September 10, 2019 Live Admissions Chat Transcript
Answered Questions (71)
Chat Participant: Is there any plan for a program that would make it easier for working professionals across the country who cannot possibly be in Chicago so many times a year?
Marcus Wordlaw | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions: Unfortunately, there are no immediate plans for online courses or options that would prevent students from commuting to Chicago. Part of the benefit of the community and network is physically gathering together. The Chicago Approach to learning requires students to be present and collaborative in class together to build that community. Flexibility would allow you to graduate in 5 years if you’d like to take quarters off and not fly to Chicago.
Chat Participant:: GMAT range for Weekend program is given. But what about GRE range? I have 310 in GRE and i am not sure if it falls within the range. If not, I will take GMAT now
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: Unfortunately we do not have an average for GRE scores. There is a GRE to GMAT conversion tool on the ETS website, which is what we use when any applicant submits a GRE score.
Chat Participant: I have a degree from Colombia. I’m also American citizen .What do I need to do to enroll for MBA when you have degree is from a foreign country?
Caitlyn Ward | Associate Director of Admissions Events and Recruiting Operations: We accept degrees from accredited universities in all countries. You will need to provide English translated official transcripts/mark sheets and degree certificates. Additionally as an international student, you may be required to take an English Language Exam – you can find out if you are required or exempt here: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/weekend/admissions/international/english-exams.
Chat Participant: Good afternoon and thanks for hosting - Question on recommenders. I just started a new job and they are highly encouraging of starting my MBA soon. However, my direct supervisor only has known me for a couple months. Is getting a letter of rec from them useful, or should I use my previous supervisor who knows me better?
Stephanie Gunn | Senior Associate Director of Admissions: While we highly encourage candidates to submit a recommendation from a current supervisor or manager, we recognize this is not always possible in every case. In a new reporting situation we would defer to your judgment. In most of these circumstances, candidates typically submit from their former manager or supervisor. If you do not select your current manager or supervisor in the application, you will be asked to provide an explanation as to why.
Chat Participant: Would you please share what it takes for a student to get admitted with a 610 or 620 GMAT? I assume the generic answer is that one must have really good GPA, work experience, growth at work, leadership experience and so on but are there any examples you might be able to share?
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: Great question! Our mid 80% for the GMAT is 610 – 730 for the Evening program and 640 – 740 for the Weekend program. However it is important to keep in mind that our review process is holistic, so no one part of your application is weighted more heavily than another- we will consider all parts equally and seek to bring in well-rounded individuals who will be a great addition to the Booth community. We will look at your academic background, your work history, your goals and motivations for an MBA, and your fit within the Booth community.
Chat Participant: Is there a limit on the number of times, or the frequency, that one can apply to the program? For example - if you apply for Winter Quarter 2020 and are rejected, can you apply again for Spring 2020?
Stephanie Gunn | Senior Associate Director of Admissions: You are considered a re-applicant in the admissions decision process if you have submitted an application to any Chicago Booth MBA program within the last two years. If you choose to reapply to any Chicago Booth MBA program (Evening MBA, Weekend MBA, Full-Time MBA, or Executive MBA), you must wait six months from the date you submitted your original application AND apply to a Chicago Booth MBA Program that begins in a subsequent quarter to your original application. For example, if you originally applied to the Full-Time MBA program for the fall quarter and would like to apply to the Evening MBA program as a re-applicant, you must wait a minimum of six months from your Full-Time MBA application submission date AND apply to the Evening MBA Program for the winter quarter (subsequent quarter to the fall quarter) to be considered an eligible re-applicant. You can learn more about the re-applicant process here: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/evening/admissions/decisions.
Chat Participant: If you are admitted to either the weekend or evening MBA program, is it possible to switch from one to the other?
Caitlyn Ward | Associate Director of Admissions Events and Recruiting Operations Yes, you can switch between the Evening and Weekend Programs once during your time at Chicago Booth. You are required to be enrolled in two consecutive quarters before you are eligible to apply to transfer programs for the start of the third quarter.
Chat Participant: The program is 2.5 years long. For whatever reasons (personal, professional) can we take a break of one semester in between?
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: Actually for the Evening or Weekend program you have up to 5 years to complete the program, so some students do tend to take a quarter off occasionally.
Chat Participant: What are you looking for in a Civic Scholars applicant?
Stephanie Gunn | Senior Associate Director of Admissions: Check out some of the profiles of our amazing civic scholars here: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/mba/mba-life/topic/civic-scholars. You can also check out a typical candidate profile here to give you a sense of what we are looking for in civic scholars: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/weekend/admissions/civic-scholars-program.
Chat Participant: I understand some schools provide job placement opportunities to part time students. Pls confirm if Booth provides any job placement opportunities
Marcus Wordlaw | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions: There are a number of opportunities for career progression between Campus Recruitment, and the options within Career Services. Our students have been very successful in achieving their career goals between advancement and career change using these resources. When you have a moment, please take a look at our Evening and Weekend specific Career Data which details what our recent graduates have done with their career: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/evening/career/impact.
Chat Participant: How does one's income impact the chance of getting an admission? If I am a 30 year old CFA with 3.6 GPA, 5-6 years of work experience, and multiple promotions at a fortune 100 company with a annual base salary of over $100,000, obviously my income is already not too far from what many MBA graduates hope to earn post their graduation. Does my current relatively high income help me or hurt me or does neither when you decide?
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: Income does not impact your chances of being admitted. That information is simply for internal data collection.
Chat Participant: Can the program be extended to 3-4 years? What is the maximum number of quarters or years to get the MBA degree?
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: You have a maximum of 5 years to complete the 20 classes in order to earn the MBA. The average completion time for Evening MBA and Weekend MBA students is 2.5-3 years, but your pacing within 5 years is up to you.
Chat Participant: Are graduates of the evening, weekend, and executive programs typically offered signing bonuses if they decide to take a position outside of their current firm upon graduating?
Stephanie Gunn | Senior Associate Director of Admissions: We are not familiar with signing bonus data nor am I aware if career services collects that. Our Evening and Weekend students would be eligible for signing bonuses in the same way a full-time student would be and is all dependent on the company itself. Check out our latest Evening MBA and Weekend MBA Program employment data for a deeper dive on career impact including salary information: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/evening/career/impact.
Chat Participant: What are the key differences between the Evening and Weekend MBA programs? Is it only the course schedule/timing?
Caitlyn Ward | Associate Director of Admissions Events and Recruiting Operations: The classes, professors, flexibility, and length of the program are all the same for both the Evening and Weekend Programs. There is even flexibility where you can attend sections in the other program based on availability and your schedule. The main difference is when you take your classes.
Chat Participant: With respect to the interview portion (if we are lucky enough to get there), what is the format of that like? Time, interviewer (student, alumni, admissions), location (in Chicago?). Also is there the "interview essay" that the full-time program has?
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: Great question! As you mentioned, admissions interviews are by invitation only, and are conducted after submitting a completed application in the online application system. Interviews are conducted by one of our Admissions Committee members, usually current student or alumni at our office in the Gleacher center in downtown Chicago. We do not utilize the interview essay that the Full-Time program uses. For more tips and tricks on the interview process, I recommend checking out this blog post: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/blog/ewadmissions/2018/interview-tips.
Chat Participant: How a weekend MBA different with Regular MBA in terms of number of classes with faculty or connect sessions with industry leaders/Alumni?
Marcus Wordlaw | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions: Academically, the weekend program is no different from the Full-Time or Evening program. The same faculty teach in the Full-Time program as they do in the Weekend and Evening program – with the same courses. There may be a handful of courses that are only taught in the Full-Time program which are lab classes that require students work directly with a company. These only make up a very small few of the over 130 courses available. The student clubs are specific to each program, so Weekend/Evening clubs (about 46) will be separate from Full-Time clubs – but in many instances have the same scope and objective.
Chat Participant: Is age a factor in your admission process for full-time/part-time MBA? If applying for part-time/Evening MBA, Is there a possibility for internship opportunities?
Stephanie Gunn | Senior Associate Director of Admissions: We do not base our decisions on someone's age, but are looking at someone's work experience and the skills they will bring into the classroom. While I cannot speak to the full-time MBA Program, an Evening or Weekend student has on average 6-7 years of professional work experience. That said, the range is wide and the mid 80% of our students have between 2-10 years of work experience. The question you need to answer is when the right time for you to start your MBA is and that might look different for other people. We do have a program for early career candidates with 0-3 years of work experience. In terms of internships, because our students are working full-time jobs they often do not pursue an internship. In fact, the biggest difference between Full-time and Evening/Weekend career services resources is that we do not offer the same level of support for internship recruiting. Out students and graduates typically make career changes through other means and not as a result of an internship.
Chat Participant: Is it possible to apply scholarships or assistantships for these two programs?
Caitlyn Ward | Associate Director of Admissions Events and Recruiting Operations: Every applicant is considered for merit based scholarships when they apply. For more information on how we determine who is selected for merit based scholarships view our blog post here: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/blog/ewadmissions/2019/funding-your-mba-scholarships-financial-aid. Chicago Booth does not offer any Graduate Assistantships.
Chat Participant: Hi. I recently had 2 team changes. Although my current manager has agreed to write recommendation, I would prefer a previous colleague to write a recommendation for me. Moreover, my previous college was not my manager by designation, but was managing my priorities on a day to day basis. And also he is no longer with the firm. What is the best option for me? Is it acceptable if I ask him to write a recommendation for me.
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: We prefer to have one letter of recommendation from your current supervisor. However if this is not possible or you feel it does not accurately reflect your work performance, there is a field in the application where you can explain why you chose your specific recommenders.
Chat Participant: Can you please provide the class size for Evening and the Weekend programs?
Marcus Wordlaw | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions: The Evening program has roughly 1100 students, and the weekend program has about 375 students. These numbers tend to fluctuate a bit quarter to quarter.
Chat Participant: Hello and good afternoon. Can you please discuss any international/ global experience available as part of the Weekend MBA program?
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: From a curriculum standpoint, Evening MBA and Weekend MBA students take advantage of short-term study abroad opportunities. You can learn more here: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/weekend/academics/international.
Chat Participant: Is it possible to complete the program in two years?
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: Our students take on average 2 courses per quarter and are able to finish is 2.5 to 3 years at that pace. If you ever need to slow down, you can take as little as one course a quarter, but we highly discourage taking more than 3 per quarter, as the course loads are intense. I will caution that is a VERY heavy load to take while maintaining a full time job, so it would be a difficult pace to keep up with long term.
Chat Participant: Does your application process take into consideration only the Under-grad degree? I have a Masters and does it make any impact on the application? Especially if I have shown considerable improvement in academics from Under-grad to Masters?
Caitlyn Ward | Associate Director of Admissions Events and Recruiting Operations: Our admissions committee reviews all undergraduate and graduate transcripts. Master's degrees are not required but they are reviewed and could be a benefit to your application. It shows a more recent depiction of who you are as a student.
Chat Participant: Can age play a factor in admission decision? I am 37 but I see that average age for booth weekend program is around 30?
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: We are less concerned about age compared to years of work experience. Usually for candidate that have around 15 years of experience, we encourage them to consider the Executive MBA program. However, we do have students around that age who choose the Evening MBA and Weekend MBA programs because it allows much more flexibility than the Executive MBA program.
Chat Participant: While enrolled in the Evening program is it possible to also take Weekend program classes?
Stephanie Gunn | Senior Associate Director of Admissions: Yes! We have one of the most flexible curriculums out there! An Evening student can take classes on the weekend (Saturday) and is encouraged to do so! Evening students can also take classes during the day at Hyde Park with the full-time students. It's a matter of your schedule, so you dictate when you take classes.
Chat Participant: Do the recommendations need to submit before the deadline?
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: You can submit recommendations up to a week after the deadline. However we will be unable to begin review of your application until we receive all application materials, so the sooner we receive letters of recommendation the better!
Chat Participant: What is the acceptance rate in your weekend program?
Caitlyn Ward | Associate Director of Admissions Events and Recruiting Operations: We do not publicly share our acceptance rate, but you can get an idea of the profiles of our admitted students (including average GMAT, GPA, years of work experience, etc.) here: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/evening.
Chat Participant: Does booth offer spring programs as well or is it just fall?
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: We having incoming students every quarter for the Evening MBA program. We have incoming students in the spring and autumn quarter only for the Weekend MBA program.
Chat Participant: Is the CBF program limited to weekend classes only? Also, do the additional professional development courses in the CBF program take place ever week?
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: You will still have access to Evening MBA and Full-Time MBA classes as a Weekend CBF student, you will just have priority enrollment access to weekend classes. The optional extracurricular opportunities of the CBF program will primarily be during the weekends.
Chat Participant: Since admissions does a holistic review of the applicant looking to see if they are the best fit for Booth, what would you consider a good fit?
Marcus Wordlaw | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions: A good fit at Booth are applicants who display the ability to be academically successful in the program based on their academic background – while also having an understanding of the Booth resources that will best facilitate a career progression or advancement. Finally an applicant that has the ability and desire to collaborate, and a uniqueness that will affect the community.
Chat Participant: Good afternoon and thanks for hosting - Question on EWMBA vs Exec MBA, for somebody who has close to 11 years of work experience, which includes 8 years of experience in United States and working as a manager in big4 consulting. Will they have class profile similar to their experience level in EWMBA to better fit with the class, or they should rather explore the Exec MBA option, which has really higher experience candidates?
Stephanie Gunn | Senior Associate Director of Admissions: You will find profiles similar to yours in both programs. Some candidates who technically look like an Executive MBA student on paper decide that they prefer the flexibility and selection of courses in the Evening and Weekend Program. You get to decide which one is right for you and why and just make it clear on your application why the program is right for you. Each of us also offers a resume review process where you can submit your resumes to both programs and we will provide you with feedback on whether the program is right for you.
Chat Participant: How many hours (on average) a student spends per course in a week. i am trying to understand the time commitment required with full-time job
Marcus Wordlaw | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions: Based on our data (which is available to current students for each specific class) when you take the average of all our Booth classes, there is about 5 hours per week per class that students should devote to their work outside of class. Keep in mind, you will have the survey data from previous sections of that class from our students to base your decision on whether to enroll in that class. This includes average hours per week outside of class, midterms/finals, syllabi, etc.
Chat Participant: Do you see more of your weekend students from distance fly in town on Thursday or Friday nights or Saturday morning?
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: It varies depending on the individual student and when they are taking courses. About 70% of Weekend students commute from outside Illinois for classes, so we do see quite a few fly in on Thursday and Friday evening.
Chat Participant: For the evening program, what is the regular class schedule like through the quarter for someone travelling from outside Chicago? Is it Friday through Sunday every week or are there some weeks where there is no class?
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: You could take classes on Friday evenings, or classes on Saturday morning and afternoon. There are no classes on Sunday. Keep in mind, if you are planning on travelling in to Chicago each weekend for classes, the Weekend program may be a better fit for you.
Chat Participant: What are the scholarship opportunities for the part-time program compared to full time?
Caitlyn Ward | Associate Director of Admissions Events and Recruiting Operations: This chat focuses on the Evening MBA and Weekend MBA Programs so I cannot comment on the Full Time Program scholarship options. You can find out more about the Evening MBA and Weekend MBA scholarships here: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/evening/admissions/tuition-financial-aid and I encourage you to do some research on the Full Time Program scholarships as well.
Chat Participant: I served on active duty for 6 years prior to getting my undergraduate degree. Does my time in the service count as work experience since it was prior to earning my degree?
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: Yes, you can include this on your application where it asks for your total months of work experience.
Chat Participant: In order to switch from Evening program to Weekend program is there any kind of criteria (except for being enrolled for consecutive 2 quarters) that a student needs to maintain or achieve?
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: There are no other requirements for that request!
Chat Participant: At a high level, can you list out the flexibility in weekend MBA compared to Full MBA?
Marcus Wordlaw | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions: Flexibility can be seen in the time it takes to finish. Full-Time students take 3-4 classes every quarter to graduate in two years. Evening and Weekend students have up to 5 years to complete their degree and can move at the pace comfortable to them (more than 2 classes a quarter, or one/zero classes). All Evening, Weekend, and Full-time students can register for classes in the other Booth programs. Part time classes are also taught at the Gleacher Center in downtown Chicago whereas Full-Time classes are taught at the Harper Center at the main University of Chicago campus.
Chat Participant: If a candidate has 10-12 years of work experience, but has never been in a managerial position? Which program do you suggest, part-time/Executive MBA?
Stephanie Gunn | Senior Associate Director of Admissions: management experience is not a requirement of either program. You should familiarize yourself with the profile of each, but also the format and what each offers. Some candidates who technically look like an Executive MBA student on paper decide that they prefer the flexibility and selection of courses in the Evening and Weekend Program. You get to decide which one is right for you and why and just make that clear on either application. Each of us also offers a resume review process where you can submit your resumes to both programs and we will provide you with feedback on whether the program is right for you. You might find that both are a fit and have to choose between the two :)
Chat Participant: What are the application deadlines for next 2 quarters ?
Caitlyn Ward | Associate Director of Admissions Events and Recruiting Operations: Deadlines for the Evening program can be found here: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/evening/admissions and here for Weekend https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/weekend/admissions.
Chat Participant: For the second letter of recommendation, aside from ensuring that it adds a different perspective, does the admissions office have a preference between letters from someone from a professional environment (previous supervisor or coworker) vs. someone from a club or volunteer environment outside the office?
Marcus Wordlaw | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions: We do not have a preference here. You should lean on the individual who knows you best and can speak most closely to your skill-set.
Chat Participant: can I switch from evening program to full time?
Stephanie Gunn | Senior Associate Director of Admissions: No. You cannot transfer between part-time and full-time. You can, however transfer one time between evening and weekend only. It's important to do your research up front and decide which program is right for you before you submit your application.
Chat Participant: How do most weekend students by their flight tickets? Do they buy them individually for each week, or do they buy them in bulk for all the weeks?
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: It varies, but our Weekend students get creative with their travel, such as negotiating flight fares with the airline, or sharing hotel rooms should they decide to stay overnight. If you are considering traveling in for the Weekend MBA Program, I highly recommend that you utilize our Connect with a Student tool. You can request to be matched with someone who commutes in for the program each week, and possibly someone who lives near you, if available. Students are always happy to share their experiences an advice! You can request to connect with a student here https://apply.chicagobooth.edu/portal/studentvolunteer.
Chat Participant: Does the available scholarship $ vary from quarter to quarter and if so which quarter has more funding available?
Caitlyn Ward | Associate Director of Admissions Events and Recruiting Operations: The amount and number of awards varies by quarter and is influenced by the strength of the full applicant pool. Over the past year, awards have started at $10,000, with the largest award amounts around $30,000.
Chat Participant: Can Internships be secured if needed? If the candidate wants to get help from the school?
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: While, Evening MBA and Weekend MBA students do not have access to Internship Recruiting with Full-Time students, the career services team helps those secure internships through other sources if it is necessary for the next step in their career.
Chat Participant: If I submit my application months before the due date, would you look at it right away start working on a decision or only on or after the due date along with all the other applicants?
Marcus Wordlaw | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions: Given our rolling admission process, we will review your application as we receive it, so we will review your application and provide you with a decision within 4-6 weeks of your application submission.
Chat Participant:: The information you are sharing in forum is very helpful , it is possible to share chat transcripts for reference ?
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: Yes, we will post the transcript for this chat on our website. You can view previous live chat transcripts here: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/weekend/admissions/events/online-chats.
Chat Participant: there was a slide initially that included your contact information, could you kindly bring it back up?
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: Of course! Our email is eveningweekend-admissions@chicagobooth.edu and 312.464.8700.
Chat Participant: For the weekend program, for somebody that is traveling from outside Illinois, how often are Saturday classes offered and what is the attendance requirement per term?
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: Saturday classes are offered in the morning (starting at 9am) or in the afternoon (starting at 1:30pm). Attendance is in-person, there are not online courses available.
Chat Participant: If I am admitted for the EWMBA for the Spring semester, can I decide to start in summer or fall instead? Does the clock on the 5 year time limitation start from the earlier of the two quarters or from when I actually start?
Stephanie Gunn | Senior Associate Director of Admissions: The 5 year clock begins when you enroll in the program. That said, because we bring in a class every quarter in the Evening format, we encourage applicants to apply to the quarter in which they intend to start and not to go into the application thinking about deferring. We have a deferral request process and determine them on a case by case basis. Typically a candidate must show that there has been a significant change since the time of submitting their application. Deferrals are rarely granted so it’s in your best interest to apply to the quarter in which you are able to commit to starting the program.
Chat Participant: I was under the impression that if someone is enrolled in the evening program, they could still take a weekend class. Is this not the case?
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: Yes you can take courses in the Weekend program if you are enrolled in the Evening program and vice versa. Keep in mind, most classes are offered in multiple sections (Evening and Weekend).
Chat Participant: I have been working for my manager for almost 5 years and been promoted multiple times and my manager will be the primary recommender but neither he nor I fully understand if there is anything in particular he should highlight. There is just many things I have done and accomplished here over the years. Other than the instructions that come along the application, is there anything else you could share that might help
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: Our recommendation letter prompts are pretty general, like most other part-time MBA program applications. We expect recommenders to touch on your strengths, areas of improvement, and ability to collaborate with others.
Chat Participant: Do you accept folks with 500 - 600 GMAT scores into weekend program?
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: We do not have a minimum GMAT/GRE score range. Are mid 80% range for Weekend GMAT scores is 640 - 740. Keep in mind, we take a holistic approach to each applicant, meaning we consider you from multiple facets including your work experience, GMAT/GRE score, essays, letters of recommendation, and resume, in addition to your undergrad GPA.
Chat Participant: What is the average tuition fee for evening and weekend MBA programs?
Caitlyn Ward | Associate Director of Admissions Events and Recruiting Operations: You can find our current tuition and fees here: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/evening/admissions/tuition-financial-aid. Your tuition is locked at the rate of the quarter in which you matriculate for four consecutive years.
Chat Participant: Are all the classes for different programs taught by the same faculty? For example, if I'm a evening student, but would like to attend weekend class.
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: That's correct, the same faculty teach across all four of our MBA programs.
Chat Participant: Your website only offers a sampling of the courses offered. It's there a more comprehensive listing of all courses offered?
Marcus Wordlaw | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions: You may find a much more comprehensive version of our courses at the following link. You may filter program, quarter, and type of class: https://intranet.chicagobooth.edu/pub/coursesearch/coursesearch.
Chat Participant: For multiple GMAT tests, do you take the latest score or the average?
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: We would consider the highest valid test score.
Chat Participant: For Resume review service, Do you have any sample resume format to share, just to understand what resume format is expected by the Admissions Committee to provide better feedback ?
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: Unfortunately, we do not offer sample resumes for candidates. We typically do not expect candidates to make many alterations to their resumes from what they would submit for any job application outside of removing any sort of unclear industry jargon.
Chat Participant: How available are the faculty for questions or discussion outside of the classroom? Are interactions with part-time/evening students mostly via email or are there are options for office hours or skype calls (for students not local to the area)?
Stephanie Gunn | Senior Associate Director of Admissions: Most faculty offer office hours before and after classes. They also participate in Faculty Connect events to get to know their students outside of the classroom. And of course, make themselves available via email. Our faculty are highly accessible to our students and understand their needs as working professionals.
Chat Participant:What in your opinion differentiates booth weekend program from other business schools ? What are the concentration Booth is known for and better than other business school?
Marcus Wordlaw | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions: There are a number of things that make Booth’s Weekend program unique from other schools. Academically, the weekend program is no different from the Booth Full-Time or Evening program. The same faculty teach in the Full-Time program as they do in the Weekend and Evening program – with the same courses. The student clubs are specific to each program, so Weekend/Evening clubs (about 46) will be catered toward part time schedules. This means most events will happen on Saturday during the lunch hour while Weekend students are present. 74% of students in the weekend program commute from outside of Chicago, so your classroom discussion will have much geographical diversity. The most popular concentration is Entrepreneurship, and is fueled by the Polsky Center that drives all things entrepreneurial including the New Venture Challenge where companies like Grub Hub and Braintree were previous winners.
Chat Participant: For IELTS, Do you consider both academic and general versions? I see you look for a band of 7, Is there anything else you look for in IELTS score?
Keenan Gannon | Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Operations and Analytics: Yes the minimum is a 7 on the IELTS. More information can be found here regarding the test: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/weekend/admissions/international/english-exams
Chat Participant: Is it possible to apply to both the Executive and Evening programs simultaneously?
Caitlyn Ward | Associate Director of Admissions Events and Recruiting Operations: No, it is not possible to apply to more than one program at Chicago Booth at the same time. You can begin applications to both programs but you can only submit to one. You will need to do some research and select the program that is best suited for you.
Chat Participant: Do CFA or CFP certifications help in the holistic approach to accept an applicant?
Patrick McHale | Assistant Director, Admissions: Absolutely, these types of certifications help showcase your career progression in addition to your full-time role.
Chat Participant: Upon graduation how does the recruitment process for the Evening/Weekend programs differ from that of the Full Time program?
Stephanie Gunn | Senior Associate Director of Admissions: On campus recruiting for full time jobs is the same across the programs. Full time students participate in on campus recruiting during fall quarter of their second year and Evening and Weekend students can participate in OCR after completing 12 courses. That is really the only distinguishing difference when it comes to the timing piece.