Aspiring business leaders are no stranger to the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. In 2018, Booth tied with Harvard Business School for the No. 1 ranked full-time MBA program, according to U.S. News and World Report, and also claimed the top spot in The Economist‘s ranking.
Known for its academic rigor, emphasis on analytics, and expertise in finance and economics, Booth consistently attracts the cream of the crop to shape the world of business. The Class of 2020 is no exception, with the 591 matriculating students boasting an average GMAT score at a whopping 731 and an average GPA of 3.6. The new group also averaged five years of work experience and 28 years in age. They came from a total of 52 countries, and 30 percent are international. In the strive for gender parity, Booth has met with relative success—42 percent of the new class are women.
During their undergraduate years, Booth’s Class of 2020 had spread across familiar majors. A quarter had studied economics, while business and engineering tied for close seconds, each claimed by 24 percent of students. Another 15 percent of the class had majored in liberal arts, 7 percent in physical sciences and 1 percent in law.
Following their undergraduate studies, Booth’s Class of 2020 accumulated diverse work experience. Nearly a quarter of the crop of candidates arrived on campus with experience in consulting; financial services followed with 21 percent of the class having entered the field. Eighteen percent had split evenly across technology and non-profit/government. The rest of the class spread out across consumer goods, healthcare, private equity/venture capital and more.
Booth’s trademark quality is its flexible curriculum. With only one required class, LEAD, students are free to shape their education based on their needs and interests. LEAD, which stands for Leadership Effectiveness and Development, serves as a critical base for students on their journey of growth and self-awareness, so that they may reap the most from their tailored education. Indeed, during LEAD, first-year students complete 150 hours of team-building exercises and retreats to cultivate interpersonal skills, self-awareness and all the critical aspects of leadership.
The course serves to support students as they create their individualized career plans at Booth and beyond. Booth students have the choice to design their path of study, selecting from a menu of courses and claiming up to three concentrations. Suffice to say that a Booth degree serves you well in just about any industry.
The slogan at University of Chicago Booth School of Business is: Ideas compete, not people. Today, we take a closer look at some of the people that generate these ideas and see them to fruition. We are excited to showcase select profiles of the MBA Class of 2020 as they reflect on what led them to choose Chicago Booth.
