The MBA Gatekeeper At Notre Dame

Do you bring to Notre Dame a personal philosophy of how admissions should be run?

For me, ethics are a critical part of any admissions position but it’s especially important to me. I am absolutely committed to personal attention to every applicant. Notre Dame was a good fit for me because of the emphasis on ethics and the personal attention part plays a key role in the process. It comes down to how we answer the phone and answer emails.

Every application is read cover to cover at least twice by members of our admissions team. We don’t hire outside contract readers. We believe that having full-time people on the admissions staff is the best way to make decisions. Students put in enormous amounts of time and effort in an application and they deserve to have every word of their application read.

It’s going very well so far. Application numbers have been inconsistent in the past few years. But the applications we are seeing this year reflect very strong academic quality and they’re trending even stronger than last year.

So what’s the actual admissions process like?

One reader reads the entire application and then makes a recommendation and narrative comments. The second reader is blind and doesn’t see what the first reader has to say until they’ve read it cover to cover. We like to read cold. If both readers agree on the decision then I get a chance to review it. I review every application.

If it’s clear the two reviewers agree, the decision is made. If not, it goes before the admissions committee. It is not a committee where there is an actual vote or a committee that has veto power. We work toward consensus. What makes a committee work well is if it’s clear what you are looking for. When we do disagree, I try to refocus us on a common goal that we all share: to find students who will be successful here and will benefit from the program and live out the mission of the university. That is generally my approach.

Overall, we interview about 75% of our applicants and probably a quarter of our interviews are initiated by the admissions committee. The rest are initiated by the prospective students themselves. To me it is important that this process be personal. If a student wants to interview, we will sit down with them. All interviews are done by staff, current students or alumni. They all go through the same training and we all evaluate students the same way. A typical interview is usually 45 minutes.

What kinds of questions do you ask in an admissions interview?

We try to keep that confidential. But in general, I can say that the goal of the interview is to understand why the candidate wants to pursue an MBA. We often delve into their work experience to understand what kind of experiences they’ve had and we ask questions to help us gauge the person’s problem solving, teamwork, ethics, and communication skills.

What makes some admission decisions difficult?

It can be any number of things. Sometimes there are weaknesses where the student has an explanation that can be truly legitimate. A lower GPA  could be explained by a student who had to work 30 hours a week throughout their undergraduate experience. That is why you have to read every word of an application. You need to hear a person’s full story. The quantitative and the qualitative can sometimes send you in conflicting directions.

In your short time reviewing this year’s applications have you seen any unusual or unique applicants?

It can be hard to share those stories because out of context they may not make much sense. There is a part of the Notre Dame application that is especially revealing. We ask our applicants to present a slide presentation—not more than four slides. And we ask them to convey information about themselves in this slightly different format. It’s a different way of presenting who they are. I have found those to be really compelling. It’s not a rehashing of their resume, but a way to showcase who they are and what they would bring to the program. It’s what they reveal that often gives me the best sense of who they are as individuals.

They are visual: Sometimes it’s a selection of family photos or graphic representations of their goals and values. Or they will share photos of volunteer experiences they have had in social justice and awareness. travel. It just helps you get a broader picture of the applicant.