Sample Chicago Booth Essays 

 
(Source: ​@chicagobooth​ on Instagram) 
 
Writing Chicago Booth’s open-ended essays is no easy task, yet it is one you’ll have to 
successfully navigate if you hope to secure a spot at the prestigious school. The essays 
below show you ways in which previous applicants have done just that.  
 
Need help understanding what Chicago is ​really​ looking for and how to develop your own 
essay? C​ heck out our post​ including the essay analysis for Booth’s MBA application essays 
and a downloadable brainstorming sheet to help you write a winning essay!  
 
Disclaimer​: All identifying information (like company names) has been removed. This essay is 
intended to give you an idea of how to approach the writing of your own, unique Chicago Booth 
essays. Copying these essays in part or in full constitutes plagiarism.  
 
 Essay Set 1 

Essay 1: How will the Booth MBA help you achieve your 
immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (250 word 
minimum) 
My passion for helping others improve their lives has guided my main goals through life. As 
a teenager, I founded a Rotary Club to teach low-income children to read. Later, at 
university, I spent my free time mentoring low-income college students. After graduating as 
Valedictorian, I joined FIRM to apply my skills on a larger scale while continuing to pursue 
my passion for acquiring new knowledge and using it to contribute to the lives of others.  
 
At FIRM, I have most recently been selected to highly competitive Secondment at the 
nonprofit NGO, in which I combined my diverse skill set to challenge the economic status 
quo to bring greater equality to some of Brazil’s poorest citizens. Specifically, I have been 
promoting socio-economic development through sustainable cocoa production in Brazil. 
Leveraging data to assess the profitability of cocoa production for farmers, I concluded that 
the price paid by the regular cocoa market did not allow farmers to escape poverty. To 
provide an innovative solution to this challenge, I recommended to the institute’s key 
leadership that they focus on opening new markets for high-quality cocoa, a fast-growing 
market that offers better prices to farmers. Furthermore, I convinced them to alter the 
institute’s strategy to include providing financial resources to farmers to help them 
overcome the cost barriers associated with adapting to high-quality production. So far, by 
developing innovative blended finance mechanisms and partnering with a diverse set of 
stakeholders, from premium chocolate producers to private investment funds, farmers, 
and the Brazilian government, we are taking an important first step to increasing the 
income of more than 20,000 farmers while also preserving over 100,000 hectares of 
pristine Atlantic forest.  
 
My experiences at NGO have convinced me that there are still numerous opportunities to 
leverage data and foster conscious economic and social impact in Brazil, where there is 
much progress to be made. For this reason, my long-term goal is to become a partner in 
FIRM’s Social Impact team, an increasingly relevant force within FIRM’s global agenda, yet 
one that still lacks clear leadership in Brazil. I wish to expand the focus of this practice to 
not only contribute to the development of non-profits in my region but also to help current 
private-sector clients create positive social impact through their core businesses. In this 
role, I can take advantage of FIRM’s commitment to social responsibility and its diverse 
network of corporations to address my region’s most pressing problems.  
 
Reaching my goal will require the ability to act as an effective leader and promoting a 
change of mindset in the social impact team at FIRM. I am confident that an MBA at Booth 
is the next step to becoming such a leader. Booth’s unique approach to leadership through 
the LEAD program will enhance my self-awareness and interpersonal effectiveness and 
enable me to develop the leadership skills I need. I hope to apply those leadership lessons 
by contributing to the Booth community and beyond, participating in Net Impacts and 
leading initiatives such as the Net Impact National Conference in which I will be able to 
contribute with my previous social impact experiences and network with leaders 
committed to using the power of business to positively impact society. Moreover, by 
participating in initiatives such as the “Global Social Impact Practicum,” I will be able to 
learn innovative approaches to social impact in India, a developing country with many 
similarities to Brazil, and leverage those while designing innovative solutions to Brazil’s 
main issues in the path to reach my goal.  
 
Finally, having worked with several Booth alumni at FIRM and having attended Booth’s 
admission event in São Paulo, I have seen Booth’s strong focus on data and on teaching 
students how to apply analytical problem-solving skills to generate evidence-backed 
insights that solve diverse issues in business and contribute to the creation of a better 
world. I am confident that only through a Booth MBA and this unique approach will I build 
the necessary analytical and management tools to look at long-standing issues from 
innovative angles and lead business leaders to solve my region’s most pressing problems.  
 
 

Essay B: Chicago Booth immerses you in a choice-rich 

environment. How have your interests, leadership 
experiences, and other passions influenced the choices in your 
life? (250 word minimum) 
Ever since I was young, I have sought to learn and help others in their learning. When I was 
five, I begged my father to teach me to read. Later, when volunteering through the local 
Rotary Club, I was shocked to learn that most of the children there had never seen a book. I 
didn’t understand why I should have privileged access to this knowledge. Empowered by 
the desire to change this situation, I chose to share my knowledge with those children. I 
started reading for these children and encouraged them to learn themselves. My passions 
for taking the initiative to help others and accessing new knowledge have guided my main 
choices in life ever since.  
 
As a teenager, seeking to learn new leadership skills to achieve larger impact on others, I 
founded Interact Santos Porto – a group of Rotary-affiliated teenagers focused on 
promoting local social projects – and encouraged friends to join. Since a close teacher's 
son, Portos, had leukemia and urgently needed a donor, our first project was increasing 
bone marrow donations in our city. By the end of the campaign, we more than doubled the 
number of donors. Fortunately, Portos also found his donor. Moreover, working on 
Interact’s numerous projects in our community showed me that by working in teams, I 
could have an even greater impact on the lives of others.  
 
Driven by the desire to learn new ways of being a leader who helps others, I decided to 
pursue a bachelor in business. During university, I learned important new analytical skills. 
For example, while working at Insper Jr. Consulting, I was able to leverage data from public 
sector sources to help local NGOs improve their fundraising efforts through unusual 
sources such as crowdfunding to improve their ability to combat hunger in Brazil. 
Moreover, my intrinsic drive to learn led me to not only focus on my classwork but also to 
help teachers as an assistant and deep dive on subjects of my personal interest such as 
finance. As a result, I graduated summa cum laude at the top of my class in the business 
program.  
 
After college, I decided to join FIRM to continue learning new analytical tools to become a 
better leader and apply my passions and the knowledge I had acquired more broadly. At 
FIRM, I have been able to leverage the fundamentals I learned while earning my 
undergraduate business degree and my consultant toolkit to help others in several ways. 
While implementing the Mayors Challenge, I worked to drive innovation in remote Latin 
American cities. At a major public bank in Brazil, I worked to improve their business 
strategy while enabling more people to thrive financially. My diverse project experiences 
enabled me to learn quickly and develop strong problem-solving skills. As a result of these 
factors, I have been rapidly promoted. Most importantly, along the way, I always had the 
support of amazing people who contributed directly to my development in an environment 
that fostered collaboration and mutual growth, enabling me to continue advancing my own 
knowledge while promoting the growth of others.  
 
Additionally, outside of formal project work, my desire to lead initiatives that would 
contribute to our internal community led me to organize Women’s Initiative events to 
enhance opportunities for women in FIRM and to lead the recruitment efforts at my 
university, enhancing the number of applicants by +50% and more than doubling its 
number of recruited consultants.. I have also lead our running team in numerous 
team-building races.   
 
Most recently, to further leverage my leadership and analytical skills to impact others in 
other spheres, I accepted an invitation to help bring the global NGO Inspiring Girls to São 
Paulo. Inspiring Girls is an organization dedicated to raising the aspirations of 
underprivileged young girls by connecting them with female role models. I am helping to 
find local women for this role, many of whom will be co-workers at FIRM. In one month of 
work, we already have over 40 role models committed and have formed a partnership with 
São Paulo’s Secretary of Education to roll out this program to over 30 public schools in our 
city, opening many girl’s eyes to the impact they themselves can generate for the first time.  
 
My main choices in life have been driven by my intrinsic drive to learn and lead initiatives to 
positively impacting others. Those choices led to experiences that have shown me that I 
can influence changes that will contribute to a better world. I am excited to continue 
learning new skills at Booth that will empower me to maximize my effectiveness as a leader 
who harnesses the power of business to generate meaningful social impact. Philanthropy 
and social responsibility in business are crucial to achieving my goals for the future, and I 
look forward to taking the next step of this journey at Booth as part of a community that 
has inspired bold thinkers to shape the future. 

Essay Set 2 

Essay A: How will the Booth MBA help you achieve your 
immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (250 word 
minimum) 
As a common saying goes, “Health is our greatest wealth.” Good health is much more than 
just a basic right, it is the foundation of success in all other areas of life.  
 
Brazil, however, has a long way to go in ensuring its citizen’s good health. Many Brazilians 
simply do not have access to basic healthcare and these challenges are only increasing as 
the population ages. Healthcare spending is expected to increase from 9% to an 
unsustainable 25% of Brazil’s GDP by 2030, further endangering healthcare access and 
patient health.  
 
My Secondment at NGO, in which I assisted the non-profit in their mission to provide free 
eye care to nearly twenty-five million low-income Brazilians, is just my first step towards 
creating lasting impact in healthcare. After my MBA, I want to become a core member of 
FIRM's healthcare practice, helping healthcare providers create and implement solutions 
that enhance the quality of care while improving cost-efficiency. In the long-term, I want to 
lead this practice in Brazil, becoming an influencer in this industry to actively engage with 
key stakeholders to transform our healthcare system and inspire change around the world. 
To achieve these goals, I need an MBA that adheres to a flexible curriculum, allowing me to 
acquire leadership skills, general management techniques, and broad healthcare 
knowledge. This is why I hope to earn my MBA at Booth. 
 
The LEAD program, courses like “Advanced Negotiations” with George Wu, and the Public 
Speaking and Communications Group will prepare me to become a well-rounded leader 
who can advocate for complex solutions while uniting key decision-makers to change the 
status quo. Complementing my previous experience in Advanced Analytics (AA) with 
Booth’s data-driven approach, through offerings like the Business Analytics concentration 
and the Healthcare Analytics Lab, I will further explore opportunities to transform and 
innovate in healthcare by harnessing the power of data. 
 
Recognizing the importance of creating cost-efficient healthcare solutions and, thus, 
contributing to the financial sustainability of my country, I want to take advantage of 
Booth’s wide range of finance offerings to learn key financial concepts. Finally, the 
Healthcare Group and Booth’s network of global thought leaders will give me the industry 
knowledge I need to create effective and ethical healthcare solutions, learning from 
professionals and students with diversified healthcare experiences. 
 
Furthermore, Booth will provide me with numerous opportunities to further contribute to 
my communities. First, I am eager to work with other students to benefit those in need 
through the Giving Something Back and Net Impact groups. I also want to actively engage 
in the Booth Analytics Club, sharing my AA knowledge while interacting with other Boothies 
who are eager to apply the power of data to their industries. Finally, by participating in the 
Management Consulting Group, I want to work with other consultants to support students 
interested in consulting, hosting events with consulting firms, and organizing interview 
practice sessions. 
 
Brazil urgently needs the support of well-rounded leaders with analytical aptitude who can 
successfully advocate for and create healthcare solutions. With my past experience and a 
Booth MBA, I am eager to become an agent of change in Brazil’s healthcare transformation, 
positively impacting millions of people. 
Essay B: Chicago Booth immerses you in a choice-rich 
environment. How have your interests, leadership 
experiences, and other passions influenced the choices in your 
life? (250 word minimum) 
From a very young age, my parents strongly incentivized me to constantly seek out new 
challenges, positively reinforcing me every time I achieved something new, no matter how 
small it was. This motivated me to pursue even greater challenges as a way to feel I was 
acting meaningfully and continuously improving. In parallel, I studied in a 
community-driven school that strongly encouraged students to engage in volunteer work. 
As a result, starting at age six, I had many opportunities to help people in need, such as 
collecting food and clothes for the homeless. These people’s positive reactions to my help – 
though all I could do at that age was share my small donations and smile – made me proud 
and awakened my passion to contribute to my communities. 
 
These early experiences guided my core decisions. As an exact sciences aficionado seeking 
a field that would provide me with new challenges while empowering me to further 
contribute to my communities, I decided to study at one of Brazil’s top engineering 
universities. Once there, I found a new challenge that would also allow me to impact a 
larger group. After recognizing the mobility challenges the nearly 15% of Brazilians with 
disabilities face, I decided to create an innovative mobile application that empowered them 
to remotely control home devices, improving their autonomy. Initially, potential sponsors 
deemed the idea unfeasible, given the complexities of incorporating the nuances each 
disability presented, especially at a time when apps were still a new invention. However, 
these challenges motivated me even further to develop an effective solution. Thus, I did 
extensive research to understand more about these nuances and worked hard to develop 
an app that considered several specific needs, like voice control and a quadrant layout 
featuring large, easy-to-access buttons for people with visual impairments. After 
developing the app, seeing users’ joy while using it was one of my most rewarding 
experiences, showing me the power innovation has to improve people’s lives. Moreover, 
the project’s recognition, such as being selected to participate in the International 
Conference on Consumer Electronics, only reinforced my confidence in innovating to 
impact my communities. 
 
After graduation, I decided to pursue a career in consulting, seeking opportunities to work 
directly with decision-makers helping organizations and society overcome their most 
pressing challenges. At FIRM, I had the opportunity to use Advanced Analytics (AA) in 
numerous cases and recognized the tremendous impact this resource allowed us to deliver 
to clients. However, few in our office were prepared to utilize it. To empower more 
consultants to use AA, I co-created FIRM’s first AA training program, allowing me to teach 
AA concepts and software to more than 100 consultants thus far. As the program's 
manager, I continue to update it according to yearly feedback. Furthermore, I convinced 
FIRM senior leadership of the need to structure a specialized AA team in Brazil to expand 
our client services and spearheaded its implementation. The team has quickly grown to 13 
members in just seven months. Seeing the impact of these initiatives showed me how 
knowledge becomes even more powerful when it is shared, reinforcing my desire to 
enhance and share my knowledge to drive change. 
 
Though I have always sought out new challenges and contributed to my communities, I still 
feel powerless in one area: health. It troubles me to watch Brazilians clamor for better 
healthcare and family members harmed by the system’s inefficiencies, such as my uncle’s 
fruitless 20-year wait for a kidney transplant. The significant challenges surrounding 
healthcare and the potential to impact millions of lives motivate me to create change in 
that industry. 
 
This led me to undertake a social impact Secondment at NGO, a non-profit that provides 
free eye exams and glasses to low-income Brazilians. Poor vision – and the myriad 
problems it generates – affects individuals’ everyday lives and even harms their financial 
conditions and education. At NGO, I have led numerous initiatives, such as reviewing all 
processes, defining clear roles within the organization, and creating a detailed budget, 
aiming to improve the NGO’s operations and financial performance. Results thus far have 
been promising: the team is working more productively and the monthly number of 
Brazilians impacted has already tripled.  
 
My Secondment has brought me joy in impacting the Brazilians who suffer from the pitfalls 
of national healthcare, further inspiring me to pursue my next big choice in life: creating 
significant, lasting change in the Brazilian healthcare system.  

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