Meet Iko Tsogtbayar, Part-Time MBA Student and co-chair of Chicago Booth’s first ever Artificial Intelligence club. Learn more about her journey at Booth that extends beyond the classroom, encompassing enriching experiences as an Admissions Committee member and a dedicated co-chair for various clubs, each opportunity reinforcing the business school’s pay-it-forward culture.
What’s been your favorite classes at Chicago Booth thus far and why?
I have a few favorite classes at Booth, and the top one is definitely Advanced Financial Analysis and Valuation for Global Firms taught by professor Christian Leuz.
At Booth, one of the many business skills you become really good at (besides many others such as marketing, strategy, and entrepreneurship) is finance. Professor Leuz’s course offers concepts and tools for fundamental valuations and financial analysis of companies taking students further into learning how to value firms with new business models, in high growth, tech or biotech industries, value banks and financial services firms, value private companies whose financial information is not public, evaluate foreign investments, work with financials that are prepared under international standards (IFRS) vs. US (GAAP), and more.
Professor Leuz is an extremely knowledgeable and engaging, and he cares that we understand every bit of the course content. I enjoyed every part of his class.
Can you talk about your involvement as an AdCom member and your experience as a co-chair for several clubs. What inspired you to start an Artificial Intelligence club?
AdCom has been one of my favorite experiences at Booth so far, and it enabled me to give back to the school by volunteering my free time. Through serving on AdCom, I was able to meet many interesting and ambitious candidates who are wanting to make a pivot in their career or progress in their current career and expand their professional network. Many chose Booth E/W MBA program as their number one choice because they weren’t ready to leave a full-time job that’s in upward progression. Whenever I talk to them, they remind me of the time I was going through the same process and it’s easy and interesting for me to understand and connect with them.
Also, professionals reach out to me over LinkedIn or directly through my Booth email asking to have a coffee chat because they are working on applying to MBA programs and want to learn more about Booth E/W MBA program quiet often. I always make sure to make time to talk to them to provide realistic expectation in terms of time commitments, efforts in classes and the community as well as to share my experience in terms of the doors the MBA program opened for me.
Chicago Booth is well known for its pay-it-forward culture. In what ways have you received help and how have you contributed to the Evening and Weekend MBA Program community?
Chicago Booth E/W MBA program is full of successful professionals who are working to progress their career into the next level. Chicago Booth also has a strong alumni network filled with successful professionals who are willing to connect whenever we need. Networking with and having access to fellow students and alumnus has been important support for me.
As for paying-It-forward myself, I consider AdCom, Launch Mentorship, and my Co-Chair works to be the ways I give back to the community. Besides AdCom volunteer work and Co-chair work, I volunteered as Launch Mentor for 3 quarters during my time here to help newly onboarding Booth students navigate the MBA experience, the program, and planning their time at Booth. It has been joyful way to meet new students while helping them navigate their way into the E/W MBA program and getting settled into the program.
