Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants

Do not fall into the trap of thinking that your PPT has to hit on specific categories. If your educational achievements are already covered in sufficient detail on your resume then don't include it in your PPT. The question tells you to look at your application as a whole and then use 4 pages to fill in the blanks. In my PPT there was nothing about my educational or professional life. I did expand on one EC that was mentioned in my resume. Other than that everything else was personal. Think of the four pages as a chance to let the adcom get to know you. Remember that Booth uses admissions fellows (2nd year students) to do the first read of an application. Admissions fellows are looking for people that they would want as classmates and in their network. They want to look at your application and see that you're a person that they would want to hang out with at TNDC (Thursday Night Drinking Club) or stay in their cabin during ski trip. This is also a really good place to show why you fit well at Booth. Think about the school's culture and the aspects that mesh with your personality. Show these things off in the PPT.

As for the flexible curriculum I don't know if it's really about saying, "I want to take X or Y class." The point of the flexible curriculum is to allow you to take the subjects you want when you will need them at the level that suits your ability. If you have an accounting background you don't have to sit through intro accounting with the people like me who don't know a debit from a credit. You can cover your accounting requirement with a higher level class. Let's say you know you won't be going into anything finance related and want to jump into your marketing and strategy courses. You can put off taking a foundation class in accounting til 2nd or 3rd quarter if you like. Remember, Booth's philosophy is that you need to learn the business disciplines and can then apply them to any business problem (it's like your tool kit). It's up to you how and when you choose to learn each discipline. Think about your goals and the subject areas that you may want to study at a more intermediate level. Think about the classes that you would want to put off for a semester or even for 2nd year. You don't have to outline your proposed class schedule in your essay but you can show that you know how the flexible curriculum will meet your unique needs. HTH.