Chicago Booth

Essay 2: Your Values , As Represented by a Photo

Prompt: Chicago Booth appreciates the individual experiences and perspectives that all of our students bring to our community. This respect for different viewpoints creates an open-minded environment that supports curiosity, inspires us to think more broadly, and take risks. At Booth, community is about collaborative thinking and learning from one another to better ourselves, our ideas, and the world around us.

The photos represent some of the values described above that we uphold at Chicago Booth. Select one and share how it resonates with one of your own values. (Minimum 250 words, no maximum)

As usual, Booth comes up with something completely unique! Keep in mind three things:

1. Booth is a mission-based school, in that its students often have specific missions that they wish to pursue while in school.
2. Traditionally, Booth application questions require creativity in the response. I believe that they seek a mind balanced between structure and evidence-based, and free-thinking ability to put ideas together in new ways.
3. Booth seeks independent, self-directed MBA students. (See below.)

When writing this essay, please keep in mind that Booth is an MBA program in which there are no cohorts and the curriculum is very, very flexible - so you have to be comfortable with making your own way. That is why they ask this question. Tell them about the basis on which you make your decisions.

Review of potential values to describe (as related to the photo that you select):

• Ability to voice an independent, individual viewpoint
• Ability to utilitize learnings from past experience
• Respect for different viewpoints
• Open mindedness / broad mindedness
• Curiosity
• An appetite for risk
• Willingness to collaborate with others
• Willingness to learn from others

On the essay itself

1. Choose a photo that seems to depict a favorite value(s), and tell them what is the value(s) that you see in it.
2. Tell them why that value(s) resonates with you.
3. Tell them a story about how you have also upheld that value(s) or learned the importance of that value(s) in your life (personal or professional). Important: This story should be one in which you are actively making decisions (as opposed to simply observing).
4. Answer the question about how that value(s) led you to better yourself, your ideas, and/or the world around you.
5. Describe how that value(s) has led you to your mission goal.

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An example

Let me describe one of my clients (who went to Booth) and how he made his life decisions, as an example. He selected a photo that to him seemed to reflect an excellent education.

Steve chose to come to the US from Cameroon to go to college. He was very committed to getting the best education he could, because he had seen his father fail without a degree. His value for education, and wanting to be the model for his younger brother, was why he went to the US. Things did not go well for him at first. He ended up living in a tiny apartment in big city, going to community college, and walking everyday to a job at Walmart. On his own, he sought out a professor for help in transferring to a larger full-time university, which is where he really got his start in life.

• His decisions and actions were motivated by his drive to pursue a good education and become a model to his extended family.
• His goals led him to take decisive action. He was also willing to take a risk by going to strange country entirely on his own.
• He was willing to learn from another in order to achieve his personal goal.

Later on, while working at a consulting firm, Steve traveled back to Cameroon and happened to hear a philanthropist talking about his organization. He sought out the philanthropist later. Steve got very involved in the charity, so much so that he was managing education-related projects in Cameroon for the charity, while still working many hours for the consulting firm.

• His decisions and actions were motivated by his desire to give back to Cameroon, and his desire to improve education in Cameroon, reflecting his values.
• He was curious, open to new ideas, and he took decisive action find out more.
• He showed a willingness to collaborate with others to achieve larger goals, and he became a leader in the process.

The essay that Steve wrote described his decisions, his motivations (his reason why he made certain decisions), his goals, the actions that he took, the help that he received from others, and how he demonstrated leadership.

Also, please note how self-driven Steve was. He didn't wait for someone to come up to him and say, "Let me tell you how to get into a university." He went out and found that person himself, and then followed through. That is what Booth is seeking.

Optional Essay

Prompt: Is there any unclear information in your application that needs further explanation? (Maximum 300 words.)

By "unclear," they mean, "something that might be unclear to the Admissions Committee," something that might need further explanation. This space can also be used to address any extenuating circumstances that you would like the Admissions Committee to consider. Use to address:

• why your current direct supervisor is not writing your recommendation
• gaps in work experience
• low GPA or inconsistent or questionable academic performance
• interruptions in academic career
• difficult issues (i.e., Driving Under the Influence or other types of arrests)
• areas of weakness (i.e., less than five years work experience - why you are not waiting to apply)

Use this essay to turn a potential weakness into a strength. Tell the Admissions Committee what happened and why it happened. Be honest in your self-evaluation. Most importantly, tell them what you have learned from a negative experience, and how this learning has influenced future actions.

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