You Oughta Know
Class organization. First-year students are broken up into “cohorts” as part of the school’s Leadership Effectiveness and Development (LEAD) program that all full-time students are required to complete. Without a more structured program like those found at some other top-tier MBA programs, where students attend most or all of their classes with their cohort, first-years have less opportunity to really bond with their cohort at Booth. Instead, relationships are more commonly formed across the entire student body at Chicago Booth rather than just with a slice of their class.
LEAD. The aim of LEAD is to give students exposure to leadership and team-building concepts, and to help them build relationships, learn to motivate, and affect decisions in the workplace. Incoming students are split up into cohort groups of about 50 students and spend 150 hours over the course of their first year at Chicago Booth engaging in various exercises and retreats. LEAD is the first experience of a new student at Chicago Booth, with many of the initial activities being somewhat similar to what students at other schools go through during their own orientation process. The LEAD program begins in early September of the first year; second-years don’t start class until three weeks later.
Lab courses. Chicago Booth offers a series of labs designed to provide students with hands-on business experience, including Management Labs, New Venture/Small Enterprise Labs, and Private Equity/Venture Capital Lab. Lab courses allow students to work as consultants to leaders of sponsor businesses on real-world projects.
Business plan competitions. Like many other prominent business schools, Chicago Booth offers a variety of business plan competitions as a part of the Chicago Booth experience. Some of the most notable competitions are the the Edward L. Kaplan New Venture Challenge (NVC), Glencoe Capital Venture Capital Investment Competition, and the Case Writing Competition.
International Business Exchange Program (IBEP). Some Chicago Booth students participate in the IBEP program, which includes 33 schools in 20 countries, such as the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the Stockholm School of Economics.
International MBA. An option available to all Chicago Booth students is the International MBA, or IMBA, which students may declare soon after matriculating. The IMBA is exactly the same credential as the MBA except with a bit of a marketing spin. Essentially, the IMBA is a slightly upgraded version of Chicago Booth’s International Business concentration: In addition to a set of classes in international business that the base concentration mandates, the IMBA also requires a semester abroad, plus tested proficiency in another language. IMBA students should begin with a strong foundation in their target language; it is not a language-acquisition program. The IMBA could be seen as a response to Wharton’s Lauder dual MA/MBA degree, though the IMBA is not nearly as rigorous, nor is it as competitive.
Concentrations. Chicago Booth offers 13 concentrations. While concentrations are optional, students can claim up to three on their transcripts (although they can accumulate as many as their available credits will allow). Courses can count toward more than one concentration, and most students qualify for at least one concentration even if they were not intentionally working toward one. We consider two of the most popular concentrations in the following paragraphs.
Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is the second-largest concentration at Chicago Booth, with approximately half of the students qualifying for this concentration upon graduation. The school offers courses taught by renowned faculty such as Steven Kaplan, James Schrager, and Ellen Rudnick, who rank among the top educators in the world. These professors conduct groundbreaking research, collaborate with the entrepreneurial and private equity communities, and bring their own entrepreneurial experiences into the classroom. The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship at Chicago Booth provides current students, as well as alumni, with industry-specific resources to start companies or support interest in private equity. Booth has also attracted a number of entrepreneurs to teach courses, including Groupon co-founders Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky.
Marketing. Someone interested in a career in marketing may come up against two untrue stereotypes: that marketing is “fluffy” and not quantitative, and that “the other school” in Chicago is the only place to go to study it. Both assumptions would be incorrect. Chicago Booth does not get the recognition it deserves in this field—and boy, does it take marketing seriously. The school’s focus on quant-based research is enabled by a longstanding partnership with consumer data provider A.C. Nielsen, and the Chicago Booth marketing department is a storehouse for more marketing datasets than any university in the world. The Kilts Center for Marketing brings researchers from top business schools and universities around the world for its annual Quantitative Marketing and Economics Conference and provides financial incentives to students serious about careers in marketing through subsidies and scholarships.
