I'm an R2 applicant to Booth as well. I submitted my application on the last day 01/07, got an interview invite on 01/22 and interviewed on-campus on 02/09. Could someone please add me to the first page? - thanks
Since I'm a local I don't have much to add about the getting into Chicago and the city, hotel experiences that other posters have mentioned in their debriefs. I live on the far northside of the city so it indeed is a pain for me to get to Hyde Park every time. If I do end up getting into Booth, I'll definitely move somewhere in the loop (Streeterville) or South loop area in downtown.
Anyway, so my interview was at 9:45 am but I made it to the admissions office around 9:15 ish. There weren't too many other candidates in the waiting area at that time but it filled up quickly. There was a first year student there to greet everyone. He introduced himself and offered to answer any questions about the school or the city. He then asked me where I was from and after I mentioned the fact that I was a local, he smiled and said: "Well!! you'll probably don't have very many questions for me about the city but I have a few for you". He was from Atlanta and inadvertently we started talking about the weather and the city life etc. The area by now had begun to fill up and interestingly everyone interviewing was from NYC with mostly finance backgrounds. I was the only local and the only non-finance person in the group of about 15 odd interviewees which I found to be rather interesting. Another first year greeter showed up whom I remembered from one of the many Live events (three in total) I had attended. She and I had a nice conversation before I got called in for an interview. Unfortunately, all the good parts about this visit pretty much ended here as the interview experience was a bit weird and different than other schools I interviewed at.
Firstly, the interviewer (2nd year MBA) was very business like which was fine by me. He mentioned at the beginning of the interview that he had quite a few interviews that day and didn't want to run late but what annoyed me the most was that he glanced at his watch and the wall clock in the room every 10 secs which made me feel very uncomfortable and I felt like rushing through all my answers and obviously forgot half the stuff I wanted to talk about. Also the entire interview felt like a monologue and we barely had any eye contact as he put his head down and scribbled notes while I spoke. The questions he asked were pretty standard though:
- Tell me about your career to date and the choices you have made?
- Sounds like you have done well in the Hi-Tech sector, why do you think you need an MBA?
- Looks like you have been to the Chicago Booth campus a few times but you must have also looked and researched other schools. What is it about Chicago Booth that made you apply here?
- What would you do outside of the classroom at Booth?
- It seems like you have quite some experience in managing teams. Could you a give an example of a time where you had to manage a difficult team?
- Any questions for me?
I asked him one question and since he was visibly in a hurry to get me out of there anyway and the fact that I never felt welcomed during the entire 22 minutes, I had no motivation to stay and ask him any further questions. We shook hands and he gave me his card. I instantly emailed him a thank you note while sitting in the winter garden and as expected never heard back from him. The thing that really stood out for me was that during the interview when I mentioned the people at Chicago and how everyone was so nice...he interrupted me and said: "Well! Not everyone but most people I suppose....".
One of the rare occasions during the monologue that he added something and it was this.... SERIOUSLY!! I have never seen anyone diss his own school especially as an interviewer.
Anyway, I had lunch with a few first year friends and headed back to work where everyone asked me how my dentist appointment went -:).
I am still very enthusiastic about Chicago Booth but I wish I had a better interview experience.