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How to Get Into Chicago Booth School of Business: mbaMission’s Booth Insider’s Guide

How to Get Into Chicago Booth School of Business: mbaMission’s Booth Insider’s Guide

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business is known for its strength in finance, but the school offers a wide range of experiential opportunities beyond those found in finance—especially for those interested in consulting and entrepreneurship. If “finance” is one buzzword for Chicago Booth, “flexibility” is another. The school is known to have a very flexible curriculum—its LEAD (Leadership Effectiveness and Development) program is the only course that is mandatory in the Chicago Booth program.

The school has a reputation for superior academic research, particularly in finance and economics, with several of its academics having won Nobel Prizes in these fields. However, even though the aggregate percentage of all the finance-related functions has been consistently higher than for any other function for many years, consulting has steadily been the most popular standalone job function among Chicago Booth graduates, with investment banking claiming the second-highest percentage as a standalone function. We believe this helps attest to the diversity of the school’s MBA program.

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How to Get Into Chicago Booth

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  • Class size: Smaller versus Larger
  • Curriculum: Flexibly versus Mandatory Core
  • Pedagogy: Lecture versus case method
  • Academic Specializations/Recruitment Focus: Resources and Employers
  • Professional Specializations
  • Location: Urban Campus versus College Town
  • Facilities: Shaping the Academic/Social Experience
  • Alumni Base: Opportunities to Engage
  • Rankings and Reputation: Important Metrics or Arbitrary Measures?
  • The Dean: Madhav V. Rajan
  • Notable Professors and Unsung Heroes
  • Social/Community Life
  • Academic Summary
  • Admissions Basics
  • University of Chicago (Booth) Essay Tips, 2024-2025
  • Booth Class Profile (Class of 2025)
  • Chicago Booth Employment Statistics (Class of 2023)

Chicago Booth FAQs

Is Chicago Booth good for an MBA?

Chicago Booth offers a prestigious and respected MBA program that attracts thousands of applications annually. The Chicago Booth MBA program is demanding and intensive, ensuring that students graduate with a firm understanding of the business world. Such world-renowned experts as Eugene Fama teach on the Chicago Booth faculty. Chicago Booth relies on The Chicago Approach, which is a multidisciplinary educational philosophy. After graduating, Chicago Booth MBAs can take advantage of the vast alumni network and the career center’s offerings.

How hard is it to get into Chicago Booth MBA?

Chicago Booth accepts between a quarter and a third of its applicants each year, making it a very selective school. In 2022–2023, Chicago Booth received 4,184 applications and accepted 1,364 individuals. This makes the Chicago Booth acceptance rate 32.6%, which is a very competitive acceptance rate, but not among the lowest acceptance rates at top-ranked business schools. The Chicago Booth admissions committee evaluates all applications in a holistic manner and examines candidates’ each qualification equally.

What is the average salary for a Booth MBA in Chicago?

Chicago Booth MBAs accept highly compensated jobs each year. The Chicago Booth Class of 2023 accepted positions with a median overall salary of $180,000. The median sign-on bonus for Chicago Booth graduates in 2023 was $30,000. Chicago Booth graduates often go into the consulting industry, in which the Class of 2023 received a median salary of $192,000. Financial services is also a popular industry among Chicago Booth MBAs. The members of the Class of 2023 who accepted jobs within the financial services industry had a median salary of $175,000. The technology industry is also popular among Chicago Booth graduates and in 2023, featured a slightly lower median salary—$157,050.

Is UChicago good for MBA?

The Chicago Booth MBA program is consistently ranked among the top MBA programs in the world. U.S. News and World Report and Bloomberg Businessweek, which are considered to be among the most prestigious business school rankings, have ranked Chicago Booth among the top five business schools in the country each year for many years.

The University of Chicago is considered one of the world’s leading research universities. Nearly one hundred Nobel Laureates have been part of the University of Chicago staff. The Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago is the second-oldest business school in the United States and is well known around the world for its vigorous MBA program.

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