Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants

Before visiting I thought this was a bigger deal than I do now, and after talking with alums and students I actually really like the Booth setup. It doesn't feel like a commuter school -- some people do live further away, but the train from downtown is surprisingly easy and the Harper Center is set up so people want to spend the entire day there anyway. After visiting Wharton and talking with a good friend who is a 1st year there, for example, I don't see any difference between the communal environments of Wharton and Booth.

One underappreciated aspect of Booth's flexible class structure, aside from being able to immediately take classes that will give you a leg up in internships interviews, is that you'll be mixing more with 2nd years, who will in many cases be the ones referring you to and hiring you in firms during your 2nd year. For what it's worth, I've posed the "community" question to a lot of current Booth students and alums, and every one of them has looked at me like I'm an idiot -- despite not having cohorts, Booth seems to do a really good job of building class cohesion.