Chicago Booth Scholars Janani Gupta

As someone with an engineering background, I was drawn to Chicago Booth's quantitative and hands-on approach to learning. The way the classes are taught, and the opportunities we get to apply the concepts in a practical manner has really helped me gain a strong business foundation that will be applicable to my workplace in the future. Another big strength of Booth's MBA experience is the pay-it-forward culture. I have found that everyone (from alumni to current students) is very willing to help in whatever way possible, and that mentality is ingrained into the culture here at Booth.

At the time I applied, Chicago Booth Scholars was one of the few deferred MBA programs that was open to applicants from any undergraduate university. I was attracted to the idea that I could have a guaranteed spot in a world-renowned MBA program even before I started working in industry post-graduation. I felt like I was able to really focus on learning as much as possible from my full-time job because I did not have to worry about the stress of uncertainty surrounding MBA applications further down the road. The reassurance of having admission to Booth allowed me to focus on the connections I was building, the skills I was developing, and executing projects during my early career.

During my deferment period, there were many resources provided for me to learn more about Booth. This included fun networking events with other Booth Scholars and panels with current students to learn about different post-MBA career paths. I was also assigned a mentor who was a current student at Booth – they gave me personalized advice based on my interests and their experiences.