Friendly Competition

Business is often a delicate balance of collaboration and competition, and business school is certainly no exception to this rule. Although we at Chicago Booth pride ourselves on the collaborative atmosphere that permeates our program, the honest truth is that we can be a little competitive too. Sometimes this shows itself in the pride we feel when the latest academic rankings are revealed. Other times our spirit shines in completely non-academic settings. Case in point: The Booth Basketball Club

After a lackluster 2008-2009 season, the Booth Basketball Club came back to school focused on improving and establishing a more dominant presence in the business school basketball community. Armed with a fresh set of first-year legs, the team practiced all fall and in soon time became a tight, cohesive unit.

The first test of the team’s abilities came during the Georgetown MBA Basketball tournament held earlier this month. Drawing business schools from around the continent, the tournament consists of a round robin and playoff, ultimately determining one champion. The Booth team aced the round robin against teams from Western Ontario (Ivey), Columbia and Georgetown, earning the highest total margin of victory of any team and earning a bye into the semifinals. On the second day of play, the team chalked up two more wins against Wharton and UNC, respectively, to be crowned champions of the tournament!

The MBA Championship was certainly no small feat, but the Basketball’s real test would come just a few days later. As you may know, Chicago Booth maintains a close, friendly rivalry with our cross-town neighbors at Northwestern Kellogg. On an annual basis for an unknown number of years, the schools have met for a marquee event, a game between the respective basketball teams held on the floor of the United Center (home of the Chicago Bulls).

Last year, a late scoring rally propelled Kellogg to a victory. The Booth community was determined not to let that happen again! The term ‘Redemption Week’ was coined, and a series of events – such as pep rallies, spirit days, pop-a-shot contests – were held to drum up excitement and school spirit for the event. T-Shirts were made, and “terrible towels” were distributed.

It seemed only natural that a team with an MBA championship on its back and a huge outpouring of support would win such a game. And we did! Our competitive itch fulfilled, we shortly returned back to our more friendly personas. Booth and Kellogg students stayed at the United Center for the Bulls-Knicks game that evening, and then met at a nearby venue for a fun night together out on the town.

Energy @ Booth

Energy is a hot subject (pun entirely intended) pursued by students at Chicago Booth. Below are a couple of descriptions of recent activities around energy our students have gotten involved in:


Alternative Energy Conference - by Aaron Ketter

Today the Booth Energy Group hosted the 2009 Alternative Energy Conference. The conference was held in advance of the Booth Midwest Alternative Energy Venture Forum (MAEVF), allowing students the opportunity to interact and learn from clean tech entrepreneurs. The event commenced with an opening speech from Michael Polsky, CEO of Invenergy LLC, commenting on the challenges and future of alternative energy development. The morning and afternoon sessions showcased seven business plans highlighting the latest thoughts and technology within the power generation and energy efficiencies sectors. After each presentation, the students were posed with the challenge of providing feedback from a venture capitalist perspective. Booth students did not disappoint, often asking many direct and challenging questions. At the end of the day, the entrepreneurs were given a new perspective before presenting at the MAEVF and the Booth students gained valuable insight into the intricacies of presenting a business plan and securing funding.


Energy Trek - by Caroline Gardner

Last week, the Energy Group traveled to Houston to meet with companies in the traditional and renewable energy space. The list of companies with whom we met was remarkable, but even more impressive was the chance to meet some new Boothies.

I met most of the group for the first time on the way to the airport. We become quick friends, in part because four of us were squished into the backseat of a cab, but mainly because every person was personable and unique.

Everyone in the group had worked in some area of the energy sector, but me. Rather than talking around my head using industry specific jargon, the folks squashed next to me offered their expertise in their respective sectors to me so I could learn about the industry as a whole.

On the surface this sounds like it would be informative. It turned out to be amazing. I learned about financing a power plant in Dubai, manufacturing oil drilling equipment in Texas, working on an offshore oil rig in China, and designing earthquake resistant power structures in Nevada.

Every day I am constantly amazed by the amount of knowledge and experience my colleagues have and are willing to share with me.

Net Impact

The Net Impact group recently held a mentorship lunch, giving first- and second-year students the opportunity to come together over pizza and talk about their interests in non-traditional careers. For those of you who don’t know, Net Impact is dedicated to advancing social responsibility in business and beyond (check out Chicago Booth’s chapter here). This was a great forum for first-years to speak with second-years about what to do now that we’ve identified areas and organizations of interest. Participating second-years had either interned or worked prior to Booth in government, microfinance, corporate social responsibility, and education, to name a few. I attended the education/nonprofit breakout, where we heard from two second-years with prior experience in education. They shared a wealth of information about their job searches, recommended ample reading material for us, and advised us on how to use Chicago Booth’s resources to unearth more opportunities for the summer and beyond. We were also free to rotate groups and find out about other areas. The co-chairs kept the first-year to second-year ratio low, giving us a great chance to build a network of like-minded peers at Booth. The bottom line? There’s a wealth of non-traditional opportunities for Booth students—and your classmates will be more than happy to help you find them.

- Christy Hentges

Booth Connect!

New for the 2009-2010, the Admissions Office at Chicago Booth has launched Booth Connect, an online portal designed to provide you with a customized look into everything Chicago Booth.


Our aim for the site is to provide you with a deeper, more individualized look into the Chicago Booth experience. By registering for the site and sharing your interests, we'll be able to tailor content toward your MBA aspirations. The sections of "Mind", "Life", "Leadership", and "Impact" reflect some of the core components of the Booth experience, and within those sections you'll be able to experience things like faculty discussions and debate, student profiles, entrepreneurial success stories, alumni profiles and more!

We encourage anyone interested in applying to Chicago Booth to check out Booth Connect! Click here to register your profile now.

As always, should you have any questions (or even suggestions) about Booth Connect, don't hesitate to email us!

DSAC: 2009-2010

Hi there!

Welcome to the 2009-2010 version of the Chicago Booth DSAC blog. With the end of Summer approaching, we second years are gearing up for our return to classes, and we’re sure you applicants for the Class of 2011 are gearing up for the application season ahead of you.

For those just coming here for the first time, this blog is for the Dean’s Student Admissions Committee to document some of the aspects of student life here at Booth, and provide some (hopefully helpful) insight into the application process at Booth. We’ll talk about anything from classes to clubs and everything in between. Please let us know if there’s anything you’d like us to address.

For now we’ll open things up with links to some of the most important resources you’ll need as a Booth applicant...

The first, and most obvious, are the main website to Chicago Booth, and more specifically the Full-Time MBA program. Use this to learn more about our program – academics, faculty, students, clubs, career resources...the list goes on.

Second, check out the details of the admissions process. This will provide you with more details about the steps required for applying to the Class of 2011. Take special note of the application deadlines – October 14 (Round 1), January 6 (Round 2), and March 10 (Round 3).

Finally, the link to the application itself. You’ll use this to actually submit your application.

We’re looking forward to being a part of the application process with you, and wish you all the best this year.

- The Chicago Booth Dean’s Student Admissions Committee (2009-2010)

Ciao, Adios, G'bye - from the graduating DSAC co-chairs!

The DSAC passes into new hands and us, old co-chairs with only a few weeks left before we graduate, we’d like to say a few words before we pass on the reins…

JSV | “What can I say?? Two years goes by fast! I’ve recently been asked several times how I feel about graduating and whether I am happy I got my MBA. Graduating is bittersweet. I certainly have no desire to look at yet another HBS case and who really uses the CAPM anyway, but I also don’t want to leave my friends and all the opportunities that are so easy to take advantage of here. B-School also has this sort of safe haven feel that I will miss dearly where I can be on my own schedule, ask any questions, and use “networking” as an excuse for going out any night of the week.

I never thought I would be having a conversation with the CEO of Whirlpool, hearing the Vice President of Colombia speak, or take a class with the author of Freakonomics. But here at Chicago Booth, that all happened in just one week!! The experiences are real and have given me such perspective not only on business but life in general. Of course I am glad I got my MBA! I love being a Boothie and always will.”

NJSS | In an ideal world, the MBA would be a 3 year course without any opportunity costs and at the end of it, a 6 figure job and world-changing opportunities would await us all… But hey, this is 2009, the year of the deficits, crunches and rescinded bonuses… and so, here we are at the end of 21 months with our promised jobs yet intact and our MBA almost over. Personally, I would LOVE a 3 year program – there’s tons of rock-star professors and fantastic courses that I would love to try (not to mention the TNDCs I missed out) and of course, we want it all!

But that’s the way it is… classes apart, I’ll also miss the other stuff that’s kept me on my mental and physical toes. Be it writing for Chibus or managing the DSAC blog, I have enjoyed flexing my limited non-academic muscles at Booth and I wonder how I’m going to fill up the free time until work kicks in. Blogging, sourcing blog content, launching Twitter, manning discussion boards, hosting breakfasts, calling new Admits… me and Jen have been at the centre of a very interesting intersection where the school, students and applicants meet and interact and I am sure we will thoroughly miss all the action.

Working with Rose, Andrea and the rest of the admissions team as a DSAC co-chair has been amazing! We not only got a peek at the other side of the Admissions window but also have started to appreciate how the different aspects like culture, academic performance, background, work experiences come together to shape applicants and the school’s personality. It’s a small consolation that as alumni, we may get to evaluate future Booth MBAs (some DSAC habits die hard!) and I look forward to that… although I doubt if the trauma of not attending another TNDC or Admit Weekend will ever really wear off! ;-)

So here’s to the best B-school in the galaxy – with its brilliant professors, startling theories, weird Noble prize jokes, super-smart students, friendly staff… and it's awesome new DSAC co-chairs - we’ll miss it all!

Want to discuss this topic some more? Head on over to the Chicago Booth Discussion Forums

No cosignor loan for international students @ Chicago Booth

Great news for international applicants - Chicago Booth has signed up for a new loan program in coordination with GMAC's ISLP program ; international applicants can apply for a loan without a co-signor for an amount that covers their MBA expenses.

The official press release is available on our website and FT in this article believes that this is a sign of the credit crunch easing at Chicago!

That should ease some of the stress in the admissions process - good luck everyone!

Want to discuss this topic some more? Head on over to the Chicago Booth Discussion Forums