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Noah Ward: Hello, and welcome to this presentation on the Chicago Booth Scholars Deferred MBA Program, a program meant for individuals coming directly out of undergrad or perhaps in a joint master's program that are looking to get an MBA somewhere down the line. Let's dive in and examine it. By way of introduction, my name is Noah Ward. I work with the admissions team here at the Booth School of Business, and I'll be going over a lot of the different details of the Booth Scholars Program. But to start off, I always like to go over everything that we're going to talk about. First off, we'll dive into a discussion about the Booth Scholars Program in general as well as how it compares to the traditional MBA program and the ways in which you will integrate into that. And then we'll finish up talking about the application process with some helpful tips and tricks for putting you in a good position going forward when you decide to apply. So starting off with why you would want a deferred MBA and really what a deferred MBA is. Many of the different MBA programs and business schools across the country offer a deferred MBA track, and these are for individuals coming directly out of undergrad or with no work experience who eventually want to get an MBA but aren't wanting to go directly into it, hence the deferred part. It is a way for you to be able to get your ticket into an MBA program really early on while still allowing you time to gain work experience and develop your overall connections and network. Our particular program here at Booth is a two to five year deferment track. So that means that whenever you get accepted to the deferred MBA program, you have to defer for at least two years, but you could go up to five years. There are a number of great benefits to a program like this. Some of the key ones that we highlight here are, of course, security. It ensures that no matter what happens in your career, you know that you've already locked up a seat in an MBA class somewhere down the line. Additionally, it provides a lot of freedom for you to be able to explore and try new things. You don't have to worry about: How am I going to impress an MBA review committee sometime in the future? Because you've already got your ticket. So if you decide, "Hey, maybe I want to go out and join that startup or maybe I want to go start my own business or maybe I just want to continue seeing what is out there for me in the business world," you can take those risks without any concern for how it'll affect your application later on. Additionally, though, there are a lot of great ways that it helps develop your community as well as provide you opportunities to lead and learn. For example, within the Booth Scholars Program, we often host events for you to be able to connect with other students in deferment in many of the major cities. You're going to have chances to connect with other individuals in that early career phase. Additionally, you also get great connections with the larger university though, and opportunities to learn from different activities going on on campus. For example, we often bring our deferred students onto campus to be able to sit in and hear from current students through panels or through alumni or career service teams, all different opportunities for you to come learn in person and prepare yourself for your eventual start to the MBA program. All of these are tremendous benefits that individuals applying through a traditional MBA track don't get. So whenever you do decide to enter the MBA program, you come with far more knowledge than the average student.

Noah: So I've talked a lot about the benefits of deferred MBA programs in general and a bit about how the deferred MBA program here at Booth operates. But I also want to let you know why you might look at the MBA from Chicago Booth specifically through the deferment track. Whenever we look at our MBA program here at Chicago Booth, there are a number of key ideas that I think are really valuable to individuals in the early part of their career. First off, we have a very multidisciplinary MBA curriculum. What do we mean by that? Well, we make sure that you have as many opportunities as possible to learn from a lot of different industries and disciplines because we believe that business is becoming ever integrated and so you need a variety of skills to find success. For example, we have over 14 different concentrations that you can select from to learn within the MBA program, whether that's entrepreneurship or marketing, data analytics, whatever it is that you are interested in, you can study here. (Editor's note: As of January 2025 there are 15 concentrations offered.) Going hand in hand with this multidisciplinary aspect is the flexibility of our MBA program. We only have one required course, which is a course on leadership that you take within your first quarter. From there on, you choose what the 20 remaining classes that you take will be, and this allows you to fit in a variety of those concentrations that I mentioned previously where you can take up to four of those concentrations, creating a real, you know, "choose your own adventure" style of education here at Chicago Booth. This allows for no two people to graduate with the exact same experience of the curriculum here in the MBA program, but allows for you to build out what you think you need for your long-term success. You compare together any number of different types of concentrations from data analytics, international business, and finance, or maybe you're more interested in something like tech and marketing. Whatever it is that you're wanting to piece together, you can do that here. Lastly, none of this would be possible without the larger supportive community that Chicago Booth has to offer. Of course, we have a wide array and network of alumni that are going to be able to help mentor you and guide you in the process of figuring out what your career looks like with over 54,000 alumni on the East Coast, West Coast, here in Chicago, and all across the globe. Then, your fellow students will, of course, be a huge support and that'll largely be through the student-led groups, which really break up into three main categories. Of course, you have the career-oriented ones like our consulting or our marketing group, but also ones that are more focused on identity such as our Women in Business group or our Latin American Student Association. And then lastly, of course, we have our more social student organizations that are just there for the different things that you enjoy doing, whether that's soccer or going and trying the best restaurants here in Chicago. And lastly, of course, the staff is going to be here to support you as you go through the process of earning your MBA. I think one of the best examples of this is our career services team, which provides tons of support throughout the year. For example, on average, they have 320 recruiting events per year with 170 different firms participating. This means that you'll get so much exposure to a variety of different career opportunities, positions, and industries that you may not think of whenever you first enter the MBA program. But our staff will be here to guide you through every single step.

Noah: So hopefully I've convinced you to apply to the deferred MBA program and the MBA program here at the University of Chicago in general. But let's dive into a little bit more of what the timeline looks like from the time that you apply in undergrad or the end of a master's program to whenever you actually start your MBA. Of course, you will apply usually in April, is when our deadline is of each year. From there, you will go on and graduate from your undergraduate or master's program and you'll start your work. Maybe you'll be with a consulting firm or a private equity firm or wherever it is that you're most interested in working. During that time that you're in deferment, you'll not only work, but you'll have the opportunity to engage in many of that different programming that I mentioned previously. You'll be able to learn from your fellow students in deferment or students in the MBA program and collect all the information you need to know that you can hit the ground running when you actually decide to begin your MBA and you get to choose to do that sometime between that two- to five-year timeline. You'll, of course, during that time, have full access to our admissions team to ask questions and think about when is best for you to enter, and we will be here to guide you each step of the process. So to provide a bit more insight into what our deferred MBA program looks like year to year, we have a snapshot of our 2023 class. Within this particular class, we saw applicants get admitted from 63 different undergraduate institutions, individuals from eight different countries, and a really wide range of academic success among these students. We saw GPAs ranging from 3.4 to 4.0 and GMAT ranges from 670 to 770. Now, we provide these ranges for a variety of reasons, and the main one is for you to get an idea of the types of students that we are bringing in. But if you find that you are falling slightly outside of these ranges, certainly do not sweat it and continue applying to the program because our numbers are constantly shifting based off of just the class that we're bringing in each year. So don't self-select out of it and give yourself every shot of being able to apply. Whenever we see students entering into the program, they come from a variety of different academic backgrounds and go into a lot of different industries. And so I think this is a really great slide to show the wide net that we cast whenever we're looking for students for the deferred MBA program. On the right here, you see a lot of common undergraduate majors that students apply from. You probably see some that you would expect such as business administration, finance, economics, but maybe some that are a little bit of a surprise. Lots of students apply from a mathematics or engineering background. You don't have to have a specifically business-oriented background, but certainly, if you have that, you are welcome to apply as well. So hopefully I've sold you on the idea of the Booth Scholars Program being a great opportunity for almost anyone that's looking at getting an MBA in the long run and that the Chicago Booth MBA is going to be a great fit for you as you look at your different options to apply.

Noah: Now, if you're looking to apply to the Booth Scholars Program specifically, you're going to want to make sure that you keep an eye on our deadlines. We only have one application per year, which is usually in the early spring, sometime in April. Now, that application is something that you can start to get together though well in advance by, you know, taking the GMAT or GRE or other form of test well in advance and start talking with your letter of recommendation writers. So with that in mind, let's talk a bit about what the different application checklists are and what things you need to get in order to apply. Of course, first you want to complete an online application. This can be done through our website. You also want to make sure that you submit a GMAT or GRE test score. We do not have a preference between either one. We accept both totally equally. We also have a couple essays which I'll provide some more insight into here in a moment, as well as two letters of recommendation. One must come from a professional source. We get a lot of questions about this professional source and what we mean by that is simply that it has to come from an individual outside of kind of an academic classroom environment. So for example, if you have a individual that you interned with, that could be a great option. Also, if you've had a part-time job, that is another direction you could go. Maybe you've done some volunteer work or have a student organization that you've been very involved in and you want to get the sponsor of that organization to write your letter of recommendation. So those are the two letters of recommendation we require, at least one professional, the other one can be another professional letter of recommendation or an academic if you so desire. The last two items that we'll need you to submit is of course, the professional resume. Just like any resume you would submit to a job that you're applying for, as well as your unofficial transcript from all of the academic institutions that you've studied at.

Noah: Let's talk a little bit more about these essays and what we are looking for within each section. You'll have two larger essays and one shorter answer section that you need to provide. The shorter answer section is largely focused on just providing information on what your plans are during your time in deferment, between graduating from undergrad and entering the MBA program. This is not a trick question, we're just trying to get the meat-and-potatoes information of what your plans are. If you have a job offer at the time that you're applying to the program, this is a great place to tell us a bit about that. If you haven't gotten a job offer yet, that's perfectly okay. Many individuals who get accepted to the program do not have job offers at the time that they apply. In this section though, I would highly suggest talking about the types of jobs that you are applying for and the types of roles that you would like to find yourself in. For the two longer essays, you're going to want to make sure that you follow a couple of key ideas when answering each of the specific questions that are offered. Of course, first you want to answer the question that we are asking because if you provide a really strong answer to what we're not actually looking for, you may leave pretty large gaps within your larger application as it's being reviewed. So make sure that you really consider: Am I answering the prompt that is in front of me? Of course, the biggest piece of advice I can provide you though is to be yourself. Try and get across who you are and what you are interested in because that is always going to make an essay really come to life as well as your application feel very full and robust. So if you go through this whole process, you submit the application, you get the letters of recommendation, you write the essays, then you move on to the next stage, which is interviewing. Now, there are a couple of common questions that we get that we like to tackle in presentations like this to get a little bit ahead of them. And one of the first ones is: Does everyone who applies get an interview? Unfortunately, because of the variety and quality of applications that we receive, not everyone will get the opportunity to interview for this program, but those who do move forward with it will be notified within a couple weeks of applying, and those who do not move forward will also be notified at that time. Another common question we get is: Who will conduct your interview? Well, there are a variety of different individuals who might be selected to lead your interview and you'll be notified at the time that you've moved on to the interview stage who exactly will be leading that process for you. But it could be a current student, an alumni, or a staff member. Either way, it is a great opportunity for you to be able to gain some information on the MBA program from a new source. Lastly, we often get asked: Will the interviewer see your application? And the answer for the most part is no. They will, however, be able to see your resume. So whenever you're putting together your resume, a really strong tip is to make sure that you build it in such a way that you're going to have questions asked of you that you are prepared for. And of course, you want to review that before you start the interview.

Noah: All right, so now that we've gone over all the different steps of the application process, I find that it's often good to give you a bit of an idea of how the timeline looks for applying to the deferred MBA program. You want to make sure that, at the latest, you're signing up for your first GMAT or GRE exam in early January, that you start working on your essays, perhaps sometime in late January, early February, and that you start talking with your letter of recommendation writers several months in advance of the application deadline. Then as you get closer to the application deadline, you want to make sure that all of your materials are ready to be submitted by the application deadline. You'll probably receive an invite to interview sometime in late April or early May. Interviews occurred throughout May. And final decisions are usually posted sometime in early to mid-June. This is just a general timeline. You can always get started earlier on. I often recommend to undergraduate students if you can take the GMAT or GRE exam the summer before your final year of your program, that can often be a way of taking a lot of pressure off of this very short timeline between January and April. I just recommend it in case you need a little bit more wiggle room. So I hope that this presentation on the Chicago Booth Scholars Deferred MBA Program has been helpful and insightful as to what the Booth Scholars Program has to offer, how the MBA at Chicago Booth can help advance your long-term career goals, as well as how to apply to the program and find the most success. We certainly hope to see your application here really soon. If you have any questions, never hesitate to reach out to our admissions office. Thanks for being here, and we look forward to chatting in the future.

Noah Ward: Hello there and welcome to this presentation on tips and tricks for applying to the Chicago Booth Scholars Deferred MBA program, a program for individuals exiting undergrad or a master's program without any work experience that are hoping to get an MBA somewhere down the line. Let's dive in. My name is Noah Ward. I work with the Admissions team here at Chicago Booth. I usually like to start these presentations by giving a bit of an overview of what we'll be talking about throughout each stage of the presentation. We will be starting off by discussing the timeline for applying to the program from when you first submit your application to actually receive a final decision. Then we'll also talk about application materials, and we'll spend a while diving into each of these different aspects and what you can do to strengthen your application. And then we'll dive into the essays and the interview process to provide you a clear idea of what each of those look like. So I find that it's often really good to start off talking about the application process by actually pulling back the curtain a little bit and letting you know what each stage from our side looks like.

Noah: So after you submit an application, it will then be reviewed by two admissions directors who write up their notes on your particular application and submit it to an overall interview committee. That interview committee will decide who moves forward in the process and who at that point will not move forward in the application. Those who they decide will move forward will then be interviewed by either a current student, staff member, or an alumni of the program. Then the notes from that interviewer will be written up and sent over to a third admissions director to review before a final committee looks at all the different materials and all the different opinions that have come before to make a final decision on who is admitted and will be joining our particular program. I outline all of this for the purpose of showing you that there are lots of different eyes on your application specifically. So know that whenever you submit your application, we are going to give all of our effort to it that we possibly can. So what exactly are we looking for in an applicant to our deferred MBA program? Well, there's a couple of key things. First off, we're looking for evidence of strong, logical career progression, because if you're an individual in your early career stage, being able to get into an MBA program really requires you knowing what you're hoping to do before and after you exit the program. Additionally, we look for individuals that have shown strong leadership skills and a variety of interests, because individuals who leave an MBA program are often going to find themselves in leadership positions. So the more leadership experience you have beforehand, the more confident we'll be in your ability to succeed in our program. Of course, we also look for individuals with strong academic records and commitment to completing a program like this. We are, of course, also looking for individuals with strong communication skills so that they can work well with their fellow students, staff, and faculty, as well as any sort of recruiters that they might engage with throughout this process. We also look for individuals that have a strong ability to contribute to class, bringing unique ideas and a willingness to engage, as well as just intellectual curiosity. We are a master's program after all. And so we're all about asking and trying to answer questions. So with that in mind, you can express a variety of these different ideas through a number of our different application requirements, from completing an online application, to submitting your resume, to the two letters of recommendation that you'll submit, as well as the transcript, test scores, essay, and eventual interview. I'm going to dive into each one of these, so let's go ahead and start to look at them.

Noah: So when it comes to the resume, this is really your chance to provide a snapshot of your professional and education background. Whenever I open an application, this is often the first place I go. So you're going to want to keep that in mind as you're building it out. You want to make sure that you focus on content and keep it as brief as possible. One page is really preferred. You want to make sure that all the wording and grammar is very correct so that we are able to read through it very quickly and easily. And of course, you want to make sure that all the dates, titles, and degrees are accurate. Lastly, I think it's important to also keep in mind that you want to avoid jargon or acronyms that might confuse us or slow us down in our reviewing of the resume. In addition to the resume, you're also going to need to submit two letters of recommendation. Now, there's a couple of different things that you want to keep in mind when choosing your letter of recommendation writers, and it's often a place where we get questions. But to provide some insight into what we're looking for from these letters of recommendation, you want to keep in mind that we require at least one of the letters of recommendation to come from someone who has been in a supervisory professional role with you. So what exactly does this look like? Oftentimes, an individual who has been a supervisor of an internship or part-time job is a great choice for this. But if you don't have somebody that fits that particular demographic, you can also maybe choose someone who has been the sponsor of a student organization or the supervisor of a volunteer effort that you've been engaged in. Even a professor can be a good choice, provided it's not someone who's necessarily taught you in class, but is someone who is focusing more on your work as a research assistant or as a teaching assistant. Make sure that you select someone who knows you well. Always choose the person who has the best engagement with you and knows more about you than someone who is going to have a big job title or is the CEO of a company. We are much more focused on what the person has to say rather than what they've done in their own lives. You, of course, want to use both letters of recommendation as an opportunity to present the best version of yourself. So what that means to us often is that you want to choose individuals perhaps from different settings. If you choose the two directors who oversaw you on the exact same project, they may not be able to show as the wide a variety of your skills as if you choose someone from one internship and another individual from a part-time job. So make sure you keep in mind what are all the different perspectives of myself that I want to present. And lastly, one of the key things that I have to emphasize is that you want to make sure to give your letter of recommendation writer enough time to submit their letter of recommendation. Oftentimes, these are individuals who may be asked to write one, two, or three letters of recommendation for different people. And so the more time you give them, the more they can pour themselves into that letter of recommendation and give it a very robust and full idea.

Noah: Now, let's talk briefly about transcripts. When it comes to transcripts, we require that you submit them from all post-secondary institutions that you have been at. For the deferred MBA program, at the time that you are submitting your application, you only need an unofficial transcript. Whenever you decide to matriculate into the MBA program several years from now, that is when you'll need to submit your official one. By all post-secondary institutions we mean all the undergraduate institutions you have studied at and any master's programs you have studied in. So if you transferred schools, you want to make sure you get a transcript from both institutions. If you're in a master's program, you want to include your undergraduate, as well as your master's transcript. We need to be able to see all the different grades and degrees, as well as years conferred within your transcript. If you only have one copy of your transcript, make sure you don't send that to us. You want to keep that in your own hands. Make sure that you get a good copy of it to be able to send over. And of course, we require an English translation. So if you are an individual that has not had that provided from your university, you may need to work with a secondary party, such as WES. If you have any questions about that, don't hesitate to reach out to our office. All right, let's talk about everybody's favorite part of the application process, the test scores. We get lots of questions about test scores, and one of the basic general points of advice I can give you is that test scores are important but in one individual part of the larger application. So you want to make sure that you give time to it, but don't solely focus on it as the only part of your larger application. Test scores are a great way for us to help assess individual's MBA readiness, especially from an academic background, but we don't require any specific minimum score. So regardless of what you receive on this particular test, you can move forward in the application process. So you can see this range of scores that we provide for the GMAT or GRE on our website, but you may be wondering what happens if I have a higher or lower score. Well, if you have a higher score, that's really great. It really can strengthen your application. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to be admitted to the program, but is a great first step in creating a really well-rounded and strong overall application. If you're on the lower end of these test scores though, don't catastrophize. You could still get admitted. After all, that's why we have a range to our GMAT and GRE because we believe that we want to bring in people with a variety of different skills. You just want to make sure that you focus on the rest of your application and see what areas you are going to be strongest and improve those two. Either way, though, you want to make sure that you take the test that is best for you. We have no preference between the GRE or the GMAT. So I recommend taking a practice test of each, seeing which one you like more, which one you test better on, and moving forward with that one.

Noah: Now, moving on to my favorite part of the application process, which is, of course, the admissions essays. These are a great way to show perhaps the most amount of your own personality in the actual application process. We have two essays that are required, as well as some optional essays that you can submit. When it comes to these essays, there's a couple things that you really want to keep in mind. First off, you want to be yourself. This is a great way and one of the few ways that we provide you to be able to really share your own voice and tell us about who you really are. Take these essays as an opportunity to think about what you want and who you have been throughout your entire life. The best application is going to be the one that you pour your heart and soul into and comes across as very genuine. So you want to make sure that you are being who you are in the application process, particularly when writing these essays. In addition to being yourself though, you of course want to adhere to the prompt and question that we are asking. Make sure that you're answering that question and not reusing perhaps an essay that you've used from another application, or answering a question that you think might serve you better, because at the end of the day, we ask these particular prompts because we feel that they are gaps within the larger application that we want filled in through your own words. One additional thing that I'll note with this is a great way to know whether or not you are answering the prompt is to take the essay and hand it off to a friend or a family member to be able to read, but don't tell them what the prompt is. If after reading the essay they're able to give an answer to what the prompt is that is fairly close to the actual one, then you know that you're on the right track. If they state that the prompt is something that it actually isn't, then maybe you might consider looking back over the essay and seeing where you might be going astray. All right, so if you go through all this process of the essays, of putting together the letters of recommendations, structuring your overall resume, then you'll reach the interview stage, which is a really awesome opportunity, not only for us to learn about you, but for you to learn about our program.

Noah: Now, interviews are on an invitation-only basis. So what that means is not everyone will receive an interview who applies. Individuals will usually be notified a couple weeks after they apply, whether or not they're moving on to the next stage. And interviews can occur in-person or virtually depending on your particular circumstances. You get to choose. And they are 45 to 60 minutes long. When it comes to what the interviewer will review before talking with you, they will only be able to see the resume from your application. No other part of the application will they see. We provide them the resume to give them a bit of an outline and background on you. So whenever you're putting together your resume, make sure to keep in mind, "Hey, my interviewer is going to be looking over this, so how do I want to structure this to best benefit me whenever I'm sitting down with them?" Also, it's a really great thing to review in the days leading up to your interview so that you're prepared with examples of stories from each of the different things you have listed there. So if you have an internship on there or a student activity that you were involved in, make sure you think, "What did I do within that role that is something that I could highlight to show the interviewer the different skills that I possess?" Let's go over a couple more common tips and tricks for the interview process. These are ones you've probably heard before, but always bear repeating. Of course, you want to make sure that you dress in a business formal manner so that you show your professionalism and readiness for the interview process. Then you also want to make sure that you know your story and how to clearly articulate why you want an MBA from Chicago Booth. This means considering where you come from, where you're currently at, and where you're hoping to go. The better you're able to identify those three elements, the stronger the story that you will present to the interviewer will be. Of course, you also want to be ready to discuss concrete examples of when you've demonstrated various skills, such as leadership, problem solving, managing conflict. All of these are really great ways to show the skills and experiences that you have to the interviewer. And then the last two ideas that you would definitely want to prepare beforehand is, of course, some thoughtful questions to ask your interviewer so that you can learn more about our programs and feel like you have a better idea whenever you finally make your decision on which program to enter. And then of course, lastly, if you can, participate in mock interviews, whether that's with your undergraduate career service team or your master's career service team. Those are often great ways to get live reps. Even just having a friend ask you questions as you're maybe on a long drive or hanging out one evening is a good way to get live reps answering questions that you're unprepared for. The more live reps you get, the more comfortable you'll feel whenever you're sitting down with the actual interviewer.

Noah: All right, so hopefully I provided some helpful information on how to apply to the Chicago Booth Scholars Deferred MBA program. The application for this program is in the early part of April of every year. So whenever you're considering how exactly the last year in your master's or undergraduate program will go, start to think about, "Hey, how can I put together an application effectively without putting too much stress on my final semester or quarter?" So that brings to a close our presentation on tips and tricks for applying to the deferred MBA program here at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Hopefully the information we've provided you will help you feel more confident when you go into the application process. If you have any questions, certainly don't hesitate to reach out to our office, as we are always here to help out, and we look forward to reviewing your application in the near future, taking advantage of all the information that we shared here today.