Created by Holy Cross priest and later Notre Dame President John F. O'Hara, the Mendoza College of Business was renamed in 2000 after donors Tom and Kathy Mendoza. The school offers a variety of different options for students interested in pursuing a degree in business. In addition to its full-time, one, and two-year MBA programs, Mendoza offers a master of nonprofit administration and a MS in accounting. Though the majority of the school's programs take place on Notre Dame's main campus in South Bend, the EMBA program has centers of instruction in Chicago and Cincinnati, too.

Mendoza's full-time MBA curriculum is structured in modules, with the majority of required core classes in the first two quarters. The remaining modules are open to electives, allowing students to follow concentration tracks in finance, management, marketing or a general MBA. In between quarters, the school offers optional intensive intersession classes that can involve solving live business problems. For students seeking a dual degree, Mendoza collaborates with Notre Dame's other graduate programs to administer a JD/MBA, engineering/MBA and physical science/MBA.

Notre Dame is known for having a loyal alumni network, and Mendoza graduates benefit from that support after graduation. Usually, slightly less than half of graduates stay in the Midwest: 43 percent of the class of 2008, for example, and the others scatter throughout the U.S., with particular concentrations in the Northeast and West Coast. While still attending class, students network in a close social environment. Social life is based on campus, where Mendozans mingle with other graduate students, particularly in support of Notre Dame's sports teams.