The following Notre Dame / Mendoza MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 2 applicant. Good luck to them!
The Notre Dame interview was fairly straight forward. It was not mentioned whether the Adcom interviewing me had reviewed my entire application or only my resume. She started out asking the basic questions, beginning with “Why do you want an MBA?” and “What strengths would you bring to the program?” This took a considerable amount of time given the more casual nature of the interview, as I expanded on those questions to cover my work history. Since Mendoza is trying to position itself as having strong business ethics, she also asked me to describe an ethical dilemma I faced in my professional experience.
There was one a-typical question during the interview. She gave me a hypothetical scenario (I am interested in opening a restaurant in my area. What factors should I consider?) and gave me 5 minutes to prepare an answer, asking that I not look anything up on the internet. She then excused herself from the video chat so that I could write down some of my thoughts, which I shared with her upon her return 5 minutes later.
One thing that surprised me about chatting with her was hearing how much the school’s religious affiliation affects the classroom learning and curriculum. (This was not something she brought up — I brought it up at the end when she asked me if I had any questions for her). I’ve had several chats with current students and graduates who have said there is virtually no religious influence in the classroom. Regardless, my interviewer detailed ways that biblical considerations factored into courses such as social impact and business ethics.
I thought the interview went well, especially since I highlighted lots of work experience that would strengthen their ethics focus, namely my time in the Peace Corps and post-Peace Corps work experience at a for-profit in Africa dealing with corruption, and also my very thorough answer on the Starting-A-Restaurant question. Regardless, I ended up getting waitlisted, which was a surprise. Now, in retrospect, I wonder if this was because she could pick up on the fact that I wasn’t comfortable having religious-influenced coursework, and dinged me there. It could be all for the better, because I think with this considered, I would not be very inclined to enroll if I was accepted.
Preparing for an upcoming interview at Notre Dame / Mendoza?
After your interview, be sure to add your first-hand interview report to the Clear Admit Interview Archive.
