Ph.D. in Management
Earning a Ph.D. in Management positions you for an academic career in the management department of a top business school, pursuing a research agenda that you’re passionate about and that can improve employee thriving and organizational effectiveness. You could pass your knowledge on to the next generation of business leaders in the classroom. As a career direction, the life of a professor in a top business school is purposeful, lucrative and offers unparalleled flexibility and job security.
Why Notre Dame?
Faculty Calibur
Notre Dame's accomplished Management & Organization faculty publish regularly in journals like Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes, Journal of Applied Psychology, Management Science, Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, Psychological Science, American Sociological Review, and American Journal of Sociology.
Institutional Prestige
Notre Dame regularly ranks in the top 20 university in U.S. News & World Report and is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. It is considered a private "New Ivy" alongside schools like Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Georgetown, Northwestern, Rice, Vanderbilt, and Washington University. A Ph.D. from Mendoza sets you up for success at both elite private schools and flagship state universities.
Passion Focused
M&O faculty study topics relevant to Mendoza's Grow the Good in Business mission, including ethics, reputation, trust, social responsibility, resilience, humility, and meaning. We encourage Ph.D. students to follow their own passions; we'll help you develop lead-authored work on what you're passionate about.
Methodological Diversity
M&O faculty apply experimental, archival, survey, qualitative, and meta-analytic methodological approaches. That diversity will allow you to build a variety of skills into your methods toolkit.
Placement Potential
Our Ph.D. program is fairly new, but our faculty have significant experience placing Ph.D. students in top business schools, whether in earlier faculty positions or through our former postdoctoral program. Collectively, our faculty have already placed 13 students at UT-Dallas Top 100 business schools.
Concentrations
Organizational Behavior
Focuses on understanding and improving employee attitudes, emotions, cognitions, performance, and well-being–including the effects of relationships, leadership, and the work context.
Strategy & Entrepreneurship
Strategy explores strategic management and organization theory and entrepreneurship examines how founder characteristics and experiences impact venture funding and success and how startups can become tools for social change.
Faculty and Current Students
Acumen in Management
Faculty Research
When consumers turn to a moral authority
Moral implications can have as much influence on purchasing decisions as financial returns, according to new research from Professor Amanda Sharkey.
Faculty in the Media
Warren Buffett gives up chairman title at Berkshire Hathaway
Management professor Mike Withers' comments about Warren Buffett's decision to step down was featured in hundreds of news outlets including Reuters and U.S. News.
U.S. News
Faculty Research
From Research to Me-Search
Dean Shepherd’s research, shaped by personal experience and recognized with a global award, challenges conventional thinking.
Program Structure
Our program is a five-year, full-time, in-residence program. You’ll learn how to conduct rigorous research in management and impart that knowledge in the classroom by collaborating with our faculty.
Contact Me
As the coordinator for the Ph.D. in Management, I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about the program or a Ph.D. path more generally.
Our application deadline for Fall 2027 matriculation is December 15, 2026. The application system will open by October 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Ph.D. in Management Program
QWhat are the financial details associated with the program?
All students who are admitted to the program will be given a full tuition waiver, making the program essentially tuition-free. In addition, all Ph.D. students are paid a stipend of $44,000 a year. That stipend serves as compensation for your research activities and for the teaching you would do in years three and four. Health insurance is also provided for you and your family.
QDoes the program requre the GRE or GMAT?
We require either the GRE or the GMAT, and do not grant waivers for that requirement under any circumstances. We have no preference between the two tests. If you’ve previously taken one of those tests, we require a score that is fewer than five years old. The GRE institution code is 1841 (no department code is necessary). GMAT scores should be sent to the University of Notre Dame’s Graduate School, selecting Ph.D. in Management.
QWhat range of scores would be needed for admission?
It depends, as that is a function of a given application cycle, along with the rest of an applicant’s admissions portfolio. In prior cycles, the applicants who were shortlisted averaged 84th percentile on Verbal and 73rd percentile on quantitative.
QIs a test of English language proficiency required?
Yes, if English is not your native language, or if English was not your language of undergrad (or masters) instruction. We accept the TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test. If you’ve previously taken one of those tests, we require a score that is fewer than two years old. The TOEFL institution code is 1841 (no department code is necessary). Notre Dame’s Graduate School lists the following as minimums to apply: TOEFL (80 plus 23 Speak; for the new version 4 plus 4.5 Speak), IELTS (7.0), Duolingo (120). Applicants with scores below those thresholds will not be shortlisted.
QAside from test scores, what else is part of the application packet?
The online application goes through Notre Dame’s Graduate School. That application will ask you for your resume, a statement of purpose/intent, three letters of recommendation, and unofficial transcripts of prior degrees.
QDoes the program ever offer a sixth year of funding?
Like most of our peer programs, Mendoza offers a sixth-year option for students who are excelling in the program and would gain from an additional year to bolster their research record. Eligibility for the sixth-year option is decided in year four. Students who earn the option can exercise it in multiple ways, including interviewing selectively in year five or forgoing the job market until year six.
QDo I need to contact faculty before applying?
No. The application will ask which faculty you might like to work with, but that is just to give us a better sense of your interests (and to help decide who will interview you if you get shortlisted). No advanced contact with faculty is expected. Please direct any inquiries to Jason Colquitt rather to individual faculty members.
QDo I need a masters degree to apply?
No. Anyone with a bachelor’s degree can apply. There is no masters requirement. Past applicants have had a wide variety of bachelor’s degrees and undergraduate majors.
QIs a "pre-doc" program useful for admission?
Not really. “Pre-doc” programs provide two years of research experience and skill building. The culture of our program is such that we’ll work to instill the skills you’ll need in the first year. If you know that a scholarly path is right for you, why wait two years to get started?
QIs there a part-time, distance, or online version of the program?
No. This degree is best thought of as a research apprenticeship, where you are learning research skills in collaboration with faculty. That collaboration requires a full-time, five-year, in-residence commitment.
QIs placing graduates in top business schools the program's sole focus?
Yes. Like virtually all other Ph.D. programs in management, the focus of our program is training students to become professors in top business schools. Upon graduation, the expectation is that you’ll become a professor in a management department at a UT-Dallas Top 50 business school. If you are interested in organizational behavior topics with more of an eye toward a consulting or industry path, you might consider Ph.D. programs in industrial/organizational psychology. Those programs offer both academic and applied tracks. This link provides information on several such programs.
QI'm more drawn to teaching or administration than research. Is the program still a good fit?
No. This is first and foremost a research degree. Teaching is part of the degree, as teaching is an important part of a professor’s career. But, if teaching or administration are your main focus, you might do a search for Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) programs, which are sometimes also called Executive Doctorate programs. This link provides information on several such programs. Click the Begin box, then the Get Started box, to see the complete list.