Admitted to Chicago Booth Class of 2011 Thread

Thanks! Are you a designer?

Ha! Imagine all the possible designer stereotypes and I am probably the exact opposite of all of 'em. Just enough inner nerd to look it up.

I definitely had a blast at Booth's ASW1. It was awesome meeting terp26, isa, MeddlingKid and (evil) olive. Also, a big thanks to rhyme for saving me from going to the Lunch w/ Alumni portion of the program. Though I thought the daytime events during DAK1 were slightly better, I would have to give Booth the edge when it came down to the parties at night.

That says it all.

I wish I had Ryhme's advice, the alumn lunch was the only so-so part of the week-end. That will teach me to book my flight too late and to miss GMATClub's get together...

I enjoyed the alumni lunch portion. We had a nice conversation with an alumni who is currently working for UA. That said, I did want to hang out with you guys downstairs too.

Yea to add what rhyme said during the lunch about the immense benefits of the flexible curriculum.

If you are a good test taker, you can find classes that only give midterms and finals. If you want a class that has 50% class participation as your grade and problem sets, and don't like finals, you can take those types of classes. And I am talking about between different sections of the same class as well. I was actually talking to a colleague currently who had graduated a few years back who was actually mentioning this exact point to me.

Also keep in mind that professors have different styles and teaching methods. There is no set curriculum each prof has to teach. At other schools for a professor to bring something new into the classroom, it would need to be approved by all the other professors teaching that class. In Chicago, each professor can design his/her class as he/she wishes. So if that professor is working on state of the art research and wants to design a class or give an assignment on it, that professor could do so.

One class that seemed interesting in which one of the faculty members was discussing was "Using Experiments in Firms". Class taught by Levitt (Author of Freakonomics) where they conduct different types of experiments at firms (pretty self-explanatory). So you would run randomized studies in companies and test different hypothesis. I forget their exact example (something to do with healthcare costs and absenteeism) but If I had to make one up it would be like randomizing a companies workforce and giving half a thousand dollar bonus and half nothing and figuring out whether that incentive has any impact on productivity rates.

Does it really say anything at all? Sounds like his time was influenced by the fact he was able to hang out with the gmatclub people.

Well we are pretty awesome....

I think my schedule next quarter captures the variety in teaching methods and grading pretty well... (as well as how awesome it is to construct your own schedule)

Monday afternoon 1:30-4:30: Managerial Decision Making
In many business situations it is not possible to solve a decision-making problem analytically. Because of data limitations and/or computational difficulties, an intuitive approach must be used. In such situations, decision makers are subject to systematic biases and errors. That is, their decisions predictably diverge from optimal solutions. This course is devoted to understanding the nature, causes, and implications of these human decision making limitations. The class begins with a series of demonstrations of decision making biases so that the students experience the biases first hand. Then, various judgment and decision making biases are presented in turn. The stress is on managerial implications with special emphasis given to applications in finance, marketing, economics, and organizations. Warning: this class makes extensive (some would say excessive) use of examples from sports, especially American sports, to illustrate good and bad decision making. Those who would find a discussion of the merits of the sacrifice bunt or the existence of the "hot hand" to be either terribly boring or a waste of time are encouraged to take a different section of this course as the other sections are taught by faculty who are less frivolous in their choice of examples.

Overall grading plan: Your grade in this class is based primarily on two components:
a series of short papers and a final exam. No midterm.

Final Exam: At the week 9 class meeting, everyone must submit an exam question suitable for use in an all essay, in-class, closed-book exam. These will be compiled and distributed in
class on week 10. Expect to receive a list of 50+ potential exam questions. The final
will consist of a subset of these questions with some choice, e.g., answer 4 of these 6
questions. The exam counts for 50% of the grade.

Reading:
Richard H. Thaler, The Winner's Curse, Princeton University Press, 1991. (OK,
poorly written and too much economics, but it does have a good cover photo of
horses and a chapter on how to make money at the race track. It is also cheap.)
Referred to as Winner’s Curse.

Suggested for week 4: Michael Lewis, Moneyball. If you have not read this book
already, shame on you. Get busy. If you think it has too much baseball in it, drop this
class immediately. I have included one chapter in the course packet to give you a
sample. I have not ordered this because it is widely available in paperback.

Suggested for week 9: Jon Krakauer: Into Thin Air I have also not ordered this book
officially because it is a paperback bestseller and available cheaply everywhere. Many
of you may have read the book already; if so, you should quickly reread it later in the
quarter. I think you will find that the book has new meaning in light of what you have
learned about decision making in this class. For those of you who have not read it, do
yourself a favor and do so. It will serve as the basis for a case discussion in week 9.

Tuesday morning 8:30-11:30: Managing in Organizations

Successfully managing other people—be they competitors, customers, or co-workers—requires
an understanding of their thoughts, feelings, attitudes, motivations, and determinants of behavior. An accurate understanding of these factors, however, can be difficult to come by. Intuitions are often misguided, and this course is intended to provide the scientific knowledge of human thought and behavior that is critical for successfully managing others, and also for successfully managing yourself.

This course will utilize lectures, discussions, and group interactions to provide an introduction to theory and research in the behavioral and psychological sciences. The primary goal is to provide conceptual knowledge that helps you understand and manage your own unique and complicated work settings, and to help you think like a psychological scientist in those settings. The course is organized into two main sections: (1) managerial thought, and (2) managerial action. The first section of the course investigates human thought and judgment in a managerial context, and how these thoughts and judgments can impede or improve your ability to manage yourself and others.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:
Exams (80% of course grade): There will be a midterm and final exam for this course.
The 90-minute midterm will be held in class during the 6th week of the course. It is a
checkpoint for your progress in the course up to this point, and will count 35% towards your
overall exam grade. The three-hour final exam will be held during the scheduled final exam
period, and will count 65% towards your final exam grade. I will give more information
about the content and format of these exams in weeks 5 and 10.

Thought papers (20% of course grade): This class is a group effort, and I expect you to
have read, understood, and thought about the readings for each class so that you can discuss
them intelligently. To facilitate this discussion, you will write weekly one-page thought
papers. I will provide some guidance each week for things you should consider when
writing your papers, and will also try to give you sufficient latitude to be creative and
idiosyncratic in what you choose to write about.

Tuesday Night 6:00-9:00pm: Law Economics and Business

This course will explore ways in which the law constrains business decisions and strategy.
Topics include antitrust law and public policies toward mergers and acquisitions; environmental
regulation and policies to deal with issues like global warming; product liability law; patent law;
securities law and accounting disclosures; and laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace.
The course will emphasize the "dos and don'ts" of strategic decision making, using real-world
cases as a foundation where appropriate. There will be several guest lectures by experts in
various areas. This is an entirely new course, so the course materials are a work in progress that will unfold as the quarter progresses. I will distribute readings and case materials about 1 week ahead of each topic. I will also update this outline to reflect added materials. You will receive these updates by class-wide e-mail, and they will be posted on the class web-site.

Grades: Your grade will be determined by performance on several problem sets (50%), as well
as on a term paper (50%). The paper should present an economic analysis of an important legal or policy issue affecting business. The topic is entirely up to you, though your topic should be developed and approved by me no later than the beginning of week 7. There will be no midterm or final exam.

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To be fair, we didn't hang out with each other all weekend - although it may sound like that on this board.

We were divided into squads, had daily Booth-organized happy hours, dinners, and late night events. One was an informal 'happy hour' where representatives from school clubs were set up at tables so we could pick and choose which club we'd like to hear more about. Had random walk leaders also set up spots so we could learn more about those trips. In typical Booth fashion it was a very well-planned weekend, of course not every day event was great because of to be frank - boring topics - like scavenger hunts, financial aid (although important) - but the day also had interesting ones like student life, dean speeches, professor lectures, etc. Many of us know people through local events that Booth students have been organizing since January, so all in all it was a very social and informational weekend - ASIDE from the gmatclubbers (who also did happen to be great as well).

Sounds like everyone had a blast at admit weekend. Does anyone know when the next admit weekend is? Hopefully I'll have a reason to attend.

April 24th-25th

so DAK 2 and Chicago's admit weekend coincide! Strange.

Some folks had asked for a more detailed recap from the weekend. A few thoughts from the various sessions/structure...

Day 1

- Cohorts: Everyone was assigned to a cohort and a squad. The various cohorts represented different aspects of the school - Rockefeller, Nobles. Phoenix and I think there was one other. Each cohort was then further divvied up into several squads, each with 7-12 admits + partners. Some of the groups were more partner heavy than others. As far as I could tell, each squad had a good mix of backgrounds - geographically and career-wise. I think this was really helpful since it helped students get to know one another pretty well.

- Check In: checked in coats, etc. Picked up admit weekend swag - nice Booth laptop bags. Alas, no free hoodie.

- Breakfast: met the fellow cohort members, various current students. They played some of the more interesting PPTs from various admits in the background. Compared to some of those, it's a miracle I got in - mine was highly lame

- Welcome: heard from the Dean, Rose, various DSAC members. The Dean emphasized the academic prowess of the school (the various Noble prize winners, etc etc). The DSAC members the different relationships they cultivated during their time at Booth - I think the girl mentioned finding her best friend and her best friend finding her fiance? Something like that.

- LEAD Activity: they simulated a LEAD activity in an hour. We were given this task involving making airplanes and marketing them. And then the different cohorts were judged by the LEAD representatives, prizes were candy. Overall, I thought this was pretty lame and one of my least favorite parts of the weekend. In the room I was in, it seemed like 2/3 people really got into it and 1/3 were like wtf. (I was in that second category )

- Career lunches: had a chance to listen to current students speak about Booth and finding their desired jobs. Each room represented a different industry - they had consulting, PE/vC, Finance, healthcare/non-profit/etc, marketing. I think there were a couple of others, can't remember the name. The sessions were okay - I think they were a bit too heavily moderated, so it sounded like half the time was spent on reiterating what the CMC did and the other half talking about their personal experience. I thought the students had some good insight though into Booth and the job search.

- Faculty Discussions: Students were assigned to hear different professors speak about what they teach and why. I'm not sure how they assigned us - I had a mix of squads in my session, and some of my squad buddies were in different rooms than me. I listened to Epley talk about psych and how it fits with business. He was pretty entertaining and the session was fun.

- Pretzel Break: we had a pretzel break

- Trivia: They did a bunch of rounds of trivia. Questions were about everything from the school to the city of Chicago. This was about getting to have fun with your squad - it was a bit cheesy but ended up being kinda fun. I was severely mocked by my squad about my lack of knowledge of Booth (I couldn't name things like the Noble prize winning profs or when the university was founded). But they took it back and thanked me for my knowledge of Styx and Sinatra.

- Random Walks: They had all the trip leaders on hand to talk about the various trips, answer questions you might have. More than the trips, I found the chance to talk to more current students to be great. They were pretty open about answering my questions of what they like about Booth, dislike, why they chose Booth, etc.

- LPF/Activity Fair: They had the weekly LPF along w/ the activity fair. Spoke with a lot of current students about the various clubs, how involved they were, etc. Hung out with a bunch of my fellow admits - ran into some with whom I had previously worked! Everyone seemed really down to earth, friendly and sociable. There were a couple of admits that I discovered during this who were kind of annoying but I've run into similarly annoying people at Kellogg, Wharton, Tuck as well. So I guess there are some of them at most schools.

Next post for Day 2....

Day 2:

- Overview of the Day: Brief opening by Rose about what the agenda for the day was. She also mentioned that they will be working to setup some loan options for international students, with details to be released soon.

- Financial Aid Session: Had an overview of how financial aid works, what's covered by various loans, what's not. I was distracted during this session - maybe MK/Terp/Sonibubu could speak to it? (I know, I know, trust me to space out during one of the most important sessions)

- Resource Fair: hung out with some admit friends. Visited various tables that had great maps and resources for housing - they had identified popular neighborhoods, amenities, how to get from neighborhoods to school. They also had current students on hand to talk about the pros/cons of each neighborhood. They also had a table for the Polsky Centre. The folks there were really helpful in giving insight about what the Polsky Centre can and cannot do for students. He was pretty frank in talking about career switching and landing a job in pe/vc this year as compared with years past. There was also a table there for health insurance but I didn't visit that one.

- Students & Alumni Lunch: Soni, Terp26 and I thought this was going to be lame so we just grabbed food and ate w/ rhyme and his friend. Our lunch was good. Heard from the squad mates that actually did the alumni thing that it was interesting to hear the alumni experiences at Booth and about life after-Booth.

- Student Life and Housing Panel: Heard from current students about life at Booth. They were pretty open about answer questions about why they like Booth, what they would change, why they chose Booth, what their daily lives are like, etc. This was helpful.

- LEAD Activity: Another LEAD bonding activity. This one was a scavenger hunt. It involved going outside. It was raining. Pretty lame.

Dinners/Parties: Pretty fun! Went to some interesting Chicago bars, in different areas of the city. The Booth current students and fellow admits certainly know how to party! Fellow GCF'ers were a fun crew too. One thing the various bars, etc brought to my attention (other than I need to drink more water ) is that the Chicago kids really do hang out all over the city. There's not just one bar or one area where they go. Sure, after some time, groups will develop preferences for certain bars/neighborhoods over others. But generally speaking, the entire city is your playground.

Hope this helps!
Cheers,
isa.

I was part of that 2/3 that thought the airplane activity was actually pretty cool To go more in depth, we were in our cohort of 8-12 people, (mine was more like 6) and had 10 minutes to design a paper airplane. They gave us a bunch of paper. We would be graded on our production (how many airplanes we could produce), our marketing handle (introduce the product to the group and explain how great is and why, such as an eco friendly plane etc.) and the technical aspect (which design of plane flew the farthest when thrown). However halfway in, they threw in a wrench, they kicked out 3 people out of our team and replaced them with 3 new members so we had to deal with changing situations (as may happen in real life). So for instance, the person who was our lead designer that knew how to design the plane got thrown to another group, you were basically scrambling to figure out how the design was constructed or if not, design a new plane in that short timeframe. To me it seemed like a sort of microcosm of an Apprentice task which I think was pretty interesting. Sorry ISA

We definitely did party it up all three nights hardcore in all different areas of the city. Nightlife is definitely a positive at booth. And to my surprise a lot of bars stay open until 4am/5am on the weekends which is like NYC.