Bain & Company Inc.

Originally from Lebanon, Maher Beaini started his career as an engineer and project manager in telecommunications for Nokia Siemens Networks, but when he found he enjoyed client-based projects the most, he began to investigate a transition into consulting.

"That's where the MBA came in. I was looking for strong fundamentals, a good foundation of skills and disciplines," he says. "Booth's ideology of teaching students how to think, rather than what to think, resonated with how I saw myself as a person, and I knew that was how I wanted to learn."

In his first year, Beaini was able to customize his curriculum, filling gaps in his experience. He also spent time with Career Services doing mock-interviews and talking with other students in the Management Consulting Group. It really helped me in making connections with alumni and learning how to navigate the unfamiliar landscape of corporate consulting. "If I were to sum up my first year in a word," he says, "it would be ‘rewarding.'"

Beaini knew he wanted to live and work back home in the Middle East, so during recruiting season, he organized a student trek to Dubai to visit firms.

"Career Services put us in touch with Booth's EMEA employer relations team, who joined us in Dubai. They were very excited to not only help us but also to establish a lasting connection for future students," he says. "It was reassuring to know that Booth sets itself apart to create relationships for the future."

Upon accepting a position as a summer associate at Bain & Company in Dubai, Beaini was excited at how well he fit into the role.

"I was surprised at my own abilities. My first assignment was to evaluate the risk management of a financial institution. They allotted a few days for us to get up to speed with the rest of the team, and I was able to do it in much less time. A huge chunk of that I attribute to my time at Booth."

Beaini discovered that, beyond technical skills, what Booth provided was the ability to manage uncertainty, and the frameworks to help break down seemingly overwhelming challenges into manageable and quantifiable pieces.

"Nothing is perfect. As a consultant, we receive a lot of misinformation and conflicting reports. But I am comfortable in handling it. I deal with the ambiguity, work through it, and deliver the best solution I can."

Amazon.com

For Hannah Chen, the Booth MBA was a process of discovery. Originally from China, Chen studied software development and engineering at UCLA, and prior to Booth, she worked as a program manager at LogLogic in San Jose, California.

"My entire background was in software development," she says. "I wanted to see what the opportunities were outside of engineering. I was open to looking at different career paths."

Chen chose Booth for the Chicago Approach, which gave her the flexibility and control to explore potential career paths. During recruiting season, she started looking into brand management in several industries, including consumer packaged goods, but ultimately accepted an internship at Amazon.com.

"For me, Amazon was a great fit. It had a culture very similar to Booth's. Everything we did had to be backed up with quantitative data."

Chen credits Booth's faculty for developing her capabilities to succeed at a company like Amazon. When she first arrived at Booth, she was immediately impressed by the quality and accessibility of the faculty.

"Professors are always saying, ‘Whatever insights you find or whatever recommendation you give, point to the data and tell me why.' They offer useful frameworks that provide logical flow and strategic reasons when examining or evaluating opportunities."

Chen worked as a product manager in Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) department, a platform that allows authors to self-publish and sell their work. She spearheaded an innovative initiative to improve the user experience and features related to how authors manage their sales.

"Hannah was an incredible asset to our team," says Chad Young, Chen's coworker during her internship at Amazon. "She provided detailed analysis and strategic recommendations on the part of a product that is crucial to both our business and to our customers. Her ability to quickly understand KDP authors and their needs has allowed her to make meaningful contributions to the KDP business."

Kurt Salmon

Even before Booth, Cheryl Lau knew she wanted to work in retail consulting, specifically for the global management consultancy firm Kurt Salmon. She was previously a consultant in the Transfer Pricing department at Charles River Associates in New York, but she worried that her skills were too specific to make the transition to retail.

"I wanted to attain a much broader change on a bigger scale from the very specific niche that I was in," she says. "I have always been interested in retail, more specifically apparel, but my accounting and finance background was not strong. So I was looking to improve my knowledge of finance."

Even though Lau was initially attracted to Booth for its reputation in finance, she was won over by the Booth culture at Admit Weekend. "The entire weekend is student-run and so well organized. You can immediately tell that students are passionate about the school and promoting the Booth brand. It's contagious."

Throughout her two years at Booth, Lau continually observed that same engagement from her fellow students, who enriched her experience in ways she hadn't anticipated.

"Obviously I learned a great deal from my professors in class, but I spent so much time in study groups with people from different backgrounds, I learned just as much or more from my peers. As a Booth student, you're expected by everyone to perform at the highest caliber. It challenged and pushed me."

During the summer of her first year, Lau interned at Deloitte, building transportation optimization models for efficient and cost-effective logistics. Her greatest challenge was to build a model for a recent acquisition at which each entity wanted to uphold separate legacies with different parcel carriers. She experienced pushback from occasionally uncooperative clients, but the "soft skills" she developed throughout her MBA helped her overcome these challenges.

"Booth really polished my ability to read people," Lau says. "I could refine my criticism and tailor my delivery - a kind of nuanced professionalism, which I didn't quite have before. It's something I'm sure to use more and more as I progress through my career."

Shortly after graduating, Lau became a senior consultant at Kurt Salmon, where she covers merchandising and planning, store operations, supply chain optimization, and sourcing and procurement, among other projects, for major retailers. She credits the Booth alumni network as a crucial support system not only in helping her strike up the initial conversation with Kurt Salmon, but also in confirming that the position was indeed the right fit for her - and she credits Booth with helping her hone the skills she needed to make the transition.

Pacific Investment Management Company LLC

Christopher Santore had completed four years as a senior analyst at an investment firm in Orange County, California, investing in hedge funds for pension plans, when he felt that his career had hit a wall. A physics and math major as an undergraduate, Santore decided that if he wanted to advance professionally he would need a formal education in finance and economics. He chose Booth for its finance reputation.

"The Chicago Approach was even more rigorous than I expected. Courses were legitimately challenging, and I learned computer programming language just to complete some of the projects."

Santore spent the summer of his first year as a product manager launching a new hedge fund in Pacific Investment Management Company's (PIMCO) Mortgage Group. The fund invests in structured products including mortgage- and asset-backed securities owned by European financial institutions that were being forced to sell because of new regulations.

"I knew practically nothing about these products before I started, so I had to digest a lot of technical papers and understand the risks as well as the potential return opportunities, which is where the Booth education became particularly helpful."

Santore credits Booth's rigorous coursework with giving him the technical tools for success in the role, especially Advanced Investments.

"The course forced me to recreate some of the most important papers in finance - to understand the tools used, and how the results apply on a much deeper level. I left feeling incredibly comfortable with the most technical of journal articles."

But the technical perspective was only part of Santore's job description: he also had to consider how to develop, market, and sell products to potential investors.

"The key is being comfortable with the technical detail and the underlying economic principles that explain how and why these products work, and converting that understanding through communications, marketing, fund structure, and pricing into a commercial product."

Shortly after he completed his internship, Santore accepted a full-time offer at PIMCO. He currently works as a product manager in the Alternatives Group, managing internal hedge funds and private equity funds.

Salesforce.com Inc.

Currently an industry solutions manager for Salesforce.com, Lisa Kant credits Chicago Booth's Entrepreneurial Selling course, distinguished by Inc. Magazine as one of "The 10 Best Courses of 2011," as the most helpful component in preparing for her internship at Salesforce.com.

"It's a really unique course," Kant says, "because it is extremely applicable, taking some of the grander concepts concerning economics and finance and focusing on the day-to-day applications of those concepts in business."

Specializing in digital marketing and sales, Kant helps clients throughout the sales process, including the development of targeted marketing materials and deal closing.

Prior to Booth, Kant worked for Universal Pictures in film development and acquisitions. She found that she enjoyed the business side of her work and wanted an MBA that addressed the core fundamentals: "I wanted to be able to read a financial statement and understand a 10K - really the basic stuff that so many people who go to business school take for granted."

But what she didn't expect was how, in her two years, Booth's Leadership Effectiveness and Development Program (LEAD) would shape her as a manager, speaker, and leader. Kant found LEAD so formative an experience that in her second year she became a LEAD facilitator, helping run the program.

"As a LEAD facilitator, you write your own course material and present to 120 first-year students, who are sometimes more experienced than you are. The hardest part is convincing them that what you have to say about leadership is going to significantly help them," she says. "It is one of the hardest audiences I'll ever have to pitch to, and the experience definitely taught me how to listen to and command an audience."

Looking back, Kant attributes her time at Booth with helping her confirm what she wanted out of a career. "I was always interested in the tech industry, but I came to Chicago wanting to explore many paths. Booth confirmed where I wanted to go and gave me the management and leadership skills to excel."

Apple Inc.

On the first day of his internship in Apple's Worldwide Supply Demand Group, Parag Shah was presented with a problem.

"They had so many groups making decisions based on plans that were not aligned. They needed to be working from the same playbook," Shah says. "They needed a way for everyone to be the same page, yet the plan had to be flexible enough to accommodate different regions, functions, and processes - not to mention scalable for future growth."

For the next 12 weeks, Shah dealt with dozens of groups across the globe, understanding their various challenges - everything from capital requirements to long-term logistical needs - working to find a solution that would fit both present and future conditions. Initially, he was unsure where to start.

"It all came back to the Chicago Approach," he says. "You take a really big problem, tear it down into its fundamental parts, and evaluate it from there."

Prior to Booth, Shah had worked as an associate at A.T. Kearney on merger and acquisition integration throughout a wide variety of industries, including petrochemicals, retail, CPG, and transportation, but he couldn't quite see a future in any one of them. It wasn't until he came to Booth that he found a passion for technology.

"I came to Booth partly because of the flexible curriculum. Having the opportunity to explore so many different paths and the freedom to take the classes I wanted was really beneficial. I quickly realized I was most interested in the technology industry: the rapid product cycles, dynamic industry conditions, and lack of hierarchy really appealed to me. The frameworks I learned in class, plus the support from Career Services and other students, gave me the confidence to make the change. Booth provides a lot of resources so its students can take control of their own careers."

Shah accepted a full-time offer with Apple in Long-Term Planning, helping the company build strategies and prepare for future initiatives across their product lines. Beyond the Chicago Approach, Shah credits Booth with giving him the ability to communicate and to navigate through uncertainty.

"Communication is vital because you're always dealing with a lack of data or with ambiguity. Making decisions requires going beyond the numbers. It means understanding diverse opinions, debating, thinking through all the angles, and making decisions as a team. At Booth, you're constantly challenged by professors to flesh out your ideas, to challenge your thinking processes, and to work beyond your comfort zone."

Apax Partners

Marcelo Mourão Silva worked nearly four years as an associate consultant for Advisia, a well-known Brazilian consulting firm based in São Paulo. He performed a variety of functions, including strategy, market entry, organizational design, and cost-cutting. On the side, he opened a restaurant and nightclub in Belo Horizonte with a group of friends.

"I did everything from developing the plan to raising money from investors and then implementing that plan. The experience helped spark an interest in risk capital for me, and through that process, I realized that I had a passion for private equity. I felt like I belonged there."

For Mourão, Chicago was an easy choice, and one he felt strongly about from the start. He wanted a school that offered a rigorous, analytical education - especially in finance, an area where he sought to improve his skills.

"The flexibility of the program was also particularly valuable for a career switcher like me. The quarter leading into my internship was probably one of the most valuable since I knew where I was headed for the summer, and I could tailor my curriculum to get up to speed and prepare."

Mourão landed an internship with Apax Partners in New York, where he helped carry out a deal in Brazil, which included drafting the proposal, evaluating its structure, and following through on the commercial due diligence aspects of the project.

"I had to do the entire financial model, the evaluation - all those things that I had studied during my first year at Booth. Everything that I learned was incredibly valuable and applicable for the evaluation of the deal structure."

Mourão specifically recognizes the Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity course as equipping him with the indispensable frameworks to consider when evaluating a deal.

"Sometimes in class, I'd think, ‘Oh, that's just another framework,' but then during my internship I'd have to think very quickly about what the important things were to consider. There was so much at stake, and I didn't want to miss anything. Each time, I'd immediately go back to those exact frameworks I learned at Booth."

Shortly after the internship ended, Mourão accepted a full-time associate position with Apax Partners, which started in September 2012.

PepsiCo Inc.

A graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Kelsey Salmen had been working as a marketer for the international architectural firm Cannon Design in Chicago when she realized she wanted to transition to consumer marketing in the CPG industry.

"I was interested in brand management because it's the perfect mix of marketing and general management - a combination of creativity and impact, both required to affect a business's bottom line. I knew that I needed an MBA in order to help me make that transition."

Salmen was initially attracted to Booth for its data-driven, discipline-based approach to marketing, but what really confirmed her decision to enroll was the additional programming - the leadership skills training she knew she needed to perform at the top level.

"In addition to its analytical marketing program, Booth brought leadership-oriented, qualitative programming, and that's why I wanted to go to business school in the first place. I wanted to be challenged, to get both the hard skills and also the leadership skills to emerge well balanced."

For her summer internship, Salmen joined PepsiCo's Quaker business unit as an associate marketing manager on the multicultural team with a focus on the US Hispanic market. Her main project was a business review of Quaker's US Hispanic sales, in which she made regional, retailer, and in-store tactical recommendations to better target Hispanic consumers.

"The project was both quantitative and strategic. I was knee deep in data for half of my internship, looking at all Quaker categories and products, and Booth completely prepared me for it. Learning how to understand and synthesize data in order to make informed business decisions was enormously helpful."

Salmen found that she was able to directly apply her coursework to her project and put what she learned into practice. In her internship, she better understood her consumer through the lens of behavioral psychology - an approach she learned through Booth's Managing Organizations course - and she interpreted elaborate survey data thanks to the Marketing Research course.

"As a career switcher, I wanted to take all of the marketing courses I could to prepare for my internship, and right out of the gate I could tell I was well prepared. In addition to the hard skills that Booth equipped me with, I acquired leadership and people skills that helped me to look at management more holistically and better prepare me for a career in CPG marketing."

McKinsey & Company

When it comes to creating long-term goals, Teniola Adedipe divides her time between the private and public sectors, especially in education.

"I have two passions: I love the challenges of finance that come with being an analyst, but at the same time I have a strong feeling that I should be giving back. I chose Booth because it enabled me to do both."

Prior to Booth, Adedipe worked as an investment banking analyst at UBS for two years and then moved to Brazil, where she taught English to children. Contemplating her return to the US, Adedipe was unsure of what career direction to take.

"I came to business school to learn more about what was outside of finance. I was considering marketing or entrepreneurship, and I wanted to learn strategy, but mostly I wanted to understand how business worked at its fundamental levels."

For her summer internship, Adedipe worked as an associate consultant at McKinsey & Company, dividing her time between a project in retail and pro bono work. "I was attracted to McKinsey because it was one of the few firms where doing social sector work wasn't like mixing oil and water."

At McKinsey, Adedipe appreciated how well her Booth education prepared her for the variety of projects and responsibilities that came her way.

"I was given all this analytical information and was asked to translate it into something of strategic value, which required a skill I didn't have before I attended Booth. And it just reconfirmed what I learned during the past year - the strategic side of quantitative analysis."

Adedipe credits her Booth education with giving her a plurality of perspectives when looking at a problem, and the confidence to follow through during times of uncertainty.

"More than anything, Booth gave me the confidence to constructively question everything and be the dissenting voice when I felt that something was awry."

Goldman Sachs

Originally from Brazil's São Paulo State, Tiago Andrade simultaneously finished his undergraduate degree in finance while working as a consultant for the German firm Roland Berger. The double workload accelerated his career, but didn't give him a lot of time for reflection.

"I wanted to take some time off to think about the future. I was interested in switching from consulting to investment banking or private equity, and I knew an MBA would be a great vehicle for that transition. Since I already had a degree in business, I wanted to choose the classes that I wanted to take and not be bound by basic curriculum, so Booth was my first choice."

Andrade accepted an internship as a summer associate at Goldman Sachs in their natural resources group. His responsibilities varied between financial analysis and presentations to internal committees. He worked mostly in steel, chemicals, and agriculture, and he was involved in a $350 million transaction announced during the summer.

"I had the opportunity to interact with high-level client executives and senior Goldman Sachs bankers. I also worked with more than 10 different junior bankers who were always extremely helpful in the analysis process and putting together presentations on behalf of the client."

Andrade cites a number of courses in his first year that were integral in preparing him for the position at Goldman Sachs, including Booth's Mergers and Acquisitions accounting course.

"At Goldman Sachs, I was required to combine separate financial statements, take responsibility for modeling tasks, and calculate tax benefit gains for comparable transactions in the chemical sector to understand the expected benefit that our client would receive. And for these specific tasks, the M&A Accounting course was key."

In his second year at Booth, Andrade plans to build his "soft skills" by taking more psychology courses in order to enhance his management skill set and leave Booth as well-rounded as possible.