Chicago Booth Class of 2013

Some rambling for someone who just went thru the moving to Chicago process.. For those of you looking at Columbus towers my impression is that you can do better for the price from what I've heard. They are pretty old and run down and management isn't the greatest (esp least for the price which at least is cheap). Some recent renovations, but I think it still is a bit hit or miss, although tthe Hyatt next door is usually dirt cheap for rooms if you have visitors alot (The 4 star in Streeterville on Hotwire= Hyatt, usally like $55 a night).

For the 1bd 1300-1400 range I'd recommend McClurg Court for a lot of amentites (in Streeterville 2 or so blocks from Gleacher but further from the trains) or MDA City apartments close to Millenium Park. Everything else in Millenium Park area (new East side?) seemed to be $1600+ for a studio. The Fisher Building is pretty affordable as well and is a block from the Hyde Park Express bus plus has a Booth discount on move in and deposit but it's in the middle of the Loop and nightlife dies. For the best bag/buck in downtown Printers Row has larger older buildings (Transportation Building) that are pretty cool with some sweet bars. I second the comment on not taking the red line. If you can get a place in Millenium Park Place (it's a Condo) those are sometimes a good bang for the buck depending on the owner too. There are still some speakers that talk at Gleacher that a lot of the full timers come down for in the evenings so the downtown location is nice for that too and lets you avoid Hyde Park at night.

That said when I moved here I moved here I used Chicago Apartment Finders which I would highly recommend. It was free (the apartment pays). I'm currently in the evening program so don't need the proximity to Hyde Park as much, but if you use a finding service they are great at showing you 10 places in 3 hours that fit your location/price and you don't have to deal with parking and the like.

I'm by no means an expert, but feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Edit: removed info on housing, decided already

Thanks!
Matt

Congrats to everyone that's been admitted!

I'm looking forward to meeting all the gmat clubbers at the admit weekend in February.

you're lucky! I won't be able to attend ... it's too far and I'm out of days off...

Perhaps I can make it for the second one.

It's a shame you can't make it - we'll have to meet up in September instead!

If people are interested, then I was thinking about collecting a list of admit weekend questions to try and help out those admits that can't attend in person...

Congrats to everyone who has been admitted, especially fellow GMAT clubbers! I plan to attend the 1st Admit Weekend so look forward to meeting you all.

mjb, that's a great idea re: collecting questions.

Congrats on getting accepted to Booth, everyone!! I will be attending Admit Weekend. Have you folks joined the Facebook group / Google group for the class of 2013?

I guess the next step is to look at financing (for those of us without $$ from the school ). I've been spending time reading through this thread and looking at private loan options. What about you folks?

Has everyone here decided on Booth, or are you guys waiting to hear from other schools?

Hi all...congrats once again on getting through A Business Force

Rid: Great initiative to start a separate thread! I also will be unable to attend the admit weekend in Feb, so am thinking of going for the R2 one. I hope Booth will allow me to attend that?

Apart from arranging the financing, what is everybody planning to do till Sep? (apart from chilling, of course )

congrats!

I will work till May 30, then travel around Asia a month or so, then go to Spain to visit family and friends, and finally go to the US beginning or mid August to travel a bit (family coming) before starting the MBA (that will be probably at Booth).

Will any of you attend the pre-accounting course or the English one?

I'm considering pre-accounting (I come from an engineering background), but I've heard mixed things about the course and the overlap with Financial Accounting. If it was considered as sufficient to waive out of basic financial accounting then I might be more interested...

mjb, with the flex curriculum, my understanding is that you can take a more advanced Accounting course, if you wish.
See this page for alternatives. Got to love Chicago Booth for this feature!!

I'm planning on looking through Business Statistics before I arrive so I can take a different class: "Applied Regression Analysis" or perhaps "Statistical Insight into Marketing, Consulting & Entrepreneurship".

My issue is that I don't have any real finance or accounting experience, so when I said "considered sufficient" I meant more to prepare me for the more advanced finance courses than to meet any particular requirement.

it may be interesting, though it is too late for Asia-Pac, we'll need the transcripts.

Has anyone been contacted by current students / any alums for answering the plethora of questions that we all, am sure, have and would have with respect to joining/housing/etc.?

A current student as well as a CWIBAN member contacted me - and it was fabulous talking to both Must say am highly impressed by the initiative Booth is taking to make this process as smooth as possible!

Thanks for bringing this up, Mandy. A current student emailed me on a weekday morning several days ago. He made time to speak with me that very afternoon when I said I had some questions I wanted to run by him. I'm *very* impressed by Booth reaching out in such a way to its admits. I don't know for sure whether this is done by other schools as well. Anybody know?

Although I'm still waiting for closure from other schools, I must say I'm slowly but surely falling in love with Chicago Booth!

Totally second your view Wiredo! Small, but significant steps

does anyone know the date of the second Admit Weekend this year?