Master in Management Recorded Admissions Events

Noah Ward: Welcome to this recorded session on the Masters in Management Program here at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. This is going to be a terrific presentation that provides you a lot of information about the Masters in Management Program in general as well as the application process, so let's dive in. I like to start off these presentations with a bit of an outline of what we will be discussing today. So here's our agenda. We'll do some brief introductions. Then we will move into a bit of a program overview, particularly highlighting the differences between the Masters in Management and the MBA program. We'll talk a little bit about why you might look at Booth for your Masters in Management education as well as what life in Chicago is like, and then we will wrap up with a bit of discussion about the application process.

Noah: So let's dive into a bit of an overview of what the Masters in Management Program is. It is a 10-month program that begins in the Fall and ends in the Spring. It begins most often with the Boothcamp, which is our version of orientation. It's a two week process, in which, you will be introduced to a lot of basic concepts within the realm of business, from accounting to statistics, as well as you will be provided a lot of information to assist in your career development and goals, as well as the job search process. After you finish Boothcamp, you will move into the actual quarter system here at the University of Chicago, during which time you will take 10 classes. The first courses that you will take are your five foundational classes, which will provide you a strong foundation in the realm of business, and then you will move onto your specializations. We have five areas of specialization that you can choose from, and within that area of specialization, you will take four classes. This allows you to have not only the strong foundations in the realm of business but also have a unique area of development and skill progression that will help you in your long-term job search. Beyond the five foundation courses and the four classes in your area of specialization though, you will have one Booth elective, which you can take with other MBA students. It's a great chance to be able to get further exposure into the realm of business and take a more advanced type of course that you might see if you decide to follow in the footsteps of an MBA later on. After you finish this overall process, you will then graduate from the program, but throughout the whole process, from Boothcamp until the day you graduate, you will also have a lot of co-curricular career prep through what we call the Succeeding in the Workplace curriculum. This is provided by the Career Services office and will involve a lot of great workshops as well as info sessions to help you in your career search. So let's talk a little bit about the difference between the Masters in Management Program and the MBA. The Masters in Management is really for individuals that are coming right out of undergrad or have recently graduated from college. It also is for individuals from non-business backgrounds. Specifically, individuals with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree are not permitted to apply, but if you have any other form of degree, you are welcome to apply. It is going to provide you the basic foundations in business necessary to find success in those early career stages. Additionally, it's going to help you kind of tailor and focus your overall interests into a variety of different areas. You may learn about many different job opportunities that you didn't know about through a program like this.

Noah: Meanwhile, the MBA is for individuals with a good bit more experience. Traditionally, people have about five years of work experience whenever they're entering into an MBA. Additionally, it's for individuals not necessarily trying to get their first job, but rather for individuals that are wanting to advance their career, maybe enter into upper level management type positions. Lastly, it's for individuals that are going to take the knowledge that they have from their work experience up to this point and apply an academic curriculum to that experience to help advance their overall understanding of business. So these two programs could even be viewed as stepping stones for one another. A Masters in Management is a great introduction to business to help you to start to get into the realm of business. While an MBA is a much more advanced degree, going to be a little bit more intensive. So both are great programs, but they serve very different purposes. So with that in mind, let's talk a little bit about why you might look at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business for your Masters in Management degree.

Noah: First off, I think that one of the best things about our program is the career preparation. It provides such great support from the moment that you step on campus to be able to advance your long-term career goals. We consistently find great success in helping our students find jobs that they're interested in, and I firmly believe that we will continue to do so through the Masters in Management Program. Outside of the realm of career though, we also have a tremendous global community that supports our students in both their career, social life, and academic adventures. We have a broad alumni base that can be found all across the globe on the East and West Coasts of the United States as well as here at home in Chicago. And then lastly I'll note that we have one of the most cutting-edge business curriculums of any business school out there. We have many Nobel laureates that teach our students, and we're always trying to innovate within the classroom to make sure that you are learning about the things that are on the cutting-edge of what is happening within the business realm. All of these things, the career, the community, and the curriculum make Chicago Booth what it is today. Not only is the University of Chicago a great place to study, but living in Chicago is truly one of the best experiences that you can have while doing your Masters in Management degree. There are a variety of things that would probably appeal to you to come to this tremendous city. First off, it is one of the largest cities in the United States so there's always great entertainment and events happening here. Also, it is the second largest business market in the United States, with 35 Fortune 500 companies headquartered here within the city, second only to New York. There are also 200 vibrant neighborhoods with a variety of different cultures and peoples represented. There's also a lot of tremendous public lakefront and parks to be able to access if you enjoy getting outside and enjoying the weather. And, of course, we are very proud of our eight major league sports teams, which you can go and enjoy. And across all of these different aspects, there are people that have graduated from the University of Chicago and Booth that are leading within many of the different tremendous companies that we have located here today. So hopefully I've sold you on applying to the Masters in Management Program here at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Noah: With that in mind though, let's dive into the application requirements, so you can get that application started. Now, as I noted before, it is for non-BBA students, so individuals that maybe have a STEM degree or a liberal arts degree or anything that isn't a BBA, are welcome to apply to this program and are, in fact, highly supported in doing so. Now whenever you start the application, you can do so online. It is an online application, in which, you will go through almost the entire process. The only things that you need to do outside of that necessarily, are, of course, take the GMAT or GRE exam. We do have a exemption/test waiver available for Masters in Management students that fulfill certain requirements. So make sure to check out our website to see what exactly the rules are regarding that. We also will require you to submit a transcript from every institution that you have studied at. So if you've studied at multiple undergraduate institutions or maybe you're a current Master's student, you need to make sure that you include every college that you've been to. We will also require you to submit a professional resume, just like you might submit for a job application. You will have a couple of essays to go over, which we will actually touch on here in just a moment, as well as submitting two letters of recommendation. I will note that we do require you to have at least one quantitative course taken prior to your matriculation into the program. We get a lot of questions on this, but what we mean by this is a class where essentially you're being introduced to some quantitative analysis, whether that's a college level math course, statistics, maybe some economics courses or other forms of engineering or mathematics anything like that will work well for you within this space, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to our office. You don't have to have that class taken before you apply to the program, but you will need to have it taken before you enter into it if you are accepted.

Noah: All right, so let's touch on those essay questions that I mentioned before. So, there are two main essay questions for this Masters in Management Program. "How will the Booth's Masters in Management Program help "you achieve your immediate and long-term career goals?" So within this essay, there are really two key components. First off, what are your short and long-term career goals, and then second off, what about the Masters in Management Program is drawing you to this particular university? Why are you looking at Booth to be able to achieve those particular goals? The better you're able to identify your own story and what interests you here at Booth and tie them together, the stronger your essay's going to be. Then secondly, our last essay is a lot more focused on you personally outside of the workspace. It states, "Graduate management education "is as much about personal growth "as it is about professional development. "We'd like to learn more about you outside "of the classroom/work environment. "Use this as an opportunity to tell us "something about who you are." And there's really no wrong way to take this particular question. Some individuals talk about important people in their lives, other individuals talk about important moments, or walk us through a day in their life. There's no wrong way to answer this question. So I highly recommend you think for a little bit about what exactly it is that you want to share with the admissions' committee that maybe you haven't shared elsewhere in the application.

Noah: All right, so let's say that you go through this whole process. That you do all of the tests. That you get all your transcripts in order. That you write all these essays. You may be wondering, "Okay, well, "what does my timeline look like for this program?" We traditionally have around four application deadlines for the Masters in Management Program. So you will want to check out our website to be able to see the different opportunities that you have to apply. Whenever you do apply to the program in one of the four rounds that we offer, you will then go through a process of your application being reviewed, and you might be invited to an interview. Interviews are invitation only, and so if you do not receive an invite to interview, you will not move forward in the process. But if you do move forward, you will have a conversation with an admissions' director or another member of the Booth staff. After that, you will probably receive an admissions' decision within six weeks of applying. So it is a quick and fast moving process, but it is a great opportunity to be able to reflect upon your past experience and think about your future areas for growth. So I hope that this presentation has been a really helpful and informative session for you to be able to learn about the Masters in Management Program here at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. I think that this is a tremendous program that has a lot to offer those individuals that are wanting to kick off their career on the strongest note possible. So we hope that you will take the opportunity to apply to our program in the future, and we look forward to hopefully reviewing your application very soon.