Proud Booth alum

Experience during the program

Review by an mbaMission Admissions Consultant who has attended Chicago Booth

I had an amazing experience at Booth. The program and culture live up to the mantras of "Challenge everything" and "Independent thought" in my experience. Personally, I was drawn to the fact that there is no one path at Booth -- you're not forced into a cohort, you're not told which classes you have to take, you're not assigned to study teams and instead, you have the freedom to chart your own course (within some guidelines of course!) and you gain much wider exposure (e.g., taking classes with 2nd years). Looking back, the LEAD course was extremely helpful and I apply those lessons about leadership and self-awareness everyday now. The student culture is very strong (and different than what many perceive) -- it's a bit different from other schools where there's a concentrated campus that everyone lives near and again, things aren't dictated for you. I was incredibly impressed by my classmates -- not just their intelligence and career drive but also their passion for traveling and experiencing the city of Chicago. I did not find it to be competitive at all - I think because of the grade non-disclosure but also in recruiting, I had so much help from my classmates.

A bit about my experience: I was a career changer. I worked in HR before and worked in consulting afterwards (boutique/startup firm in Chicago). My course specializations were Strategy, Economics, and Marketing. I was very involved with the Admissions team while there, serving on the student adcom, leading tours, planning admit weekend, etc. I also loved the Business Solutions Group where I worked on a pro-bono consulting project for a non-profit education company. I lived in Hyde Park (rare for Booth students, but I loved it).

My advice to future applicants: engage with the Booth community as much as possible. Visit campus, sit in on a class, talk to students and alums, connect with the alumni group in your closest city. Be prepared to have reasons for "Why Booth" beyond just the finance reputation and flexible curriculum.

About professors, classes and curriculum

Amazing professors - my personal faves were Murphy's Turbo Econ, Epley's Managing in Organizations and Boethner's Strategy and Structure. Also recommend taking advantage of the many lab classes and the Polsky Center for those interested in entrepreneurship.

About job placement process

Strong across the board but especially strong in consulting and finance. Companies that recruit for marketing are really impressive too, and they seem to value Booth's data-driven approach to marketing. Some classmates recruiting for jobs in California had to do more of their search on their own, but that may have improved since I was there.

Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)

Strengths of the program:

Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Culture & Student Support

Best fit at this program:

Consulting
Finance
Marketing
Entrepreneurship

Can be improved:

Alumni Network