CHICAGO BOOTH EMBA ESSAY TIPS

Why are you seeking an MBA from Chicago Booth and what unique knowledge and experiences do you hope to contribute to the program? (2 page maximum, single-spaced, 12 pt. font, Times New Roman)

An Executive MBA from Booth is crazy expensive, and they want to know you have a clear focus on the outcome you want from the program. The first part of this is actually 2 parts: Why MBA, and then Why Booth. Where is the overlap in the Venn diagram for these 2 things?

At the core of it, this whole process is the intersection of you, your goals and the school. The first step before writing a single word is researching yourself, so you can describe yourself to the adcom in a way that helps them get to know you. The introspection forms the foundation for key points you want to get across about who you are, what do you value? How do your values align with Booth? Appetite for debate? Interest in using frameworks to solve problems? The interdisciplinary Chicago approach?

Then research your goals – make sure you are clear on what you are trying to make manifest by way of an MBA, and research how Booth can help you achieve those goals.

To this end, An EMBA is best suited for those facing challenges at work, and their skills have maxed out for the level. They start to feel the role is too big for making educated (or uneducated) guesses when making decisions. It provides a "mastermind" type environment for navigating those challenges.

It’s truly ideal for you to have a timely reason for this degree, because they know if you do, you will be more focused in getting what you need out of it, and ultimately be more satisfied with the ROI at the end of the program.

I suggest you use STAR as I usually do: situation here would a paragraph or two providing context your current organization, what does your company do, what are your core competencies, who are your competitors? You have 1300+ words to work with so help them understand the dynamic a bit.

Then, frame the main struggle you are facing that gives rise to Why MBA. What is happening that requires you increase your level of skills in a certain area? Is there an organizational challenge? For one of my candidates his company is based on a software that is being phased out and they need to figure out a new core offering. He doesn’t know much about marketing or competitive strategy. They also need to scale 10X and this means the consequences of any decision is amplified and having no business background is increasingly risky. See where I am going with this? Show them that the challenge is, your “pain points”.

The task is like the overall thing that needs to be done, in this example, figure out what core product to offer. Figure out what organizational changes need to be made to scale, to accommodate growth.

Then the action speaks to how Booth EMBA will assist you with overcoming each challenge. Mention the challenge, how Booth will help you with it. Now please know we don’t want to do something like “I’m going to be managing more people and so LEAD will help with that.” Go into a bit of the nuance and marry that with what you know about Booth’s resources to facilitate your transformation, and the result you will gain in terms of both personal growth and business performance. Then kind of rinse and repeat with this a few times.

It’s better to go deep in a few areas than shotgun a bunch of stuff where nothing really sticks with the reader; nothing is very memorable. To speak convincingly its best to speak with alumni, EMBA grads at work and engage with those hosting Booth admissions events. Having these experiences with add depth and gravitas to the points you make in the interview.