As our Best Booth Moment series continues, we hear stories from students about how they interact with Booth faculty outside of the classroom.
While at Booth, I have had the opportunity to take a variety of courses covering the spectrum of business school topics taught through many different styles and approaches by my professors. During the winter quarter, I was enrolled in Building the New Venture with Professor Lindsey Lyman, one of the many experiential, entrepreneurship classes offered at Booth. The experience proved to be a great opportunity for our team to connect with our professor outside of the classroom setting.
Our Best Booth Moment series continues with students telling us about their favorite interactions with Booth faculty outside of the classroom.
Each year during the Booth Winter Formal, the Giving Something Back club runs a charity silent auction with several items up for bid. One of the packages this year was an evening of Belgian Beer Tasting with professors Chad Syverson (Competitive Strategy) and Marianne Bertrand (The Firm and the Non-Market Environment). A small group of students bid collectively to win the package, and then invited others to join them at the event (including me)! Though I didn’t get a chance to learn from either of these professors in an official classroom setting during my time at Booth, I jumped at the opportunity to casually chat with a couple of brilliant professors in a more relaxed environment. Though I didn’t get a chance to learn from either of these professors in an official classroom setting during my time at Booth, I jumped at the opportunity to casually chat with a couple of brilliant professors in a more relaxed environment.
While technically the summer internship is a part of the first-year experience, I saw it as a way to kickstart my second year at Booth. Picking up where my first year timeline left off, read along to hear about how my second year has progressed and what I’m planning to do after graduation.
Ask any graduating second year and they’ll agree on one
thing: your two years at business school fly by. While every quarter includes
time for academics, professional development, building a social network and
self-exploration, each quarter is unique and can be a different 10-week
journey. Read on to see the timeline of my first year at Booth and check back
to catch a glimpse at my second year as well.
Every applicant has a primary motivation to attend an MBA program. It may be a two-year pause for self-reflection away from the corporate grind, the chance to broaden knowledge across business functions, or even an opportunity to pivot one’s career to a new industry. Whatever the primary reason, most of my classmates mention that they would cherish the opportunity to sharpen their leadership identity – honing strengths, pinpointing weaknesses, and experimenting in a secure environment.
Deputy Dean for MBA Programs Stacey Kole presented a finding from a 2018 year-end survey that, “the Class of 2019 is highly interested in developing leadership skills: 60% say it’s essential, 30% say it’s important, and 10% say it’s preferred. Communicating persuasively was one of the most common skills that students sought to improve.” Once we kickoff our MBA at Booth, we are given a myriad of instances in our daily activities that we can harness to push ourselves to be better leaders.
