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2020 MBA Essay Questions: Chicago Booth

Oh hey look here! You can view all EssaySnark blahg posts tagged for Booth in one place!

 

EssaySnark's Strategies for the 2020 Booth MBA Application
The 2020 Chicago Booth MBA Application Guide gives you lots and lots of guidance for how to approach the big task of responding to the Booth prompts.

Booth really wants you to demonstrate your understanding of what they offer – the whole “school fit” thing is paramount in your Chicago application!

We saw some 2019 clients achieve stunning successes in admits to Chicago Booth, and we would love to help you set your strategy on course for the same! The Booth questions are not easy, but they are straightforward, and once you get the hang of the techniques of good essay writing, you will be empowered to do an amazing job in impressing your adcom reader. Our Booth MBA Application Guide went through a full refresh for 2020.

 
 

Interviewing at Booth? The Interview Express Essay Review can help with comments on your interview essay!

 
 

Chicago Booth 2020 Full-Time MBA Essay Questions – Class of 2023

Booth Round 2 has passed.

Should you try for Booth in Round 3? Well, maaaaaybe it could work out… We’re not going to say no don’t bother. But it’s going to be tough to pull off an admit at the end of this very competitive season.

 
 

How do you answer the Booth MBA essay questions?

  1. How will the Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (250 words minimum)
    Yes you read that right — they have a MINIMUM word count! There is no maximum, though EssaySnark feels that you don’t need more than around 600 words to do an excellent job, especially because of all the other in-app questions that they have you answer around goals and plans.
     
  2. An MBA is as much about personal growth as it is about professional development. In addition to sharing your experience and goals in terms of career, we’d like to learn more about you outside of the office. Use this opportunity to tell us something about who you are…
    Hmmm…. This is remarkably similar to what Kellogg asked in the past about “growth” — and here’s a July 2020 review of this new Booth prompt too! This Booth version is a straightforward, open-ended question — that’s best answered through examples! Don’t fall into the trap of only describing yourself. Instead, SHOW who you are, by giving some moments from your life that illustrate how you became that way! Key events that shaped you, the biggest decisions that brought you to where you are today, how you grew up in some aspect of your life, in what way you know your own values… All of these are potential avenues to explore! This post on storytelling in MBA essays might be a useful place to begin reflecting on this question.

Can your goals change once you start the Booth MBA? Absolutely! But they want to know what your thinking is TODAY and how you’ve formulated your plan for success at this moment in time. There’s no problem if that changes as you move through your education. They only want to be confident that you’ll be able to control your own destiny and manage your options for success.

We have some purpose-built services to support you in developing the content that will resonate best in such essays — we’d suggest starting with the Career Goals App Accelerator that will perfectly establish your framework for essay 1 and the in-app questions! Or, you might consider the Complete Essay Package for Chicago Booth, which will fully support a robust strategy for these ideal essays. The most important aspects are to dig deep to identify the pieces of your past that can support essay 2 and be clear and distinct in establishing your current plans for your goals in essay 1.


Booth has an interview-invite short-answer question as well, similar to how other schools like MIT do it: If you get invited to interview, you’ll have one week to submit a separate mini essay in advance. The essay is not part of the interview experience per se, it’s just another aspect of you that you get to present for them to learn more about you. If they stick with how they did it last year, you’ll get a choice of three questions — just not the same three questions that they asked of prior candidates. They’re changing the questions every round. You’ll have about a week to respond. EssaySnark’s advice? Choose a topic that’s new and different from what you wrote about in the main application!


 
 

 
Booth 2020 MBA Strategy GuideThe Booth MBA Application Guide helps you unpack the questions, and figure out what parts of your background material to present to greatest effect!


 

Chicago Booth MBA Application Deadlines – Class of 2023

See their website for specifics: Booth MBA Application Deadlines

  • Round 1: September 24, 2020   In the past, interview invitations came out the second week of October, with a mid-cycle “release” a few days later. Then, another essay was due for those being interviewed!! Also useful to know: Booth often begins calling their admits before their stated decision day. Last year, they started these calls the first week of December. Keep your phone handy when that time rolls around this year!
     
  • Round 2: January 12, 2021 Whoo-hoo thank you Booth! This is also one of the later Round 2 deadlines, which will be a serious advantage for all of you trying at that time of year. Interview invitations and mid-cycle release are likely to be in the second week of February.

 
We generally discourage any attempts at getting in during the last round of a school’s season. Chicago Booth maybe could be an exception if the application is handled really carefully and there is evidence of distinction in how you pitch them.
 

Chicago Booth MBA recommendations – Class of 2023

For 2020, Chicago seems to have the same recommender requirements as Harvard and Columbia.

  • Two recommendations
  • Two questions for them to answer:
    1. How does the candidate’s performance, potential, background, or personal qualities compare to those of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? Please provide specific examples.
    2. Please describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant’s response.

You can find the basics on Chicago’s recommendations info page . Just keep in mind that like all schools, the actual recommendation instructions that your recommenders receive differs from the subset of information they post in the instructions to you.
 

Chicago Booth Useful Links

school pages:

  • Booth F/T MBA Admissions Blog
  • Booth on Twitter – there’s a lot of them!
    • @ChicagoBooth the school
    • @BoothFullTime full-time MBA admissions
    • @BoothEveWknd part-time MBA admissions
    • @BoothExecMBA Exec MBA admissions

 

From the ‘Snark (a lot of our historical posts about Booth were discussing their then-option to create a PowerPoint presentation instead of a standard written essay):

  • essay review! Booth essay 2 on “who you are” (July 2020)
  • Which school had the Best Essay Questions in 2014? (February 2014)
  • If you’re doing a PowerPoint for Booth, NYU or MIT (September 2013)
  • adcoms that we love: Chicago Booth (November 2012) and “adcoms that we trust” series (October 2010)
  • Pros and cons of Booth’s flexible curriculum (April 2011)
  • One more Booth plug (April 2011)

 
 

The SnarkStrategies Guide for Chicago Booth has been updated for 2020! Get started on your application with guidance from the ‘Snark!


 

For Reference: Booth’s Past-Season Essay Questions

Click to view last year's question

  1. How will the Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (250 words minimum)
    Yes you read that right — they have a MINIMUM word count! There is no maximum, though EssaySnark feels that you don’t need more than around 600 words to do an excellent job, especially because of all the other in-app questions that they have you answer around goals and plans. We have a gazillion posts on the blahg to help you figure out what to say on this Booth goals essay including this “why are you pursuing an MBA” essay critique we did for Columbia and this other discussion of how an MBA will help you achieve your goals.
     
  2. Chicago Booth immerses you in a choice-rich environment. How have your interests, leadership experiences, and other passions influenced the choices in your life?
    Ooohhh this one will be tricky! You have to go two steps back: Figure out the meaningful choices you’ve made, then reverse-engineer them to determine what is it about you that made you decide as you did! This post on storytelling in MBA essays might be a useful place to begin reflecting on this question. Just please be careful about the “passion” thing! πŸ™‚

Can your goals change once you start the Booth MBA? Absolutely! But they want to know what your thinking is TODAY and how you’ve formulated your plan for success at this moment in time. There’s no problem if that changes as you move through your education. They only want to be confident that you’ll be able to control your own destiny and manage your options for success.

We have some purpose-built services to support you in developing the content that will resonate best in such essays — we’d suggest starting with the Career Goals App Accelerator that will perfectly establish your framework for essay 1 and the in-app questions! Or, you might consider the Complete Essay Package for Chicago Booth, which will fully support a robust strategy for these ideal essays. The most important aspects are to dig deep to identify the pieces of your past that can support essay 2 and be clear and distinct in establishing your current plans for your goals in essay 1.


Booth has an interview-invite short-answer question as well, similar to how other schools like MIT do it: If you get invited to interview, you’ll have one week to submit a separate mini essay in advance. The essay is not part of the interview experience per se, it’s just another aspect of you that you get to present for them to learn more about you. If they stick with how they did it last year, you’ll get a choice of three questions — just not the same three questions that they asked of prior candidates. They’re changing the questions every round. You’ll have about a week to respond. EssaySnark’s advice? Choose a topic that’s new and different from what you wrote about in the main application!


[end discussion of the 2019 questions.]


Click to view 2018 questions

AARGH! Booth moved out their Round 1 date — but kept the very applicant-unfriendly Round 2 date the same!!! Drat!

The Booth MBA admissions team went in a new direction for 2018! But at the same time, they stuck with emphasizing what they’ve always cared about in their students: They want to know why you feel an MBA is right for you at this point in time, and they want you to highlight what you feel are the predominant features of YOU that will show how you will thrive in their culture.

Pro Tip: School research is ESPECIALLY important at Chicago Booth!! These essays will need to reflect your understanding of what this school is about, and they need to see DETAILS that demonstrate your character and individuality.

The Booth questions for 2018 were:

  1. How will the Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (250 words minimum)
    Yes you read that right — they have a MINIMUM word count! There is no maximum, though EssaySnark feels that you don’t need more than around 600 words to do an excellent job, especially because of all the other in-app questions that they have you answer around goals and plans. We have a gazillion posts on the blahg to help you figure out what to say on this Booth goals essay including this “why are you pursuing an MBA” essay critique we did for Columbia and this other discussion of how an MBA will help you achieve your goals.
     
  2. Chicago Booth immerses you in a choice-rich environment. How have your interests, leadership experiences, and other passions influenced the choices in your life?
    Ooohhh this one will be tricky! You have to go two steps back: Figure out the meaningful choices you’ve made, then reverse-engineer them to determine what is it about you that made you decide as you did! This post on storytelling in MBA essays might be a useful place to begin reflecting on this question. Just please be careful about the “passion” thing! πŸ™‚

These are truly great questions! There are a smorgasbord of resources here on the blahg to help you succeed.


 

[end discussion of the 2018 questions.]


Click to view 2017 question

For 2017, they used the same prompt as in 2016, just with a different, smaller, set of photos for you to choose from.
Making an argument for the Booth essay

The following is a collection of shared Booth moments. Choose the moment that best resonates with you and tell us why.


One of the best collections of modern art in the city of Chicago is found within the walls of Chicago Booth. Walking through the classroom level, a student passes by one of the nearly 500 ceonceptually challenging pieces, which inspire converastion and push people to think differently. #ChicagoBoothMoments #WhyBooth #ChicagoBooth #HarperCenter



These two Boothies remain grounded even when standing 1,353 feet above the city streets of Chicago. Investing in each other empowers Booth students to pursue their passions and reach new heights. #ChicagoBoothMoments #WhyBooth #ChicagoBooth #WillisTowerSkyDeck #1353feet #LoveChicago #MyKindOfTownChicagoIs #FlexibleCurriculum


This adventurous group of students traveled together for a fun-filled Spring Break in Central America. From learning to pitch to sharks in the boardroom to literally swimming with, well, sharks in the Barrier Reef, there are limitless ways to explore interest and challenge yourself during your two years at Booth. #ChicagoBoothMoments #WhyBooth #ChicagoBooth #BoothSpringBreak #SharkTank



A student snaps a photo of friends at a school-wide celebration organized by multiple student groups in recognition of the support and diversty within the Booth community. #ChicagoBoothMoments #WhyBooth #ChicagoBooth #TheBoothExperience #BoothBetterTogether



A student takes notes during an afternoon class. The unique perspectives and individual insights of each student play a vital role in Booth’s classroom experience-whether lecture, case-based, discussion, or lab #ChicagoBoothMoments #WhyBooth #ChicagoBooth



The central pulse of Booth emanates from Harper Center’s light-filled, six-story atrium – where it all happens. From weekly socials to Nobel laureate speeches, this is the place where lasting friendships form, ideas take shape, and Booth comes to life. #ChicagoBoothMoments #WhyBooth #HarperCenter @rafaelvinoly

EssaySnark says…. dang there are a lot of borrowed slogans going on in these photos this year! “Better Together”? “Think Differently”? And the weird Yoda-speak of “My kind of town Chicago is”?? Sorry Booth adcom. You guys should stick to your day jobs of recruiting applicants to your class. Marketing copywriting is clearly not your strong suit.

The standard career goals advice we’ve offered for schools like Columbia and Harvard (and others) may be helpful for you in tackling the Booth application. In addition, the suggestions about NYU Stern’s essay 3 are very relevant for a Booth PowerPoint presentation in 2017.

The full application requirements are available on the Booth admissions site . Our Booth essay guide has also been updated for the 2017 cycle with even more strategies for how to identify the best content and put together your presentation (and yes, a PowerPoint is recommended, instead of an essay! Our Booth application guide explains why).
 

Guidelines
Choose the format that works for you. Want to illustrate your response visually? Submit a slide presentation. Like to express yourself with words? Write a traditional essay. Use the format that you feel best captures your response, the Admissions Committee has no preference.

Determine your own length. There is no prescribed minimum or maximum length. We trust that you will use your best judgment in determining how long your submission should be, but we recommend that you think strategically about how to best allocate the space.

Technical Guidelines
File Size: Maximum file size is 16 MB.
Accepted Upload Formats: Acceptable formats are PDF, PowerPoint, and Word. We strongly recommend converting your piece to a PDF file prior to submitting.

Multimedia Restrictions: We will view your submission electronically and in full color, but all submissions will be converted to PDF files, so animation, video, music, etc. will not translate over.

 

Booth has also introduced an interview-invite short-answer question this year — sneaky Booth!! — where those who get the invitation for the interview will need to submit a separate mini essay in advance. The essay is not part of the interview experience per se, it’s just another aspect of you that you get to present for them to learn more about you. You get a choice of three questions and about a week to respond. EssaySnark’s advice? Choose something that’s new and different from what you did before!!


[end discussion of 2017 question.]


Click to view 2016 question


They’re using a photo prompt again, which is great – and what’s even better is that they completely simplified the actual question you are asked to respond to. Here it is:

View this collection of shared Booth moments. Choose the moment that best resonates with you and tell us why.

Guidelines
Choose the format that works for you. Want to illustrate your response visually? Submit a slide presentation. Like to express yourself with words? Write a traditional essay. Use the format that you feel best captures your response, the Admissions Committee has no preference.

Determine your own length. There is no prescribed minimum or maximum length. We trust that you will use your best judgment in determining how long your submission should be, but we recommend that you think strategically about how to best allocate the space.

Technical Guidelines
File Size: Maximum file size is 16 MB.
Accepted Upload Formats: Acceptable formats are PDF, PowerPoint, and Word. We strongly recommend converting your piece to a PDF file prior to submitting.

Multimedia Restrictions: We will view your submission electronically and in full color, but all submissions will be converted to PDF files, so animation, video, music, etc. will not translate over.

Yay Booth! They kept the awesome and fixed the awful. This is much simpler than last year – though there’s still ways for your answer to go sideways if you’re not paying close attention to strategy in how you present yourself (and authenticity matters just as much).

This is what they said on their blog when announcing this year’s question :

We encourage you to be genuine, authentic, and not overthink the question. Consider each moment, study the captions, and select the moment with which you feel most connected. Our hope is to learn a little more about why you chose a particular moment and what it means for you in your decision to apply to Booth.

The exercise is about showing us something we cannot learn elsewhere in the application. There is no wrong way to approach this. The question and moments are yours to answer and yours to interpret.

Here’s the fun photos that you get to think about – with a handful of links to the stuff that is referenced (you’re welcome):

Chicago Booth 2016 Edward Kaplan New Venture Challenge
Fellow classmates cheer on members of TransparentC as they are announced the winners of the 2016 Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge [winner announcements]. Run by @polskycenter [Polsky Center site], #ChicagoNVC [Twitter] is an experiential learning program that helps students turn their ideas into viable businesses. Celebrating its 20th year, NVC [NVC site] is recognized as the top-ranked university accelerator program in the nation [Seed Rankings site], where more than 140 companies got their start. #SeedCon #ChicagoBooth #ChicagoBoothMoments

EssaySnark comment: It’s interesting that the first photo of the bunch is one on entrepreneurship!


Chicago Booth students in Colombia
A group of students travel together through Colombia. Each year, hundreds of Booth classmates have the opportunity to travel around the world, visiting destinations from Argentina to Vietnam. Interantional opportunities like Random Walks [2016 Random Walks site], the International Business Exchange Program [IBEP page], and Industry Treks [Treks page (out of date)] result in lifelong memories and lasting friendships. @BoothRW #WhyBooth #ChicagoBooth #ChicagoBoothMoments

EssaySnark comment: Keep in mind as you’re reviewing this one that you don’t go to bschool in order to travel…


Chicago Booth LEAD
A second-year student helps the incoming class develop their individual leadership styles as a part of Leadership Effectiveness and Development (LEAD) [LEAD page], the cohorted course every Booth student takes at the beginning of their first year. As LEAD Facilitators, second years have an opportunity to further practice those leadership skills and pay it forward to the next generation of Booth students. #WhyBooth #ChicagoBooth #ChicagoBoothMoments

EssaySnark comment: All the schools like to hear about examples of leadership (but we’re not 100% sure about how easy it will be to present one of yours in response to this photo! #tricky).


Chicago Booth Harper Center

Walking in front of the Charles M. Harper Center [Harper page], a student is captured during a quiet moment before the beginning of a day on campus. #WhyBooth #HarperCenter #ChicagoBooth #ChicagoBoothMoments

EssaySnark comment: Hmmmm…. Talk about open-ended! This one might actually invite some interesting (or completely boring!) responses.


Chicago Booth Thought Leaders

#ChicagoBooth faculty are thought leaders whose ideas influence markets and politics in industries across the globe. Their research delves deep into the foundations of economics and behavioral sciences that underline how markets work, businesses function, and people make decisions. #RichardThaler [Booth faculty page] #LuigiZingales [Booth faculty page] #RaghuramRajan [Booth faculty page] #NicholasEpley [Booth faculty page] #ChicagoBooth #ChicagoBoothMoments

EssaySnark comment: Wait! There’s nine books but only four names called out. What’s up with that? Regardless, there seems like lots of possibilities here. (Just please don’t say that you want to be a thought leader when you grow up. Please please please don’t do that.)


Chicago Booth Social Impact
#ChicagoBooth students visit a village in India as part of a Global Social Impact Practicum [course description] led by the Social Enterprise Initiative (SEI) [SEI site]. The program explores the potential for bamboo-based power and its impact on employment in rural India. #BoothSEI supports similar efforts through #ExperientialLearning opportunities in communities around the globe. #ChicagoBoothMoments

EssaySnark comment: There’s more than just social impact here, people!


Chicago Booth Global MBA Trophy alumni regatta

A team of #ChicagoBooth alumni compete in the 2015 Global MBA Trophy [event website] regatta in Athens, Greece. The sailing race draws accomplished alumni from top business schools around the world. Annual events such as these happen globally, bringing alumni together to connect, collaborate, and share in new moments. #sailing #ChicagoBoothMoments

EssaySnark comment: Well you learn something new every day! This was an event that we had never heard of. Very cool! The Booth team even won one year.


Chicago Booth alumni success story: GrubHub

On the floor of the New York Stock Exchange [NYSE site], cofounder and CEO Matt Maloney, ’10 [Matt Maloney LinkedIn], is joined by food mascots to help ring the opening bell as his company @GrubHub [prolly dint need to link that one when you use it every night] lists its initial public offering in April, 2014. Shares of the company, valued at the time at $2 billion, climbed more than 30% the first day of its IPO. @NYSE [Twitter] #Instafood [Instagram] #ChicagoBooth #ChicagoBoothMoments

EssaySnark comment: Another entrepreneurship story??? OK whatevs. (Not throwing shade on GrubHub but all the top schools have similar bragworthy alumni success stories too ya know.) Anyway, what’s with the #Instafood tag? If you can do something (relevant) with that in your PPT, we’ll be impressed!


Chicago Booth's namesake, David Booth, '71
Students speak with Chairman and Co-CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors [company website], David Booth, ’71 [Wikipedia], whose unprecedented donation in 2008 led to renaming the school in his honor. The opportunity for business leaders to bring insights from their careers to students is an invaluable complement to Booth’s world-class academics. #ChicagoBooth #ChicagoBoothMoments

EssaySnark comment: There aren’t too many alumni out there with wiki pages on them! (Not that we’re suggesting that that’s what you should focus on with this one. It was really just an offhand comment. This one has much more to be explored than that.)


Chicago Booth student groups
Nearly 100 #ChicagoBooth students put on a massive flash mob to surprise the Class of 2017 admitted students visiting #HarperCenter [Harper page] in February, 2015. The choreographed performance of the hit “Uptown Funk,” [YouTube] was organized by members of the Booth Dance Club [BDC page], one of 80 student groups on campus [Booth clubs page]. #WhyBooth #ChicagoBoothMoments

EssaySnark comment: As with the travel thing, we’ll caution you again, you don’t go to bschool to dance. Just be careful if you choose this one; stay focused on the task at hand, which is to communicate something meaningful of who you are in the context of your application to business school. Also: typo. #eek



Last year around this time, we threw out a bit ‘o advice on Twitter:

@MBA_Hopeful1908 Remember you can include text in PPT too! We often see people do a much better job sharing depth of who they are thru pics.

— Essay Snark #BLM (@EssaySnark) July 15, 2015

@felipecorcuera Many of our clients are able to communicate more of who they are through slides or other visuals instead of just text πŸ˜‰

— Essay Snark #BLM (@EssaySnark) July 15, 2015



[end discussion of 2016 question.]


Click to view 2015 questions

Brand-new essay requirement from Booth – they mixed things up, yet not really. You still need to do a presentation (ideally, or an essay) to say how you fit with them. You just need to pivot that discussion off one of their Booth-centric images. So it’s less open-ended than before. On Sept 2 we covered the key mistakes that people are making with this year’s Booth essay and in November, we presented the simple way to handle the Booth question this year. You can also see what the Booth adcom says they saw with Round 1 applicants in 2015 .

They preserved their one main app requirement – the traditional Booth PPT, or you can make it a written essay – but you need to approach things differently from how past years’ Brave Supplicants have.

Chicago Booth values individuality because of what we can learn from the diverse experiences and perspectives of others. This mutual respect creates an open-minded community that supports curiosity, inspires us to think more broadly, take risks, and challenge assumptions. At Booth, community is about collaborative thinking and tapping into each other’s different viewpoints to cultivate new ideas and realize breakthrough moments every day.

Using one of the photos (here’s the PDF to download them all together), tell us how it resonates with your own viewpoint on why the Booth community is the right fit for you.

Here’s the 16 choices – most of which we recognize as images that Booth has been using on its website for awhile. You will pick just one to talk about in your response.
Essay Photo 1

Essay Photo 2

Essay Photo 3

Essay Photo 4

Essay Photo 5

Essay Photo 6

Essay Photo 7

Essay Photo 8
Essay Photo 9

Essay Photo 10

Essay Photo 11

Essay Photo 12

Essay Photo 13

Essay Photo 14

Essay Photo 15

Essay Photo 16

Wow! Talk about taking the question of “school fit” to the next level!

They’re still asking you to produce a PowerPoint or a Word file (or, you could build it in something else as long as you can save it as PDF). So to that extent, it’s the same as they have had before. And again, there are no limits – though it’s helpful to recognize that in prior years when the PPT was one of several essays, then it was limited to 4 slides total. That’s a pretty good ballpark place to start when thinking about how long you might want to go.

Audio/video/etc are still not allowed, which is a bummer (especially when they do allow videos to be submitted by waitlisted candidates).

You can review the entirety of the instructions as posted on their website on 7/8/15.

The main benefit of this new question is in Booth’s favor: You will not be able to reuse anything you build out for another school. You need to create it organic to Booth. Pretty clever on their part. And, having 16 different images to choose from means that applicants will feel like they’re empowered (provided they don’t feel overwhelmed by too many options) plus it ensures that the adcom won’t get bored by seeing the same thing over and over again. It should invite more diversity in responses.

Hopefully. πŸ˜‰

There is also an optional essay (only use it if you need to literally explain something that you cannot otherwise cover), and there’s a separate 300-word reapplicant essay if you’re trying again. And, lest you think that they don’t care about goals, they do; as with the prior year, they ask about them in the app.

We participated in a Twitter chat where things were discussed:

.@gbarbieB One tip we can offer: Dissect the Q, & really reflect on each noun that's included – they bring insights! http://t.co/toe8Dfw0EZ

— Essay Snark #BLM (@EssaySnark) July 15, 2015

Oh yeah – that last photo? #16?

So @BoothFullTime, we really should know this, but…. Who's that in Essay Photo #16 ? Is that Mr. Booth? #BoothMBA pic.twitter.com/pKNHuzE9Bc

— Essay Snark #BLM (@EssaySnark) July 15, 2015

@EssaySnark That is Eugene F. Fama, 2013 Nobel laureate in economic sciences. http://t.co/cDadVnN85X #BoothMBA

— Chicago Booth Full-Time MBA (@BoothFullTime) July 15, 2015

You’re welcome. πŸ˜‰

And, some posts where we talked about these 2015 application requirements:

  • Is a regular text essay OK for Booth? (November 2015)
  • The simple way to answer the Booth essay this year (November 2015)
  • The main mistake people are making with the Booth essay this year (September 2015)

[end discussion of Booth’s 2015 questions.]


Click to view 2014 questions


They had just one main app requirement – the traditional Booth PPT, or you could make it a written essay.

  • Presentation/Essay: Chicago Booth values adventurous inquiry, diverse perspectives, and a collaborative exchange of ideas. This is us. Who are you?

This was remarkably similar to the HBS question… which we have to point out, was worded quite closely to Booth’s original version of this prompt from several years back.

For Booth last year, you could write a traditional essay (no word limit mentioned) or do a PowerPoint (again, no limit; in past years when the PPT was one of several essays then it was up to 4 slides total). We’re betting they stick with something similar this coming season, too.

They recommended converting to PDF before uploading. Audio/video/etc were not allowed however this is another change they make this year – why not video submissions this year, Booth Insider? You allow them in the waitlist process. Seems ideal to front-load that opportunity for your candidates.

You can review the entirety of the instructions as posted on their website on 7/17/14.

There was also an optional essay, which they’re likely to preserve, and there’s a separate 300-word reapplicant essay if you’re trying again. And, lest you think that they don’t care about goals, they do; as with the prior year they asked about them in the app.

[end discussion of 2013 questions.]


Click to view 2013 questions

2013 Essays – EssaySnark’s Analysis

This is what we said when the two-years-ago essays came out:

Here’s the new Booth essay questions – no career goals! Interesting.

Two short-answer questions and the classic Booth presentation:

  1. My favorite part of my work is… (250 words)
  2. I started to think differently when… (250 words)
  3. The Chicago experience will take you deeper into issues, force you to challenge assumptions, and broaden your perspective. In a four-slide presentation or an essay of no more than 600 words, broaden our perspective about who you are. Understanding what we currently know about you from the rest of the application, what else would you like us to know? [that phrase “the rest of” is the only change from last year]

Those two short-answer questions make us feel like we work at Apple.

The Booth online application does in fact ask about career goals – here’s some of the questions:

  • Please select the industry that best represents the majority of your work experience to date (dropdown)
  • Proposed industry post-MBA (dropdown)
  • Proposed job function post-MBA (dropdown)
  • What is your short-term post-MBA goal? (700 characters)
  • What is your long-term post-MBA goal? (700 characters)

[end discussion of 2013 questions.]


Click to view 2012 questions


2012 questions – these are REALLY OLD
Three essays:

  1. What are your short- and long-term goals, and how will a Chicago Booth MBA help you reach them? (We’re betting they keep this question again this year. but they didn’t!!)
  2. a. What has been your biggest challenge, and what have you learned from it?
    b. Tell us about something that has fundamentally transformed the way you think.
  3. The Chicago experience will take you deeper into issues, force you to challenge assumptions, and broaden your perspective… [The same 4-slide presentation or 600-word essay as we got in 2013 except that they added the phrase “the rest of the application” to the actual prompt.]

[end discussion of 2012 questions.]


 

The Booth MBA Essay Guide goes into a whole bunch more detail than this!

We have exercises, dos and don’ts, and lots of suggestions for structuring your essays, how long they should be, what goes where, and the thinking direct from the adcom about their values and what they’re looking for in their applicants. Get started on your Booth application today!

 

[Index of essay questions by bschool]

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UPCOMING MBA APP DEADLINES

  • INSEAD Jan '22 Intake Rd 2
    in 1 month, 2 weeks, 1 day, 2 hours
  • (expected) HBS Class of 2024 app requirements released
    in 1 month, 4 weeks, 1 day, 3 hours
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    in 2 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 3 hours
  • INSEAD Jan '22 Intake Rd 3
    in 3 months, 1 week, 3 days, 2 hours
   
From a BSer January 2020:
"love the guide books!"


CLASS OF 2023 MBA APPLICATION STRATEGY GUIDES

     
    The 2020 Berkeley-Haas MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2023 application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Berkeley Haas - refreshed and updated, with brainstorming exercises and structured maps to help you focus your stories!
   
    The 2020-2021 NYU Stern MBA Application Guide that covers the main essay, the EQ Endorsement and Pick Six!
SnarkStrategies Guide for NYU - discusses your requirements for the Class of 2023 essays!
   
    The 2020-2021 Columbia MBA Application Guide
SnarkStrategies Guide for Columbia Business School for 2020-2021 applications
   
    The 2020 Harvard MBA Application Guide - completely overhauled and updated for the coronavirus era!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Harvard Business School!
   
    The 2020-2021 Duke Essay Guide - covers the 25 Random Things essay and all the rest too!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Duke Fuqua - up to date for the current season!
   
    The 2020-2021 MIT Essay Guide covers the org chart, the contacts for two references, and additional tips for the cover letter and 'introduce yourself' video -- and everything else you need to know!
SnarkStrategies Guide for MIT Sloan MBA - totally revised for the Class of 2023!
   
    The 2020-2021 Tuck Essay Guide has been refreshed with latest insights and advice for your essays about "investing generously" and "why Tuck"!
SnarkStrategies Guide for the Dartmouth Tuck MBA - completely overhauled for 2020, to help you demonstrate how you are nice, aware, etc stuff!
   
    The Yale SOM MBA Application Guide for Class of 2023 candidates!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Yale SOM - updated for 2020-2021
   
    The 2020-2021 Chicago Booth MBA Application Guide - ready to go to support your Class of 2023 essay strategy!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Chicago Booth for this year's MBA app!
   
    The 2020 Wharton MBA Application Guide - even more advice on how to get to a win with those essays!
SnarkStrategies Guide for The Wharton School - with new tips for 2020!
   
    The 2020 Kellogg Essay Guide - with a full methodology to identify your 'lasting impact' and your 'values' -- plus tips on 2020 world events and applicability to your essays!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Kellogg MBA - updated and revised for the new realities of 2020!    
      The 2020 Stanford MBA Application Guide - for "what matters most" in your MBA application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Stanford GSB for the Class of 2023
   
    The 2020-2021 UCLA Anderson MBA Application Guide - updated for Class of 2023 on "impact"!
SnarkStrategies Guide for 
UCLA
   
   

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  • 2019: ($) Got a glitch with your grades? TAKE ACTION NOW!
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  • 2013: Success Story! "It's complicated..."
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