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Chicago
Booth MBA Essay 1
How did you choose your
most recent job/internship and how did this experience influence your future
goals? What about the Chicago Booth MBA makes you feel it is the next best
step in your career at this time? (750-1000 words)
Chicago
Booth MBA Essay 1
Tips
As in earlier years the
Chicago Booth admissions committee has a multi-part goals essay
to kick off the essay-pack and is extremely interested in EACH part of this
flagship application essay.
2007-2008
and 2008-2009:
Why are you pursuing an MBA at this point in your career? Describe your
personal and professional goals and the role an MBA from the University of
Chicago GSB plays in your plans to reach these goals.
2006-2007: Explain the path
that has led you to pursue an MBA as the next step in your professional
and personal development. Describe your short and long term post-MBA
career goals. What or who influenced your choice of schools, and how
specifically will Chicago GSB help you succeed?
2005-2006:
Explain the path that has led you to pursue
an MBA as the next step in your professional/ personal development. What
steps did you take and how did you reach your decision?
What or who influenced your choice of schools? What criteria will you use
to decide where you will attend? What is it specifically about Chicago GSB that is going to help you succeed?
Describe your short and long term post-MBA
career goals. What steps will you be taking in order to achieve your
goals?
YOUR objective remains as clear as ever - describe, specifically and at
length, your career progression, and the reasons that connect Chicago
Booth with your past, present and future. Apart from connecting the Pre-Chicago, Chicago and Post-Chicago phases of your career
(and life), this essay demands a clear focus on the importance of your
latest job (or internship). Articulate the reasons why your
current/latest professional experience is critical to attaining your
career goals, mention how the experience has improved and enhanced you,
and connect it if possible/necessary with your earlier professional
experience.
With 1000 words at your disposal endeavor to push yourself to look beyond a
straightforward career narration; feel free to explore and reveal your personality to
the Chicago Booth admissions committee in a manner that incites an interview
invitation.
Be realistic and be as specific as you need to be while detailing your
Post-Chicago Booth long term and short term career goals (both about the
industry and the functional role). "Why Chicago
Booth?"
and "Why Chicago Booth now?" have to be dealt with application, research and intelligence.
Personalize your answer as much as possible, and link your career goals
with Chicago Booth as closely as possible. Please try to go beyond
cutting/pasting info gleaned from the Chicago Booth website. Perhaps if you can
convincingly accomplish all of the above and also show why the 2009-2010
Chicago Booth intake is the perfect time for your MBA, you may have got it
made.
Go for it!
Chicago
Booth MBA Essay 1.a. (reapplicant essay)
FOR REAPPLICANTS ONLY: Upon
reflection, how has your thinking regarding your future, Chicago Booth,
and/or getting an MBA changed since the time of your last application? (250
words)
Chicago
Booth MBA Essay 1.a. (reapplicant essay) Tips
While the
question only asks you to describe changes in your "thinking" your aim
here should be to go beyond and present the
professional, academic and personal improvements in you that make you a
stronger candidate for a Chicago Booth admit than in your last application.
You have
to succinctly answer "what has changed since Chicago dinged me last
time?". State compelling reasons
why you deserve a second chance. What steps have you taken to strengthen
your Chicago Booth application. Stronger work experience,
professional achievements, better GMAT, international exposure or academic
accomplishments can all find place in the Chicago reapplicant essay. Proactive
Chicago-specific
steps taken by you, perhaps based on direct or indirect feedback from
Chicago Booth, might prove a trump card.
In case
you have new perspectives about your career goals or new "fit-points"
with Chicago that did not appear in your earlier application this is the
place to mention it.
Go for it!
Chicago
Booth MBA Essay 2
Please
select one of the following (500-750 words)
2.a.
Describe a time when you wish you could have retracted something you said or
did. When did you realize your mistake and how did you handle the situation?
or
2.b. Describe a time when you were surprised by feedback that you received.
What was the feedback and why were you surprised?
Chicago
Booth MBA Essay 2.a. Tips
2.a.
Describe a time when you wish you could have retracted something you
said or did. When did you realize your mistake and how did you handle
the situation?
Take a
moment to reflect on why you are writing this Chicago Booth essay. I am
sure you understand that demonstrating how you realized, learnt from and
rectified the mistake is the objective of this essay; giving a straight
description of how you made a fool of yourself will win you few points.
The
success of this story hinges on how well your leadership/learning/decision-making/people
skills are used to rectify the situation. While you certainly start off
with a failure/mistake by the time your ideal essay ends, all the
reader remembers would be your great comeback actions.
Beginning your
thought process from the second part of the question will make things much easier
for you. Never forget that this Chicago Booth mistake essay is in reality meant to be a success story where you learnt/improved/rectified
a mistake and readied yourself for future successes. Let that show.
Go for it!
Chicago
Booth MBA Essay 2.b. Tips
2.b.
Describe a time when you were surprised by feedback that you received. What
was the feedback and why were you surprised?
Once again
the object of the essay is not to tackle the questions straight
on but to show how and what you did after the feedback and the
surprise.
The most
obvious theme for this essay is "Learning". Using the essay to delve
into how you got a feedback and improved yourself based on it, and
focusing on your capacity for learning and self-improvement would be a
good idea. After all learning and self-improvement are the very skills
needed to make your presence in the Chicago Booth MBA class worthwhile.
Having
said that I need to point out that the essay prompt is quite open ended
and can be used to talk about a variety of occasions/incidents, without
limiting yourself to a "learning and improvement" story. In case you use
a different approach, clarity about the theme of the essay should
illuminate every part of this essay.
After
writing this story read the essays again and evaluate each point
in your Chicago Booth application essays in relation to the rest of the essays and the recos
(if you have access to them). Your
application should present a single unified face - there is absolutely no room for
internal contradictions.
Go for it!
Chicago
Booth MBA Essay 3 [Slide Presentation]
We have
asked for a great deal of information throughout this application and
now invite you to tell us about yourself. In four slides or less please
answer the following question: What have you not already shared in your
application that you would like your future classmates to know about
you?
Chicago
Booth MBA Essay 3 [Slide Presentation] Tips
I am sure
this Chicago Booth perennial knot-twister has many of you sputtering and wincing. Actually
that is the usual first reaction because this is probably the only
mandatory visual presentation demanded by a leading business school application.
There are two approaches to this dilemma. In the first, you
have to assume that your bewilderment will be shared by the other
applicants. So simply sulk and do your worst. After all you have company!
The
second option involves far more effort. You will have to take a leap of
thought and try to understand that this is a godsend [atheists can ignore
that - I do!] opportunity. There are very few questions in any MBA essay
package that MOST applicants will be completely befuddled by. Each such
question presents you with the prospect of creating a well-defined
advantage for yourself. This Chicago Booth PowerPoint/PDF presentation is
undeniably one such opportunity, and if you can grab it, that might be the
best thing you do this admission year.
On to
some "real" tips. First and foremost, take some time to forget all the
"creative" elements of this question - do not bother thinking about
whether there should be more pics or less text or this color or that
background. The basics still remain the same. What else and what more
(even of the same) would you like the Chicago Booth admissions committee to know about you that have not been
covered in your other essays? Get the answers to that question and ONLY
THEN think of all the razzle-dazzle options [since only static slides are
accepted there really can't be much of that].
You can use the
presentation to portray
yourself from a different angle, to highlight different aspects of
yourself or even to re-emphasize what makes you tick. Of course if you can show creativity, humor and insight through
the presentation style you might score more - and have some fun too. Since
the slides might be printed out for viewing, use clear text and bold pictures -
and check the output in monochrome before finalizing the work.
Go for it!
Chicago
Booth MBA
Optional Essay
If there
is any important information that is relevant for your candidacy that
you were unable to address elsewhere in the application, please share
that information here.
Chicago
Booth Optional Essay
Tips
As usual
an optional essay requires effort even when you don’t write it. The main
question in any optional essay is to decide whether you need to write it
at all. Attempt the Chicago Booth optional essay only if you feel that it will
improve the factual and material strength of your application.
Do not
submit your Chicago Booth optional essay as an addendum to any of your essays.
With 2500 words and a complete PowerPoint presentation at your disposal,
you better not take this route!
You can
use the Chicago optional essay to explain shortfalls in your application
which you feel are truly detrimental to your candidature. Areas of
underperformance (academic or professional or GMAT) or events which stick
out (gaps in your resumes or second MBA) can be commented on if you have
an explanation that is intelligent, interesting and credible. The Chicago
optional essay is also acceptable if you need to convey an extraordinarily
positive information that CANNOT be accommodated in the other essays.
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