The Notre Dame Masters in Management program is a relatively new masters program and one that I think very highly of. I’ve had the privilege of spending a lot of time on campus and meeting with numerous Notre Dame students and alumni and know how tight knit the community is. The university is one of the best in the country and the way they operate every degree program reflects their commitment to excellence.
I’ve been lucky enough to get a recent review from one of these helpful alumni. I hope it helps any of you who are considering applying or attending the Notre Dame program.
1. Why a masters in business? Why Notre Dame specifically?
My undergraduate degree is in romance languages, not exactly a natural bridge to the business world. The closer I got to graduation the more I realized that I did want to pursue a career in business but did not have the educational background I needed to launch a career in business. It was at this point that I decided a graduate business degree was the perfect fit. I chose Notre Dame primarily because it is specifically designed for non-business majors. It was nice knowing that we would all be on the same playing field to begin with.
That, combined with the Notre Dame network made the decision an easy one for me. There are very few places with as passionate an alumni base as Notre Dame, and having access to all of those people who have shared this Notre Dame experience with you is invaluable. There is something that connects Notre Dame grads, whether you spent one year there or four. You have the shared experience of football Saturdays and you know the buzz that settles over South Bend during the season. It is the combination of a great academic institution and a cultural icon that makes the Notre Dame network so passionate and such a special and unique thing to be a part of.
Additionally, career services will also work with you to leverage the network and determine your strengths in a way that I had not experienced before. I ended up in the perfect place and would not have been able to do it without the program and without the alumni network.
2. Who would you recommend to and why?
I would recommend this degree to anyone who wants to pursue a career in business but does not have a strong technical background. It allows you to bridge your undergraduate degree to the business world without locking you in to an industry. I looked at programs that were finance focused and felt that the Notre Dame degree would provide me with more flexibility (even though I ended up in finance post-graduation). If you are at all unsure of where to go next, where you want to be in the business world, or feel that you lack the necessary fundamental skills to succeed in business, this program is a perfect fit.
3. Pros/cons of this degree?
One of the largest pros of the degree is that no one has an undergraduate degree in business. Not only does this put you on an even playing field with all of your classmates, it allows you to see how people with different backgrounds view the same situation. One of my project teams consisted of a Romance Languages major, an Economics major, a Political Science major, and an English major. Every member of our team viewed every case differently. The ability to have such a diverse group of thinkers in one room is one of the highlights of this program as it really does open your mind to new ways of thinking. The Mendoza faculty are also one of the highlights, they are knowledgeable and accessible. There are professors that I still speak to because they are so accessible to the students. I was able to develop a professional relationship with the faculty, who are all experts in their fields.
One con of the degree which is not specific to Notre Dame but rather a one year program is there is no “deep dive” on any particular subject. While you will gain an overview and general understanding of many different aspects of business, you should not come into this program expecting to be an expert in finance by graduation. I will say that the foundational knowledge is extensive enough that you will have the ability to understand reports put in front of you and, at least in my career in finance, I have never felt out of my depth. But it is a general degree and very non-specific in terms of a specialty.
4. Anything else
I think this program is the perfect way to bridge your passion to a career. In my undergraduate career I studied what I felt passionate about at the time and it has been useful in my career. Being bilingual I have been able to build professional relationships with the Latin American team that sits in Miami, something that other members of my team in New York may not be able to do. I truly believe that studying your passion in undergraduate and bridging that with the fundamentals learned in this program make you a more well-rounded person and a more valuable asset to any organization.
Here is a link to the Notre Dame Masters in Management Program
