Chicago Booth 2011-2012 MBA Application Essays

Chicago Booth 2011-2012 MBA Application Essays

Aug, 13, 2011

This post is on the University of Chicago Booth’s MBA application essays for 2011-2012 admission application.

As is usual, Chicago Booth has again changed its questions. I never get a break with this school! I have taken the Class of 2014 questions from the Booth website with additional commentary from the Booth Insider.  

In addition to the post below, I suggest reading the first part of my Kellogg analysis where I discuss why location matters as it is a comparison between Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. The University of Chicago is a very intellectually serious place.  Booth reflects that culture. Not everyone who goes there is an intellectual, but most are quite smart.  Your objective is to show you understand yourself, understand what you want to do in the future, and understand why Booth is right for the fight school for you now. If you can do so, it is quite possible that you will part of the Class of 2014.

I had four clients admitted to the Chicago Booth Class of 2013.  You can find testimonials from three of them here. You can find additional testimonials from some of the clients admitted in prior years as well.

I would suggest reading the Q&As I conducted with former clients who are members of the Classes of 2012, 2011, and 2010 as these interviews will provide you with Booth student perspectives on the program.

Japanese applicants should most certainly visit the MBA J-Book.

THE QUESTIONS:

1. What are your short- and long-term goals, and how will a Chicago Booth MBA help you reach them?  (600 words)

1a. RE-APPLICANTS 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? (300 words)

2. At Chicago Booth, we believe each individual has his or her own leadership style. How has your family, culture, and/or environment influenced you as a leader? (750 words)

3. Considering what you’ve already included in the application, what else should we know about you?  In a maximum of four slides, tell us about yourself.

Start with Question 1: You need to effectively segment your content. Question 1 has a clear focus, so it is best to start there. In general, for any application, starting with the goals essay always makes sense because what you say in it will impact what you say elsewhere. After all you want to show how other aspects of who you are will support your goals.
Next:This is really up to you, but I suggest really trying to figure out what specific topics you want to focus in on in Essays 2 and 3. Some applicants will find it easier to start with Essay 2 and others will find it easier to start with Essay 3.  By outlining what you intend to do in each of these essays, you are less likely to have unnecessary overlapping between them.
Next: Write the Optional Essay if you need to.
Finally: After you have written everything, make sure it works as part of your entire application strategy. Review your entire application and think about whether you have presented all aspects of yourself as clearly as possible. Specifically think about your application meets Chicago Booth’s three central evaluation criteria: curriculum, community, and career.

BACK TO BASICS
1. What are your short- and long-term goals, and how will a Chicago Booth MBA help you reach them?  (600 words)
Booth Admissions: “In this essay, we hope to better understand your path and plan, vision for your career, and why an MBA – specifically a Booth MBA – is necessary to help you achieve your goals.  In responding to this question, you’ll need to spend some time thinking about your career, your passions, and what you really hope to get out of the entire MBA experience.”

Chicago is returning to one of the simplest forms of this question. To answer this section effectively you need to know what your goals are and why they will fit with Booth’s mission:
We are the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Since 1898, we have produced ideas and leaders that shape the world of business. Our rigorous, discipline-based approach to business education transforms our students into confident, effective, respected business leaders prepared to face the toughest challenges.
For more about fit, see here.  For more about writing goals that are both ambitious and visionary, see here.

If you are having difficulty formulating your goals, please see my analysis of Stanford GSB Essay 2 as it provide a framework for developing goals.

Why Booth?
In this part of the question you need to explain why you need an MBA from Booth to reach your goals. To really answer this question you need to know about Chicago . Given that Booth has great online sources available for this purpose, even if you don’t visit, you can learn about it. Start here. In particular take a good look at Chicago Booth Dean’s Student Admissions Committee (DSAC) blog. To learn more about the GSB’s research, see University of Chicago Booth’s Working Papers and The University of Chicago’s Capital Ideas. I also strongly suggest listening to the Booth podcast series. This a great series of podcasts that should help get you thinking about business at the kind of intellectual level required for success at Chicago.

Effective answers to this part of the question will establish deep and specific linkages between specific aspects of the Booth program and your goals in order to show fit.  To do this effectively requires actually writing something meaningful about your goals. If your objective is to make this essay effective, you don’t want to write something that is purely generic, something anyone could write.  You need to show your specific fit.  This means analyzing your needs (See my chart above) and relating them directly to Booth.  It means showing Booth admissions that you know what you will do in an MBA program with only one required class (LEAD).

It is, of course, fine to mention that Booth has a flexible curriculum, but everyone knows that. The point is what you will do with it?  That is always the point.  I have had clients admitted into the Classes of 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 and I can say that the only thing that is consistent about them is that each had their own individual plans for how they would utilize their Chicago education.  You need to have your own Booth study plan that clearly links to why you need an MBA now.   

Booth is not just for finance!
Just go explore Booth and you will see that goes way beyond finance. For instance, it is a great school for those with entrepreneurial goals.

1a. RE-APPLICANTS 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? (300 words)
Booth Admissions: “For our re-applicants, this question gives you the opportunity to tell us what is different from the time of your last application.  What has occurred in your life or career that has either reinforced or changed your goals?  What lessons have you learned or how have you grown since you last applied to Chicago Booth?”

Reapplicants should read my post on reapplication. Use this space to specifically explain what has improved about you since you last applied. You can certainly mention improved test scores, but I would not use every much of your word count for that. Typical topics include: development of a new skill, promotions that demonstrate your potential for future success, involvement in an extracurricular activity, learning significantly more about Booth, and why your goals discussed in Essay 1 now are better than the ones you presented last time.

There are a number of ways to write this essay:
You might concentrate on a single family, cultural, or environmental influence on your leadership style that is reflected in a single leadership example:

You might concentrate on a single family, cultural, or environmental influence on your leadership style that is reflected in two or more leadership examples:

You might concentrate on multiple family, cultural, or environmental influences on your leadership style that are reflected in a single leadership example:

You might concentrate on multiple family, cultural, or environmental influences that highlight different aspects of your leadership style as shown through multiple examples.

I think each of the above structures can make for a good essay.  Whichever structure you focus on, keep in mind that this is an essay in self-analysis and therefore you should focus as much on providing a coherent and effective analysis as on telling good stories. Those who show introspection are more likely to be rewarded for their efforts than that simply focus on telling their best leadership story.  
If you are having difficulty identifying your own leadership style, I suggest looking at the following resources:

First, one great place to read about leadership, and business in general, is Harvard Business School Working Knowledge. The last time I checked there were 309 articles on leadership and management posted there.

Second, find out what kind of leader you are by taking this quiz based on Lewin’s classic leadership style framework. I think leadership is more complicated than Lewin’s framework, but this quiz is a great way to get you started thinking about yourself, a key part of answering any leadership essay question effectively.Third, if you have not done so, I suggest reading relevant essays in 65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays: With Analysis by the Staff of the Harbus, The Harvard Business School Newspaper. Reading through the essays on leadership should help you to understand the great diversity of topics that are possible.

By the way, if you have noticed a lack of Booth-specific resources on leadership in the above, it is because there is actually very few such resources. Booth’s research has not been focused on leadership studies per se, something reflected in the fact that with the notable exception of the Center for Decision Research, none of Booth’s Research and Learning Centers focus on the study of leadership, nor does it’s three highly specialized journals.  Be that as it may, at least at the stage of admission, Booth cares about your self-awareness as a leader.

3. Considering what you’ve already included in the application, what else should we know about you?  In a maximum of four slides, tell us about yourself.
Booth Admissions: “During our last live chat in June, many of you were wondering if the presentation would be part of the application. Since we feel that it is such a valuable opportunity to learn about you, we have decided to include it again this year. We have framed the question to specifically address what you haven’t already told us in the rest of the application. We encourage you to look at your application holistically. Are there messages, topics, or activities that are important for us to know?  If so, then the presentation will be an opportunity for you to provide us with this type of information. Also, it is important to note that this is not a design contest!  We care most about the content, but the way in which you deliver that is up to you.”
Also see Associate Dean Kurt Ahlm’s “what is your application strategy?”  

Based on working with four clients admitted to the Class of 2011 (and in previous years), I am confident that the advice I offer below is effective.  Each of these client’s presentations was distinct and provided admissions with interesting set of perspectives on the applicant.  Some of the slides looked really professional, while others were clearly not.  Some were funny, others less so.  Some were high concept, others very simple and direct.  All of these slides worked in their own way.   
Is this a test of PowerPoint Skills?
No. I think it is a test of your ability to prepare a very simple presentation about yourself. Remember that you are preparing slides for a presentation that will only be delivered on paper and unlike a presentation that you would deliver, you are not able to take advantage of what PowerPoint can do. In fact, for anyone who has actually is good at PowerPoint, they may find it necessary to compromise on their aesthetics and technical skills in order to most effectively answer the question. Especially those who believe in providing a minimal amount of content per slide will likely  find it necessary to increase the amount of content they include. As someone who previously made the transition from text heavy slides to minimalist ones when delivering sales and marketing presentations, I know that if I had to answer this question, I would have to compromise on what I consider to be my own best practices for making PowerPoint slides.

Tell them about you, but don’t focus on what they can find elsewhere in the application.
In Question 1, you have already discussed your goals and why you want an MBA from Chicago, so don’t discuss goals and why MBA here.  You will have discussed your leadership in Question 2, you will have seemingly discussed certain aspects of your leadership, so don’t repeat them here. In your resume and in the application form, you will have provided information regarding your past experience, so don’t just repeat that information here.

Some Questions to get you brainstorming:
1. What do you want Chicago to know about you that would positively impact your chances for admission?
2. What major positive aspects of your life have not been effectively INTERPRETED to the admissions committee in other parts of the application?
3. If you were going to tell admissions four things about you that would not be obvious from rest of the application, what would they be? Why should Booth care?
4. If there was one story about yourself that you think would really help admissions understand you and want to admit you, what is it?
5. Do you have a personal interest (painting and poetry for example) that would work effectively in a PowerPoint?
6. If you have a sense of humor and/or creativity, how can you express it here? I suggest doing so if you can.

As you can see, these questions would lead to very different kinds of responses. There is no one way to answer this question, but I believe there are right ways for every applicant to do so.

Some common questions I have been asked about the presentation

1) In your opinion, should one use a minimalistic approach involving images to convey one’s ideas?
I think this will really depend on you. The important thing is to effectively convey something important about who you are to the admissions committee. If that can be done effectively with more images that is great, if it can be done effectively with minimal or no images that is also great. The important thing is that your reader understands the significance of any images you use. Luckily, you have the notes for that purpose. Just as in “real” PowerPoints, images or any graphic element can be used effectively or badly. Always ask yourself, “Why am I using this image? Does it really help them understand me?” If it does, keep it. If it is mere decoration, think about eliminating it or replacing it with something that will have a positive impact on Chicago’s ability to understand who you are.

2) Would a little bit of humor do good e.g. a cartoon?
Keeping in mind what I just wrote above, I think humor can be used effectively. You must practice extremely good judgment when using humor for any application. Don’t make a joke simply to make one. Use humor if it is effective in conveying something that will compel admissions  to want to interview you. That said, I have had a number of clients who successfully used humor in their applications for Chicago Booth.

3) Is Booth looking for an analytical assessment of one’s personality in these slides?
I think they are looking for a meaningful assessment of your personality. I will not say “analytical” because that is just one possibility. If by “analytical” you mean a detailed explanation for your character making use of standard forms of argument, it is fine to do it that way, but not the only way. I use the word “meaningful” because it does not necessarily require logic or analysis to do so. For example, an image with some kind of description may provide Chicago Booth with great insight into who you are. Since Chicago is specifically being “non-traditional,” you certainly can be also so long as you answer the question.

4) What kind of presentations seem to work best?
There is no single style of presentation that works best.  Even very simple “show and tell” style presentations can work if they help admissions understand you and why you should be admitted. That said, I think presentations that make choices about what to present and that are unified by a concept or theme tend to work best.  

Finally, think big and be creative. To answer this one effectively will take time, but if you want to get into Chicago Booth, put in the time.

-Adam Markus
アダム　マーカス
I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form, which is publicly available on google docs here, and then send your completed form to adammarkus@gmail.com.  You can also send me your resume if it is convenient for you.  Please don’t email me any essays, other admissions consultant’s intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. See here for why. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

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