Executive MBA Chicago
Ready to learn more? Tell us about yourself:
As a proven leader, you know what it takes to make your mark in the business world. The drive that brought you to this point, paired with the training of an Executive MBA, will lead you to leave a lasting impact on business.
The Executive MBA — ranked in the top 30 in the country by U.S. News & World Report — is tailored to the needs of busy executives and offered through a two-year program that meets once monthly on Michigan Avenue in the heart of Chicago. It’s a true MBA program that delivers a true Notre Dame education.
Typical EMBA students in Chicago are experienced professionals, particularly chief officers, managers, and business owners with more than 10 years of professional experience. The variety of backgrounds and experiences your classmates bring provides value and bolsters the in-person learning experience. They bring a unique richness to a program that challenges you to be a better business leader for your organization and the world.
Duration:
22 months
Format & Location:
Once monthly, Thursday through Saturday on the Chicago campus
Start Date:
Early August
Related Programs
Highlights: EMBA Chicago Experience
Notre Dame is storied for educational excellence, a collaborative environment, values-based leadership and a phenomenal alumni network. When you join the Notre Dame EMBA program, you’ll be immersed in this culture — a community as inspirational as it is powerful.

Lead From Your Core Values
You'll refine your creative and strategic problem-solving skills as we challenge you to think differently, reflect deeply and transform your approach to problem solving. Your journey begins with Executive Integral Leadership (EIL), a weeklong, high-impact program on the Notre Dame campus that students call “transformational.”

Immerse yourself in Electives Week
Dive deeper into your choice of topics during Electives Week, a weeklong immersion on the Notre Dame campus. Pick from a list of optional courses in Business Analytics, Mergers & Acquisitions, Business Problem Solving, Leadership Communication and more.

Immerse Yourself In International Business
Participate in the weeklong, project-based international immersion experience, where you’ll be connected with an international company or organization to help solve a specific business challenge. Past students have traveled to Madrid, Santiago, Buenos Aires to apply their first-year coursework in an international setting.

Work As A Team, Succeed As A Team
You'll be assigned to a small-group study team of people from different industries and backgrounds when you first enter the program. This approach creates a collaborative learning environment and enables you to leverage varying skill sets for maximum success through the program.
22 months
Duration of Program
35
Average Age
12
Years Average Work Experience
27%
Female Students
16%
Minority Students
Top Industries
Financial Services (16%)
Manufacturing (10%)
Technology (9%)
Career Development
By mid-career, each working professional’s track record and goals are unique. Our commitment is to work with you individually to acquire the skills and confidence necessary to master all current and future career transitions. We provide a full range of services that allow you to customize your personal career development plans for both success and significance.
Joel Farran, Associate Director, Career Development, is focused on supporting the professional development of students in the EMBA. Whether it’s preparing for impactful moments or developing a vision for where students see themselves making the most difference, Joel’s role is to be a partner, resource, and guide along a student’s professional journey.
Professional coaches from Mendoza’s Career Development staff provide a combination of group and individual learning experiences. Conveniently scheduled workshops provide content tailored to segments of students with similar career goals and needs. Personalized Career Mastery Coaching is available as a one-on-one coaching immersion that equips you to navigate any future career decision with clarity, confidence, and conviction.
Coaches guide you to develop your own hard-hitting, targeted, and unique message for the roles you are ideally suited for with our proprietary Career Mastery curriculum of online video-supported content and tools.
Your business family will grow far beyond campus. You will become part of one of the most extensive and engaged alumni networks in the world, joining more than 144,000 active Notre Dame graduates — all of whom look out for one another. We will show you the best ways to identify and connect with those sharing mutual interests.
Leaders from this select list of companies, and many others, have gained a Notre Dame Executive MBA to achieve their own legendary advantage:
- Abbott Laboratories
- Amazon.com
- Big Ten Network
- CDW
- Chicago White Sox
- Fifth Third Bank
- Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies
- JPMorgan Chase
- LexisNexis
- Lincoln Financial Group
- Motorola
- National Merit Scholarship Corporation
- PIMCOPNC Investments
- PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
- RICOH
- Robert Bosch Tool Corporation
- Ulta Beauty
- Unilever
- United Airlines
- United Bank of Michigan
- UnitedHealthcare
- US Army
- US Navy
- Verizon
- Whirlpool Corporation
- Wrigley
Student Life
Classmates who are experts in their respective fields become your trusted advisers. Faculty who provide insights become your consultants. The alumni network opens doors that were once closed. The intangibles are what make the returns on your investment infinite.
You’ll be able to continue working during the week and team up with a cohort of professionals for class every month in downtown Chicago. This group could include engineers, entrepreneurs, attorneys and physicians — a group all aligned to help each other succeed in the program. You’ll expand your collective wisdom by drawing on one another’s expertise and experience, and discover new approaches to solving business problems.
The classmates in your cohort will become your staunchest allies, from whom you will gain academic, professional and personal support. You’ll also join the Notre Dame family. From the time you start classes, you’ll have the opportunity to attend networking events and connect with your local Notre Dame club to grow your connections. And as a Notre Dame student, you’ll have the opportunity to experience all that Notre Dame has to offer, from football games to world-renowned speakers and Mass at the Basilica.
Learn more about Women in Business at Notre Dame.
What You’ll Learn: EMBA Course of Study
The Executive MBA curriculum integrates five focus areas that together will provide you with new frameworks and strategies for tackling age-old business problems, responding to emerging challenges and seizing new opportunities.
Each step in the EMBA process builds upon the previous one to reinforce the three cornerstones of the program — leadership, fundamentals and strategy.
- Step One: The EMBA begins with a focus on self during our Executive Integral Leadership course, an intensive, one-week exploration of your leadership style that will teach you how to maximize the effectiveness of your particular strengths and skills.
- Step Two: You’ll progress into coursework with Awareness, Exploration, Advanced Analysis and Integration. You’ll also participate in a required international immersion experience, partnering with an international organization or company to solve a particular business problem.
- Step Three: The EMBA experience culminates with Sustained Advantage — a focus on how your business decisions affect the greater world around you.
During Electives Week, you’ll visit the main Notre Dame campus and customize your learning experience by enrolling in two courses of your choosing. Ultimately, you graduate with the skills to become a strategic leader with a holistic view of yourself and a global view of business.
Signature Courses
- Executive Integral Leadership
- International Systems Thinking
Our Community
You will be challenged by world-class faculty and inspired by accomplished alumni. You will collaborate with students from a wide range of personal and professional backgrounds.

Alumnus "I was workshopping with some of the 65 smartest people anywhere on a biweekly basis. I’m not sure how many millions I would’ve had to pay to get that kind of expertise to help me on some of my business challenges."

Alumnus "That’s what brought me back to get my MBA; I had the real-world experience, and I really needed the technical textbook knowledge to go with it."

Teaching Professor Emeritus "The world today thirsts for the kind of leadership our students can give. We want them to leave fully confident they can do that. "
Admission
The next step you take in your professional life could be the one that accelerates your career, lifts your organization to the next level and changes the way you see the world.
Application Deadlines
Round | Deadline | Virtual Interview Dates | Decision Release |
---|---|---|---|
Early Decision | Sept. 13, 2022 | Oct. 5-6, 2022 Oct. 11-12, 2022 | Nov. 4, 2022 |
1 | Nov. 1, 2022 | Nov. 16-17, 2022 Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2022 | Dec. 16, 2022 |
2 | Jan. 10, 2023 | Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2023 Feb. 14-15, 2023 | Mar. 17, 2023 |
3 | Mar. 14, 2023 | Mar. 28-29, 2023 Apr. 4-5, 2023 | Apr. 28, 2023 |
4 | May 2, 2023 | May 16-17, 2023 | Jun. 2, 2023 |
*Round 4 Deadline Extended until May 19th, 2023.
Tuition & Aid
The Notre Dame Executive MBA offers one of the best returns on investment of any top-ranked EMBA program. Aided by its competitive price, program-sponsored fellowships and financial aid, any student can put together a plan to participate in the Notre Dame Executive MBA program today.
Tuition for the Executive MBA Class of 2025 is $159,100.
Most Executive MBA students finance their education through a combination of Notre Dame-sponsored fellowships, external scholarships, personal income or savings and graduate student loans, including both private and federal loan programs. While some students qualify for corporate financial sponsorship through their employer, it is not required to apply to the program. Notre Dame is committed to helping students afford the program, awarding more than $1 million in fellowship support for current classes.
Events
Get Started or Solidify Your Decision at an Information Session
You’re invited to join us—in person or online—for a presentation of the Notre Dame Executive MBA program. Rising executives, managers and corporate sponsors will learn about our program’s unique focus on values and strategy while visiting with program alumni.