophy in Commerce, with classes in accounting for four semesters, with additional classes in money, credit and banking, public finance, economic development in the United States, railway transportation, industrial organization and combination, insurance, and Business Law. Additional coursework included several foreign languages, economics, philosophy, politics, labor problem, American government, and elocution. In 1917, Notre Dame became the first university to launch a four-year course in Foreign Commerce. The real beginning of the school was on April 20, 1921, when the department was removed from the College of Arts and Letters and became the separate College of Commerce. The first dean of the college was John Francis O'Hara. O'Hara was inspired by his knowledge of business. He hoped to place Notre Dame and its graduates in the burgeoning trade and growing economic power between North and South America. In 1921, the college had about 400 students and 13 faculty. Under O'Hara's diligent leadership, the school soon offered 85 classes in 5 departments and his efforts, together with a societal trend towards valuing business education to obtain a job, made the College tie the College of Arts and Letters as the most numerous already in 1922, with over 500 students. Despite the criticism that the college's education was becoming too commercialized and vocational, O'Hara still maintained a liberal arts theme in the business courses and retained language, philosophy, political science, and history classes. O'Hara'ambitious goals were cut short by lack of funding. In 1924, James E. McCarthy succeeded O'Hara as Dean, a post he would keep till in 1955. McCarthy, who was born in Holyoke in 1896 and graduated from Columbia in 1916, was an outspoken advocate of free trade and was well acquainted with many of the nation's leading businessmen and CEOs. During his tenure, the College rose greatly in prominence and visibility, hugely increased its number and quality of courses, and became the University's largest academic division increasing from 500 to 1500 students. In 1933, Chicago businessman Edward N. Hurley donated $200,000 for a new building for the college, which was named Hurley Hall. O'Hara had been pursuing Hurley for such donation since 1919, but the financial situation of the country had not permitted it. Hurley was a successful businessman, founder of the Hurley Machine Company, and chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Shipping Board. He had been the honorary Dean of the College since its founding and had received the Laetare Medal in 1926. Roger Huang, Martin J. Gillen Dean and Kenneth R. Meyer Professor of Global Investment Management, joined the college in 2000. In March 2000, the College of Business received a naming gift from NetApp, Inc. executives, Tom and Kathy Mendoza.
Rankings and reputation
In 2016, Mendoza's undergraduate business program was ranked No. 2 by Bloomberg Businessweek. Mendoza's undergraduate business program was ranked No. 9 in the U.S. by U.S. News in 2016. In the 2017 edition, Mendoza no longer appears among the top 10. However, in 2017, Poets and Quants ranked Mendoza's undergraduate business program at No. 4 nationally. Rankings for Mendoza's MBA program among U.S. MBA programs include #22 by Forbes, #26 in 2017 by Bloomberg BusinessWeek and #31 by US News and World Report. In global rankings, the Mendoza MBA was ranked #40 by The Economist and #80 by Financial Times. Its Executive MBA program was ranked #15 by Bloomberg Businessweek. College Atlas and The Economist rank the Mendoza MBA 2nd among business schools in Indiana. For 2011, the Aspen Institute, which ranks institutions on how well schools incorporate issues concerning social and environmental stewardship into the curriculum, ranked Mendoza #4 worldwide. Poets & Quants reveals a placement rate of 93% after 3 months for the Undergraduate school, as well as an average starting salary of roughly $61,000.
Selectivity
MBA program
The admissions rate for the 2014 was 35%. Applicants are required to take the GMAT exam. Of the admitted applicants, the median score was 687 and the middle 80% of scores ranged from 650 to 769.
Undergraduate program
After completing the university's First Year of Studies program, Notre Dame business majors enter the Mendoza College in their sophomore year. Starting in 2015, high school applicants will have to apply directly and be "pre-approved" for admission into Mendoza after their first year of studies.
Executive Education
Stayer Center for Executive Education offers degree programs and non-degree programs for full-time working professionals. In addition to the programs offered at the Notre Dame campus in South Bend and the campus in Chicago, Illinois, there is also a program that takes place in Ireland.
