In celebration of Father’s Day, we connected with fathers at Chicago Booth. Read on as Full-Time MBA students and Parents of Little Ones co-chairs, Rhett Barker and Jeff Yao, share their perspective on what it is like pursuing an MBA as a parent.
Rhett majored in Chemistry at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD and upon graduation he became a commissioned U.S. Navy Supply Officer. During his time as a Supply Officer, Rhett served multiple roles in operational logistics, supply chain management, and inventory management where he served throughout the United States, on two aircraft carriers, a destroyer, a submarine tender, and overseas in Bahrain and Guam. Rhett chose Booth for his MBA so he could utilize his newfound knowledge of the civilian business world to help find novel and efficient solutions for the U.S. Navy when he puts his uniform back on upon graduation.
Jeff is a US Army Captain, husband of eight years to Jen, and father to three children (Len, 16 Pax, 3 and Haylee, 10 months). In 2020, a longtime dream of Jeff’s came true when he was accepted to teach at West Point. Part of the faculty pipeline at West Point includes an Army-sponsored master’s degree. With the opportunity to get his MBA in reach, Jeff believed that applying to Chicago Booth would best prepare him to teach economics to the next generation of Army leaders. As a recent Booth graduate, Jeff is headed to the United States Military Academy at West Point to teach economics starting this fall. He is looking forward to teaching at the alma mater of great leaders like Robert E. Lee, George S. Patton, and Dwight D. Eisenhower—the West Point Department of History’s unofficial motto is, “Much of the history we teach is made by the people we taught.”
Rhett: Early on in my career I discovered the Navy Supply Corps had an MBA sponsored program that officers could apply for in which active-duty officers could attend a top 25 “civilian institution” for two years as part of the career progression. I was sold on the idea of taking a two-year hiatus from Military life to learn how the “real” business world works and use this teaching to bring best practices back to the Department of Defense. When I started my research, Booth stood out to me through its flexible scheduling, amazing professors, and top tier academics. My wife always wanted to live in Chicago, so on our babymoon we visited the campus back in 2015 and we were hooked. That day I made it a goal to attend Chicago Booth and bring our family to a bustling city that is family friendly.
Jeff: There are many reasons to go to Booth—the rigorous curriculum, the exceptional density of Nobel laureates on the faculty, and the soulful city of Chicago are but a few. In full transparency, the rankings were a significant factor for me during my search, but I consider myself unbelievably lucky to find myself at the home of The Chicago Approach. Booth feels like my perfectly matched puzzle piece as the data-driven, cross-disciplinary, and deeply scientific way of thinking is eminently compatible with my analytical perspective.
Rhett: I knew as a husband and a father of a six-year-old boy my Booth experience would not be the same as many other students. As a parent, it is harder to be involved in all the social activities you want, but Booth offers so many different clubs and events to get involved in that I never really felt like I was missing out. At Booth, you can tailor your experience in a way that fits your lifestyle, and as one of the older students with an older child, I focused on being with family while still being involved in certain communities and clubs that resonated with me. Chicago Booth's flexible elective schedule was also great for me. I found ways to focus my classes on just two days a week so I could spend the others working on academics while my son was at school. Booth’s schedule can be very demanding for a parent, but luckily, I have an amazing wife that could support me and our son when things got stressful and time consuming.
Jeff: Being a parent certainly puts you in a small minority at an MBA program. Parents have specific considerations that simply may not occur to the child-free, such as nap time in the middle of the day, bedtime in the early evening, daycare pickups to work around, oftentimes tighter budgets, and many more. As such, for a fair amount of the social aspect of the MBA experience, parents may find themselves with competing priorities. However, with the growing membership of Parents of Little Ones (POLO), we’re seeing increased resources for parents to form a tight-knit community! Academically and professionally, I personally did not find parenthood a barrier at all—professors and administration have been fully flexible and supportive. Once, my son Pax even got to hang out in a classroom and watch Bluey on the big screen while Prof. Nick Epley discussed his latest research into introversion and extroversion with us over lunch!
Jeff: It’s been amazing, challenging, eye-opening, humbling, transformative, gratifying, exhilarating, and of course, educational! Superlatives aside, it’s truly been an honor to be in the company of such brilliant future business leaders, such talented faculty, and such plentiful opportunities for personal and professional growth. I remember one day walking through the Winter Garden, overhearing a spirited debate about the implications of return predictability for market efficiency, then being unable to keep a giant grin off my face—it was just so refreshing to be in an environment where smart people are unabashedly pursuing truth!
Rhett: POLO has been a critical part of my MBA experience and has been a great way for me to meet other students who are going through the joys and chaos of being a parent. My wife, son, and I have met some of our best friends through events like the Family Random Walk and other random parent get-togethers. I think one of our favorite events was the first annual POLO Halloween Trick or Treat at Harper.
The other POLO co-chairs and I were excited that we could expand the club to Booth’s Weekend and Evening students in the past couple of months and we look forward to hosting even more events next year. A main goal this coming year is not only to host child-centric activities like trick-or-treating at Harper, but to also find ways for parents to enjoy some adult fun and camaraderie in a kid-safe environment.
Rhett: Make sure to do your research when looking for a family-friendly location and MBA program. My wife and I fell in love with Chicago because it had amazing parks and great public transportation. An MBA can be demanding, but when you have a great support network like the one we found through Booth groups like POLO and AFG, it can be a lot of fun. As a Full-Time MBA student, I’ve had the chance to find out what matters for me professionally while also having time to spend with the two people that matter to me most, my wife and son.
Jeff: Set priorities and expectations early on, and communicate clearly with your partner. If academics are important to you, your partner should expect you to be gone for not just classes, but also study groups or focused homework sessions. If recruiting is a priority, your first quarter calendar will be full of coffee chats and info sessions. A lot of activities during the MBA experience, especially during recruiting, straddle the border between social and professional—many of the startups coming out of Chicago Booth began as just friends hanging out! All these competing obligations will inevitably come at the cost of tradeoffs with your first priority—your family—so being in sync with your partner (as well as managing your own FOMO!) will be crucial.
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