Executive MBA Student at Chicago Booth's London Campus Meet Sharan Chawla

Booth makes you work hard for your MBA. The program is very analytical and rigorous – we’re on campus almost every night finishing group assignments. Even though that sounds painful, that’s what I loved about the program. You feel like you actually earned your degree, not just get it on paper. From the very first interactions I had with EMBA alumni (and later with my own cohort), it was clear that no one was there to collect an “MBA stamp.” These leaders were at Booth out of curiosity and a genuine excitement to learn.

I also wanted to be in a program with peers who brought significant global industry experience and who are leaders in their space. I was drawn to how diverse the EMBA cohort is—every class feels like a mini-UN meeting, with peers from Nigeria, South Africa, Israel, Lebanon, the UAE, Brazil, Argentina, and beyond. The opportunity to go to London, Hong Kong, and Chicago allowed me to develop networks across continents. It feels like I have a home to visit in just about every country.

If you’re considering an EMBA at Booth, I’d encourage you to stop trying to calculate ROI purely in financial terms (although that is important, of course). Some of the highest returns are less tangible but far more enduring:

• Learning: Be honest about where you need to strengthen your tool kit as a leader to benefit you in your career aspirations. For me, that was finance. For you, that might be ops, strategy, marketing, or decision-making.

• Networks: Be proactive. The value of the Booth network comes from actively engaging with classmates, alumni, and faculty rather than waiting for connections to come to you. It’s hard to expand your personal and professional network at this rapid pace outside of a structured environment.

• Emotional ROI: This is undervalued. The energy, confidence, and motivational boost I got from the people and professors really drove me in intangible ways in my work. This itself made the EMBA completely worth the cost for me.

Though I really enjoyed the finance courses, my favorite class has to be Macroeconomics with Professor Erik Hurst. I’m deeply interested in politics, and the macro topics he covered—tariffs, trade deals, deficits, fed policies, the impact of AI on employment—were so relevant in today’s fast-moving political and economic environment. Professor Hurst is excellent: a true scholar and a genuine joy to debate with and learn from. I would question his position, and this is what I love most about Booth: You’re encouraged to challenge your peers and even the professors, and you always walk away sharper because of it.

Outside the classroom, I’ve found the professional coaching incredibly valuable, particularly the work I’ve done with my mentor who works as a senior global director of global career and leadership development at UChicago. She’s been a great sounding board and pushed me to be more confident in pursuing my goals. That combination of intellectual rigor and personal support has been a real differentiator in my Booth experience.

I’m pretty sure many of my Booth classmates are going to become lifelong friends. They are always willing to share experiences, challenge my thinking, and make introductions to people in their networks without keeping score. I remember going to the JPM Healthcare Conference and meeting Booth alumni there who, without hesitation, connected me to executives in their own firms. It’s rare to find a group of highly accomplished professionals that are also genuinely down-to-earth human beings who want to help their peers. Whether it’s feedback on a terrible startup idea or advice on the next career move, the support feels real.

I was very ill during Electives Week in Chicago, and every day someone from my cohort dropped off food and supplies outside my hotel room. Everyone, including the admin team, gave me so much love and support with their constant checkups. I will always cherish these personal relationships!

I plan to continue working at the intersection of AI and pharma strategy—either scaling my advisory work or stepping into a leadership role within pharma or an AI-driven healthtech company. I’m particularly excited about building solutions that improve the patient experience at scale. Booth has given me the confidence to pursue opportunities that are less linear but more meaningful. Long term, I see myself building and leading platforms that sit between technology and real-world impact—ideally across a few continents.

At the start of the pandemic, I escaped my London studio for what was supposed to be a one-month reset in Portugal. Four years later, I was still in Lisbon. Easily one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. So if you ever find yourself there, let me know—I’m always happy to share my favorite cafes and beaches.

I love hiking, I’m an avid padel player, and I’ll almost always choose something outdoors over a drink. I’m also (very slowly) writing about living many mini-lives across countries, careers, and identities—because what the world is really missing right now is another self-indulgent travel memoir…