In choosing courses that excite just as much as challenge, Booth students uncover new ways to achieve their professional and personal goals.
They are learning from top researchers and practitioners in their fields who introduce students to the latest findings and evidence-based solutions, in real time. That type of elevated engagement is essential in an environment where students are becoming leaders who think critically and see past conventional direction.
Below, Booth students tell us about some of their favorite courses and the impact they've had on their ability to challenge the status quo going forward.
1. International Corporate Finance
I took International Corporate Finance with Professor Raghuram Rajan. He has served in his career as both the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund. His case discussions would go deeply into the art of decision making when you have policy uncertainty. To hear from someone who's lived through that on a day to day basis was something that really opened my eyes into how you actually make those decisions. - Venkat Raman, Class of 2018
2. Private Equity & Venture Capital Lab
In the Private Equity & Venture Capital Lab, Chris McGowan did a great job of sharing unique insider tips and stories that you can’t get anywhere else. I also had the opportunity to intern for a venture capital fund as part of the course. As someone trying to transition into a career in private equity, this was an incredible course and frankly one of the reasons I came to Booth in the first place.
- Connor Martin, Class of 2018
3. Managing in Organizations
During my first year, my favorite class was Managing in Organizations with Professor Ann McGill. It is largely based in behavioral psychology related to getting your team members to perform at their best. Professor McGill's extensive knowledge of the research done in the field made for a great learning experience. She does an amazing job tying the research to what it means for our careers. How can we motivate employees, assess performance, and get our message across as managers? Each class session was filled with surprising insights that I will confidently rely on throughout my career. - Patrick Sedden, Class of 2018
4. New Venture Challenge
New Venture Challenge definitely has been the best experience. I actually came up with my business idea in the New Products and Services Lab course. The New Venture Challenge class itself helped me to fine tune that business plan. We had access to so many resources including coaches, investors, alumni, and professors. They all helped us make industry connections and gave us good industry advice about our business. Plus, the experience of pitching your business in front of judges was really amazing. - Rodrigo Studart, Class of 2018
5. The Firm and the Non-Market Environment
The Firm and the Non-Market Environment with Marianne Bertrand is a must-take class at Booth. She is incredibly engaging, and packs so much material into each and every class. She runs great discussions by challenging different points of view, encouraging debate, and relating the case experiences to current real world scenarios. The class material is relevant regardless of what industry you are going into. I came out of each class feeling like I had multiple key takeaways that were both interesting and incredibly relevant. - Kathleen Davis, Class of 2018
6. Scaling Social Innovation Search Lab
My favorite class was Scaling Social Innovation Search Lab with Christina Hachikian because it allowed me to work on very challenging social topics. I worked with a great team of other Booth students to conduct a scan of violence reduction innovations nationally, to ultimately create and pitch a business plan to localize one of those advances. Through this class I spoke with many leaders in the area of violence reduction in cities, which ultimately led me to my internship for the summer. - Maura Welch, Class of 2018
7. Choice Architecture
The professors at Booth are both practitioners and researchers. I was in professor Richard Thaler's class called Choice Architecture, where we did a yearlong experiment with a client. This extended class form naturally brings out academic rigor and a need to have a constructive conversation between different viewpoints. It's not just feeding you information that you have to accept—it's more that you think of everything in a holistic way and you try to critically analyze it to understand how that fits to the particular problem you're solving.
- Lisa Twu, Class of 2018
8. Platform Competition
One of my favorite classes by far was Platform Competition with Austan Goolsbee. It was amazing to apply a concept of microeconomics to actual tech platforms that we use today, work through those problems in class, and to think about how that can actually be used in my future career.
- Ngozika Uzoma, Class of 2018
9. Outside of Booth
The great thing about Booth is you have the opportunity to take courses across the University of Chicago. I've taken courses both at the Harris School of Public Policy and the School of Social Service Administration. They're different programs, so they have different focuses, but it's great to be in a classroom with different perspectives. One class I took had students from the med school, Booth, the Public Policy School, and from the Social Service Administration. The mix of people facilitated really great discussions, a lot of learning peer-to-peer, as well as learning from the professors.
- Amy Altchuler, Class of 2019
There are endless possibilities for charting your own course while pursuing a Chicago Booth MBA.
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