Booth 2012 - Calling All Applicants

To be honest, I read the flagged post. I think it's weird someone's talking about getting internships when no interviews take place before January. I would reply with my perspective on his post but it's clear from the replies the applicants/admits in this forum can clearly think for themselves. All I can say is that I've never heard anything remotely negative like this about Booth from other 1st years.

Having said that I genuinely encourage people to visit all schools and talk to current students in person before making up their mind about school A or B. Booth may not be for you and that's totally fine. We're here because we were in your shoes last year--we're not cheerleaders.

As always if anyone wants to talk about Booth--the good, the bad and the ugly, feel free to PM me.

I won't delete the post (I abhor the thought of suppressing opinions), but if any other mods/admins feel it's warranted, by all means go ahead.

So, for now I've decided to leave the post as it is and not delete it. My reasoning for it is -
1. There is almost no way to verify the genuineness of the post.
2. It is merely an opinion (even if real). It is not abusive or offensive in any way.

We do have awesome GC members who are current students or alums of Booth. We can always reach out to them via PM or through the forum to seek information on any topic. Further, all of us are mature enough not to be swayed by one opinion. I believe that if each of one of us is preparing to spend 2 years of our lives and close to $200K, we will do our due diligence carefully before deciding on anything.

At the end of the day, take the post as it is - just an opinion. Take it, evaluate it and think about it if you wish to or simply leave it. The option is yours. If people don't react to it, it will anyway fade away...

However, if these posts become repetitive, obviously misleading or offensive in any way, I will be the first one to delete them and ban the user.

Feel free to let me know if anyone differs with my opinion...If the collective opinion is that the posts should be deleted, I will be happy to do so..

Boys,

I'm a current student at Booth and Booth1year probably knows who I am as I used the same photo on my Booth Facebook page and still use it on my Linked page.

To be fare, I must admit that this recruiting is equally tough for everyone in all top school and ONLY strong candidates
will get their "dream" jobs. For me, a given candidate has equal chance of getting the job regardless of whether he is in Booth/MIT/HBS/Wharton/Columbia/Kellogg, provided that the firm recruits on campus. As for alumni support, I have not heard any complaint about this; alumni network helped me and my friends to arrange meetings/calls with key people.

Folks, let me repeat, everything depends on a candidate, and you will screwd if you think that admission guarantees you a fantastic job offer and you can relax. Your admission is just a start of a very interesting challenge and Booth equips you with all ammunition you need to win the war. Accepting you, Adcoms assumed that you are capable of using "these tools", so stop regretting and start working.

P.S. I bet you would have written the same post if you were admitted to any other good school. And, in case you are real, I am ready to grab some beer and meet with you this week to learn about your disappointment.

Thanks for sharing with us your opinion.

The wording is not rude or offensive. It is just an opinion. Considering today's downturn I think the guy says true.
I know guys your disappointment hearing not so good news about Booth, but the truth is there , yes it is hard to get an internship. Yes alumni are not 100% responsive.

Please respect other opinions and don't ask moderators to delete posts saying true but unpleasant things.

Couldn't resist responding to the last few comments about Booth. Certain things the poster suggested regarding the # of people recruiting at Booth for consulting, exams, finals etc. ring true (I am a first year btw .. I think a couple of you guys might know who I am).

Consulting has been a popular choice this year - I suspect this is because recruiting for other gigs - IM, ibanking etc. has been tough - just look at the state of the financial world. Many European banks have revised down their global hiring and US banks have cut back as well - but this is an issue that impacts all business schools.

I have not been very active in on-campus recruiting, but the various groups around campus have been fantastic in setting up treks and corporate events. From these venues, I have gotten in touch with and interacted with several highly placed alumni in finance - I have found the experience to be fantastic. I can confidently say that compared to colleagues I know who are currently searching for jobs (without an MBA brand such as Booth), my ability to use the Chicago Booth network has met all my expectations. That said, I do not have an internship yet, nor do I expect to have one until mid-spring given the nature of the industry and the state of the world.

The poster's unfortunately poor experience with Booth is not representative of the general student population - I do not doubt that some people in special situations might experience issues. However, this is the first time I have heard of it - and frankly, as others suggested, I think you need to own your MBA and career search experience.

Chicago compared to the other schools definitely has more of an individual streak - but if you put in the effort to be social, there are at minimum, 2-3 events every single week that are open between TNDC, Epicurean club, Wine club, and various other organizations.

Ultimately, you are treated like an adult here - the professors challenge you and you have the flexibility to do what you want (socially, academically and career wise). If you come here expecting to work hard and excited to learn - I think the theoretical resources and intellectual reputation of the school cannot be beaten (various funds are happy to look at Booth grads vs. more management focused MBAs such as HBS/Kellogg).

As the other Booth students have suggested, I am very happy help a fellow Boothie or prospective students who would like to chat - just drop me an email. Life is pretty busy with applying for internships right now, but I will try to make the time during winter break.

Good luck with the MBA hunt everyone! Remember it is a tough, subjective game - but doing your best and being pleased with the effort that you put in is the only thing really in your control.

Hi All:

I apologize for bringing tardy congratulations to all of the R1 admits (a particular shout out to my good friend osbornecox for making it this year!). You guys have worked really hard and deserve to celebrate a little. For all of those who were waitlisted, take heart that Booth does historically take students off of the waitlist.

I've been absent from the forums quite a lot this year, mostly because I am really busy (in a good way) here at Booth. I just got back from a student club organized trek to Silicon Valley and Seattle to visit tech companies.

It seems like this might be the most stressful time of the first year of business school- finals just wrapped up, but we haven't gotten all of our grades back, the loan funds we got back in September are almost completely gone (we get a new disbursement in the new year), intern applications are due each week, but invitations to interview haven't gone out yet. The money is gone, but the jobs are far out of sight. It's sort of like waiting for bschool decisions, if you quit your job before decisions came out

I'm not freaking out though. I've come a long way this quarter. Our career services programming is awesome, particularly because of all of the great support and coaching we get from second years. I've had a ton of opportunities to prepare myself to find a great internship this summer, and I'm confident that I'll get invitations to interview and eventually an internship offer.

I've met a ton of really fabulous people here at Booth this quarter. I can't emphasize enough how wonderful it is to be surrounded by so many great classmates (like dalillama, financier, michmax3, driege- which reminds me, rid82...we need to meet in real life, if we haven't already!). I am excited about classes next quarter mainly because I get to form new study groups with new classmates (although I will miss not seeing my study group peeps from this quarter as often).

Anyway, to booth1styear, if you would like to PM me, I would be happy to grab a beer with you and chat about why you are so unhappy. To the admits, ask lots of questions!! The decision is in your hands now, and it's important to reflect on the reasons that you applied to business school in general and Booth in particular and make sure that you are 100% confident in whatever decision you make.

Happy Holidays Everybody!!

~runnergirl

mpg, this is not just for you but for everyone.

WHEN YOU GET THE INVITE DOES NOT MATTER!

I am 99.99999999% sure that Booth releases invites in random order. They do this to not overwhelm interviewers with a ton of requests at one time. Considering that interviews must be complete by Feb. 24 it is reasonable that they would release invites in waves. I am positive that the admissions committee has not finished reviewing even half of the apps yet. People who got invites today were simply beneficiaries of the luck of the draw (i.e. our apps have already been reviewed).

Since interview invites started today that means there is 3 weeks of invitations. There is no reason for anyone to feel rejected and defeated at this point. There is no way to know or even guess the percentage of total invites that went out today. But remember, your invite isn't dependent upon anyone else's. Even if there's only 1 left to go out, if it's yours it's yours. But we're nowhere near that point.

So for the sake of everyone on this thread please pace yourselves on the paranoia and crazy. Let it out gradually when there's more reason to start freaking out and over analyzing things. If you start at a level 10 now you won't make it to Feb. 15 (because I might kill you). It will make this a much more pleasant 3 weeks for everyone.

I want to provide my insight into sooner vs. later. It's only my opinion, so bear with me.

Booth's process is very transparent and there was an article about it on Poets and Quants. Two people read your file and both have to agree. If one doesn't, than the file goes through a third person to decide.

Therefore, IMO, the people who receive the invites in the later days are the ones who needed to be further evaluated.

With that said, I have heard NUMEROUS cases in which the candidates who needed to be 'further' evaluated ended up being very interesting to the adcom post interview and even got in with scholarships. Whereas, some candidates that seemed to have no red flags ended up coming flat and getting dinged.

So in the end, you never know. I just don't think the interview invite process is 100% random.

MPG - I think this is a highly likely scenario and my anecdotal/personal evidence supports it. Though I would probably switch your "red flags" comment to "fit"

My profile is a less clear match for Booth than it is for the other schools I have applied to. In those other cases, I received my interview invites very quickly, whereas for Booth I had to wait until the bitter end. I think it's likely that I needed the third evaluator.

In any case, best of luck to those who are yet to interview, and for those waiting - HANG ON - it's so close now.

What does the website say?

What? Of course there are going to be more calls! You can start saying "no more calls" at 5pm CST, not just 10 minutes after the last post. After all, we're all working and can't update GMATClub in real time.

Essays and application questions have been released!! https://blogs.chicagobooth.edu/boothinsider

2011-12 Application Deadlines and Essays
After much planning and preparation, we are excited to announce our 2011-2012 Application Deadlines and Essay Questions! We know that many of you have been anxiously awaiting the release of our essay questions and deadlines, and we appreciate your patience. We have been vetting the new application for months to ensure that we are capturing the right type of information to best evaluate your candidacy.

Deadlines

Online Application Release: Early August 2011
Round One Deadline: October 12, 2011
Round Two Deadline: January 4, 2012
Round Three Deadline: April 4, 2012

Essay Questions

1. What are your short- and long-term goals, and how will a Chicago Booth MBA help you reach them? (600 words)

1a. RE-APPLICANTS ONLY: Upon reflection, how has your thinking regarding your future, Chicago Booth, and/or getting an MBA changed since the time of your last application? (300 words)

2. At Chicago Booth, we believe each individual has his or her own leadership style. How has your family, culture, and/or environment influenced you as a leader? (750 words)

3. Considering what you've already included in the application, what else should we know about you? In a maximum of four slides, tell us about yourself.

Essay Question Explanation

Although you will provide a significant amount of information throughout the application, you have the unique opportunity to tell your story, in your own voice, within the essays. As a result, we have crafted our essay questions in a way that gives you the freedom to share what is most important to you. In true Booth fashion, we let you make the ultimate decision on what is best to include.

Essay One:
What are your short and long-term goals, and how will a Chicago Booth MBA help you reach them? (600 words)

In this essay, we hope to better understand your path and plan, vision for your career, and why an MBA – specifically a Booth MBA – is necessary to help you achieve your goals. In responding to this question, you’ll need to spend some time thinking about your career, your passions, and what you really hope to get out of the entire MBA experience.

Re-applicant Essay:
Upon reflection, how has your thinking regarding your future, Chicago Booth, and/or getting an MBA changed since the time of your last application?

For our re-applicants, this question gives you the opportunity to tell us what is different from the time of your last application. What has occurred in your life or career that has either reinforced or changed your goals? What lessons have you learned or how have you grown since you last applied to Chicago Booth?

Essay Two:
At Chicago Booth, we believe each individual has his or her own leadership style. How has your family, culture, and/or environment influenced you as a leader? (750 words)

The goal of this essay is to better understand who you are, how your past has influenced you, and your underlying motivation and values surrounding leadership and business. A significant part of the Booth experience is helping each student define and strengthen their personal leadership style. Understanding yourself and your motivations is the first step in that process, and our hope is that this essay will help you start down that path. We are not looking for a prescribed answer – we hope that you will share your story.

Presentation:
Considering what you’ve already included in the application, what else should we know about you? In a maximum of four slides, tell us about yourself.

During our last live chat in June, many of you were wondering if the presentation would be part of the application. Since we feel that it is such a valuable opportunity to learn about you, we have decided to include it again this year. We have framed the question to specifically address what you haven’t already told us in the rest of the application. We encourage you to look at your application holistically. Are there messages, topics, or activities that are important for us to know? If so, then the presentation will be an opportunity for you to provide us with this type of information. Also, it is important to note that this is not a design contest! We care most about the content, but the way in which you deliver that is up to you.

Guys please enroll yourself in above table by updating your profile.

How to do it?
Go to personal profile and complete the information , see below.

whoops didn't know the "display" section applies for the roll call too. fixed.

For the 'Activities' section of the application, it asks "Please list public service activities, extracurricular activities and college activities."

How far are we suppose to go back for this? It seems like we can add as many activities as we want. I'll have around 10 items if I go back and list everything from college. And they want start/end dates and descriptions for everything.

That's a lot of information for a lot of activities--some of which I don't remember the specifics of.

!	Join Admissions for a Live Chat Wednesday, August 10 - 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM CT Have questions about applying to Chicago Booth? Chat with the Admissions team about the application, essays, transcripts, letters of recommendation and more.

I just got a response back from admissions in regards to the following two questions:

1.) I have completed an undergraduate degree (Bachelor of Science) at a university and I am unsure what I to select. Should my 'Level of Study' be 'Diploma' or 'Undergraduate'?

2.) My major is not listed in the 'Major' drop down list. Would it be okay to choose 'Business Administration' since it is relatively close? Or do I have to choose other or not specified?

Their response...