Hello! We are the incoming “The Booth Experience” team (TBE) and we are so excited to share with you as many student stories and Booth experiences as we can over the next year! We will do our best to provide readers with a comprehensive, candid, and in-depth view of what it’s like to be an MBA student at Chicago Booth. From where we live, to our favorite classes, to the coolest places to go on a date in Chicago, we’ll give you an insider’s perspective of the entire Booth experience from start to finish.
But first, we’d like to tell you a little about ourselves and #WhyBooth is where we chose Booth to pursue our MBAs…
Starting out the lineup is Carson Cunningham, our budding filmmaker.
After three years in as an engineer, Carson realized his problem solving skillset would be better utilized in a different setting. He came to Booth looking to build a business vocabulary, make a ton of new friends, and explore the career opportunities specifically in the technology fields. He’ll be working as a consultant at Deloitte in Chicago for the summer as a part of their Strategy& Operations practice. In his spare time, the self-proclaimed social media addict scrolls through four different apps on his phone, but otherwise enjoys making videos and playing basketball, sand volleyball, and golf.
Next up we have our East Coast representative with a penchant for biotech, Dyuti Mahendru.
Dyuti is a die-hard Duke Blue Devil, loves basketball, and all things coffee and wine. She spent four years in consulting across a number of different industries and cities around the world. This summer, Dyuti will be in the Bay Area working at Abbott Labs in their Vascular division in a Marketing and Strategy role. Post-Booth, she’s hoping to develop her expertise in the life sciences and biotech industry. Dyuti has too many favorite Booth memories – but keys ones are the first Semi-formal at the Crystal Gardens, the Diwali Boat Cruise, and most recently, performing at Follies!
A veteran and avid outdoorsman, Eli Feret finds adventure around every city corner.
After graduating West Point in 2009, Eli served 7 years as an Army infantry officer before deciding to hang up the uniform and try his hand at this business thing. In doing so he (temporarily) traded in his Colorado mountains for the glass towers of the Windy City. Since there’s not much elevation in Chicago to hike up or ski down, you can usually find Eli biking the lakefront trail between his downtown apartment and classes in Hyde Park (weather permitting). This summer he’ll be returning to that rocky mountain high while interning at McKinsey in Denver, and then will lead Random Walk Vietnam with his TBE buddy Joseph Dang.
George Boghos hails from the Southern states with a degree in econ and profession in PE.
George came to Booth with a background in investment banking and private equity and is looking to round out his broader business education and make some new friends while doing it. In his free time, he loves eating out at new restaurants and is a huge sports junky (particularly college football!). This summer he will be trying out the big city (NYC) for the first time while interning as a Summer Associate for Citadel (Surveyor Capital).
Known to pursue the creative (oftentimes comical) path, Joseph Dang (JD) is serious about TBE.
After four years of living HBO’s Silicon Valley, JD decided it was time to try out TPS reports and logging T&E. But for reals, he wanted to learn how to scale technology innovations at a national and global scale and hopes to do so at the skunkworks of a mega corporation like Hooli. He’ll be at PwC Strategy& this summer working for a Fortune 500 on their technology strategy. When he’s not onsite, he’ll be trying to book gigs for Beluga Fails, the preeminent Class of 2018 Pop Punk Band.
IDF veteran turned fashion blogger, Victoria Yunger is part of an international Boothie power couple.
Victoria is one half of a Boothie couple, studying at Booth alongside her husband Oren. She was born in Ukraine, but spent almost her entire life in the sunny Tel-Aviv of Israel. She’s an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) veteran who wore an olive uniform for two years, later launching a successful fashion blog to reclaim her personal style. She is a digital marketer who specialized in eCommerce. In the summer, Victoria will be taking her passion for marketing to the next level of innovation, by interning in Product Marketing at ThoughtSpot in the Silicon Valley.
And finally, by way of France → Guinea → London → Chicago, we have Yelihan Fofana.
Call her the nomad. Yelihan was born in France, lived in Guinea until about age 11, and moved to London. She then moved again, this time to the US (Massachusetts) for four years of undergrad, before moving back to London, to work for five years as a technology consultant. Most recently, she packed up again to chase the next challenge at Booth and to make Chicago her new home… (for now!) Yelihan likes photography, meditation, and is avidly counting down the days to Serena William’s record-matching 24th Grand Slam title. Yelihan will be spending her summer doing strategy at A.T. Kearney.
Over the next year, we hope to answer as many questions as we can from all of you and post interesting content that can be helpful as you go through the process of trying to decide what school is best for you.
Cheers!
The Booth Experience Team
