I get a quite a few calls about my MBA experience at Chicago Booth from prospective students, and even current students about my campus recruiting experience etc, and thought this might be a good post to any one interested in this. I was in the weekend MBA program, and got done with classes in Dec 2011. As a weekend student, I flew to Chicago every Friday evening from Birmingham, Al where I was initially living and working. The program is geared for working professionals, and most of my classmates flew in as well, flying in from all over the US - many flying for over 4 hours each way, every weekend to attend class.
Even with all the flying, I would start by stating unequivocally that my experience has been great. The quality of students and professors at Booth is very high and I have been fortunate to make some lifelong friends. In my opinion, there is a much bigger focus on academics in the weekend program, and the depth of classroom discussions is also excellent, probably much better than that in the full time program. I am probably biased, but am also stating my opinion here. There are plenty of excellent courses, and some of them were better than others like any other school. Although Chicago Booth is known as a finance school, the Marketing and Entrepreneurship programs are top notch. I also have to say that the program was not easy - part of the reason for this was that I had no experience in Finance, Economics etc, and these subjects pushed me out of my comfort zone, but the other part of this was the students were simply very talented and hardworking, and lifted the classroom experience to a different level. There was hardly a week where I didn't have a conference call with my classmates who were all distributed throughout the US, working on some homework assignment into the wee hours of the night. Looking back, I am amazed that I put in the effort, although at the time, the pleasure of working with my friends and learning something new was greater than the exhaustion of working a full time job, juggling a family life and then flying to school. You have to have a supportive spouse if you are married, and that makes all the difference.
As a weekend student, the curriculum is the almost exactly the same as that in the full time program, and the professors are also the same. Having said that, there are a few areas where I think weekend students do not get the same experience as others in the full time program, and this is simply due to the nature of the program, given the classes are on Saturdays. First, there are a few courses which are not offered on the weekends. This is less of a concern these days, but the exceptions are still present. Second, there are lesser opportunities to network with other students if you come in on Saturday morning and leave the same evening. As I was living in Birmingham,AL and later in Houston, Tx during the time, I would fly in on Friday evenings, and leave on Saturday evenings or even on Sundays. This allowed me to meet a lot of other students, and made my experience a lot richer.
Let me talk a little about the on-campus recruiting (OCR) process for those interested. The recruiting cycle when I went through it, started sometime in September and continued through early December. You get to meet with a ton of companies, and the level of interest in Booth students, weekend or full-time, is high. Most students who are well prepared, get jobs - again this is my opinion. There are exceptions, and the unlucky ones do manage to find something pretty soon later anyway. There are couple of things to note though. Networking and establishing relationships with alums and others in the companies you are interested in joining is an absolute must, and part-time students in general are not very focused on this - at least to the extent that full time students are. Some points I would recommend if you are thinking about OCR - First, start networking a year before you are thinking of going through OCR. Second, prepare cases with other students if you are focusing on consulting jobs. You need to do a ton, in my opinion - around 50 at least. Third, prepare for your 'fit' interview'. These three steps are crucial to being successful in OCR. And, if you are really serious, try to move to Chicago for a couple of months - I did that along with a bunch of my classmates (and we were all successful)
Feel free to email me if you want more info. Happy to help or chat about my experiences!
Even with all the flying, I would start by stating unequivocally that my experience has been great. The quality of students and professors at Booth is very high and I have been fortunate to make some lifelong friends. In my opinion, there is a much bigger focus on academics in the weekend program, and the depth of classroom discussions is also excellent, probably much better than that in the full time program. I am probably biased, but am also stating my opinion here. There are plenty of excellent courses, and some of them were better than others like any other school. Although Chicago Booth is known as a finance school, the Marketing and Entrepreneurship programs are top notch. I also have to say that the program was not easy - part of the reason for this was that I had no experience in Finance, Economics etc, and these subjects pushed me out of my comfort zone, but the other part of this was the students were simply very talented and hardworking, and lifted the classroom experience to a different level. There was hardly a week where I didn't have a conference call with my classmates who were all distributed throughout the US, working on some homework assignment into the wee hours of the night. Looking back, I am amazed that I put in the effort, although at the time, the pleasure of working with my friends and learning something new was greater than the exhaustion of working a full time job, juggling a family life and then flying to school. You have to have a supportive spouse if you are married, and that makes all the difference.
As a weekend student, the curriculum is the almost exactly the same as that in the full time program, and the professors are also the same. Having said that, there are a few areas where I think weekend students do not get the same experience as others in the full time program, and this is simply due to the nature of the program, given the classes are on Saturdays. First, there are a few courses which are not offered on the weekends. This is less of a concern these days, but the exceptions are still present. Second, there are lesser opportunities to network with other students if you come in on Saturday morning and leave the same evening. As I was living in Birmingham,AL and later in Houston, Tx during the time, I would fly in on Friday evenings, and leave on Saturday evenings or even on Sundays. This allowed me to meet a lot of other students, and made my experience a lot richer.
Let me talk a little about the on-campus recruiting (OCR) process for those interested. The recruiting cycle when I went through it, started sometime in September and continued through early December. You get to meet with a ton of companies, and the level of interest in Booth students, weekend or full-time, is high. Most students who are well prepared, get jobs - again this is my opinion. There are exceptions, and the unlucky ones do manage to find something pretty soon later anyway. There are couple of things to note though. Networking and establishing relationships with alums and others in the companies you are interested in joining is an absolute must, and part-time students in general are not very focused on this - at least to the extent that full time students are. Some points I would recommend if you are thinking about OCR - First, start networking a year before you are thinking of going through OCR. Second, prepare cases with other students if you are focusing on consulting jobs. You need to do a ton, in my opinion - around 50 at least. Third, prepare for your 'fit' interview'. These three steps are crucial to being successful in OCR. And, if you are really serious, try to move to Chicago for a couple of months - I did that along with a bunch of my classmates (and we were all successful)
Feel free to email me if you want more info. Happy to help or chat about my experiences!
Good post. Very informative and helpful!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post. You explore very well the pro's and con's of the program.
ReplyDelete