You may be wondering, "Why Booth?" Good question! Mike and I have a lot of reasons as to why we believe this is the right decision for us but I'll try to be concise (although I've never been known for my brevity).
1. Teach Me Quant!
By nature, I tend to be more of a qualitative thinker (known as a "poet" in MBA circles). When making decisions I rely on common rules of thumb, intuition, past experience, etc. Booth has a long history of being the school for the "quant jocks." If you want to be an IBanker (Investment Banker, the people who work on Wall Street and the likes) then you go to Booth. Booth has incorporated a quant focus across all disciplines. When I sat in on a class at Booth I attended "Managing the Firm in the Global Economy." What do you think of when you hear that course title? Maybe you think about M&As, FDI, etc. Maybe you think about understanding different cultures and the nuisances of doing business in various countries. But, do you think about lengthy equations to determine royalty payments and when you should license versus franchise? Probably not. But, alas, that is exactly where we ended up during my class visit. We had a great lecture and discussion about licensing and franchising, the difference between the two, typical applications, etc. Then, the professor wrote several equations on the board as we worked through different problems. If that isn't a quant focus then I don't know what is.
2014 Booth Employment Statistics by Job Function
Now, you may be thinking, "Didn't Samantha start off by saying that she isn't naturally inclined to quant? I'm confused." You're right - my first instinct is to focus on the qualitative aspects of a decision. I want a school that will push me out of my comfort zone and get me to consider the quantitative aspects of a decision, as well. I want to learn a different way of thinking - we're not paying someone a lot of money just to affirm that I have a nice way of thinking presently. Not going to happen.
2. The Soft Factor
I was told early on in my MBA journey that I needed to resist the temptation to do too much research and instead go visit the schools I was interested in pursuing. While I wasn't always perfect at heeding the former part of that sage advice, I did respect the latter. You can read all of the blogs out there (although I highly urge anyone considering an MBA to not pour over MBA blogs - you will only drive yourself insane, comparison is the stealer of joy) but at the end of the day there is no substitute for sitting in a class on campus with real students and real professors and getting a first-hand look at the program. When I was on-campus at Booth I felt comfortable and in my natural element. Booth was a match for me on the soft factors, and that is not quantifiable (see what I did there...).
Inside a classroom in the Gleacher Center.
3. Jesus
You all know by now that Jesus is the true head of the Darnell household. Mike and I have prayed together over this decision again and again. God answered some big prayers for us specifically related to Booth. One of the biggest things involved submitting my Booth application. On New Years Day I was waiting to hear back from some people who were reviewing my application essays and so I sat and prayed and journaled for a bit. I felt God strongly say to me, "Submit your application." I was hesitant because I wanted to submit perfect essays and a perfect application (ha!) but I obeyed. Mike was taking a nap and I didn't even wake him up because I knew I wouldn't obey if I stopped to think about it for even a minute. I hit submit and sat back and prayed - I prayed that God would honor my obedience and that if Booth was where He wanted me that He would provide grace and favor with the AdCom. Sure enough, Booth called me almost immediately after I interviewed to accept me into their program (I interviewed on Saturday at 10 AM and had been accepted by Monday at 12 PM). This was such a clear answer and fulfillment of a promise. Funny enough, I later re-read my essays and found two or three grammatical errors that were caused by the "Accept Changes" monster - even with a few errors I was still accepted. God is in control.
Also, the Christian community at Booth is currently smaller than that at Kellogg. This had us confused and struggling for a while but God provided great clarity here. God is already doing something great at Kellogg and He has faithful workers on the ground there. God needs workers at Booth to grow the Christian community. We choose to obey.
Jeremiah 29:11
Well, there you have it folks. The summarized version of why Team Darnell is heading north to Chicago this summer!
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