Explore The Chicago Approach (2024)

Explore The Chicago Approach (1)

Discover the power of our educational philosophy.

Chicago Booth is the birthplace of The Chicago Approach, the educational philosophy that sets Booth apart from every other business school in the world.

This approach to business education and scholarship has yielded some of the most groundbreaking business insights and advances in the 20th and 21st centuries. The Chicago Approach provides an enduring, multidisciplinary framework—taught by the world’s best business school faculty—that will empower you to turn business challenges into opportunities, in any industry, anywhere in the world.

Rooted in the fundamental scientific disciplines at the heart of business—economics, accounting, psychology, sociology, and statistics—this approach grounds all Booth students in theoretical frameworks that help them define problems, ask better questions, and develop better solutions.

The Impact of The Chicago Approach

Strong analytical skills, a strategic mindset, and the ability to lead confidently in ambiguous circumstances are essential to success in today’s constantly changing, data-driven business landscape. The Chicago Approach gives Booth graduates enduring strategic, analytical frameworks that translate into success throughout their careers. Source: 2019 Alumni Survey, figures have been rounded

98%

Alumni who somewhat or strongly agree that they know how to think analytically

98%

92%

Alumni who somewhat or strongly agree that they know how to tackle business problems they have never seen before

92%

95%

Alumni who somewhat or strongly agree that they know how to think strategically

95%

Transform Your Thinking

“With The Chicago Approach, we try to teach people how to think. It’s not the direct knowledge, per se, that we’re conveying. It’s teaching people how to evaluate evidence, how to have a framework where you organize thoughts, how to think about problems in a way that is somewhat universal.”
—John Huizinga, Walter David “Bud” Fackler Distinguished Service Professor of Economics

The Chicago Approach in Practice

Explore how the academic experience and curriculum at Booth can help you reach your career and personal goals.

Discover Academic Life at Booth

Find out how our educational approach will prepare you to think for yourself, challenge the status quo, and ground discoveries in data.

Discover Academic Life at Booth

Master the Fundamentals of Business

Our MBA curriculum gives you the skills to transcend trends and solve any business problem. Here’s how.

Master the Fundamentals of Business

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Go inside the Booth classroom by viewing past MBA Masterclass sessions with our world-class faculty, and sign up for future, real-time MBA Masterclass virtual events.

Chicago Booth MBA Masterclass Series

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Building on the Foundation

The Chicago Approach offers more than analytical skills and frameworks. It also instills critical competencies—emotional intelligence, people management, and strong leadership abilities—that are increasingly recognized as essential to success. Courses such as Interpersonal Dynamics and Power and Influence in Organizations combine self-assessment tools and real-world scenarios to build empathy and self-awareness. Beyond the classroom, cocurricular opportunities, including leadership roles, case competitions, and self-leadership retreats, allow you to engage in questions of ethics and identity, while helping you to become a better leader.

Building on the Foundation

Stories from Our Community

Achieving a healthy work-life balance can be difficult. Here’s how some in the Booth community are doing it.

Infusing Ideas with Purpose

The confident leadership through uncertain times of Stephanie Braming, ’99, serves as a source of inspiration.

Infusing Ideas with Purpose

  • Finance

Scripting an Arts Business

Zeeshan Farooq, ’13, combines his lifelong love of calligraphy with management skills to produce art and communicate faith.

Scripting an Arts Business

  • Media, Entertainment, and Sports

Sailing into the Unknown

Juan Carlos Velasquez, ’15, didn’t know what he was getting into when he agreed to a sailing expedition across the North Atlantic—but the journey proved to be life changing.

Sailing into the Unknown

  • Media, Entertainment, and Sports

The History of The Chicago Approach

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, at a time when the world’s business schools were in crisis, The Chicago Approach—developed by pioneering Booth faculty James Lorie, PhD ’47, and W. Allen Wallis—revolutionized business education and sent Chicago Booth on a path to becoming one of the world’s best business schools. As economics, accounting, statistics, sociology, and other key business disciplines evolve, so does The Chicago Approach; it will be as effective tomorrow, and in 2060, as it was when first articulated by Lorie and Wallis. Discover the history of The Chicago Approachand why it is such a powerful tool for ambitious leaders in a data-driven, fast-changing world.

Explore The Chicago Approach (14)

Choose Your Path to Success

Tell us about yourself, and we will show you the value of a Booth education.

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“Booth’s data-driven approach has been the guiding factor in how I solve most of the problems at work. What has surprised me is how Booth’s analytical approach combined with the soft-skills training I received during my MBA has not only helped me to analyze data and deliver recommendations, but empowered me to communicate this information in an effective way.”
—Monisha Shivakumar, ’19

Explore Our Educational Philosophy in Action

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The Executive MBA Program is registered under the Hong Kong Education Bureau. Registration No.: 262427. It is a matter of discretion for individual employers to recognise any qualification to which this course may lead.

Explore The Chicago Approach (2024)

FAQs

What is the Chicago approach? ›

The Chicago Approach says that if we teach these leaders how to think and how to learn lessons from research, history, and literature, we stand a better chance of going beyond numbers and balance sheets in order to build a better customer experience and also a better working environment for employees.

What is one way to describe the Chicago School's approach? ›

The Chicago school is best known for its urban sociology and for the development of the symbolic interactionist approach, notably through the work of Herbert Blumer. It has focused on human behavior as shaped by social structures and physical environmental factors, rather than genetic and personal characteristics.

What is the Chicago method of teaching? ›

“With The Chicago Approach, we try to teach people how to think. It's not the direct knowledge, per se, that we're conveying. It's teaching people how to evaluate evidence, how to have a framework where you organize thoughts, how to think about problems in a way that is somewhat universal.”

How long should my booth essay be? ›

As with Essay One, although there is a minimum 250-word count for this submission, we suggest that you answer the question in 550–750 words.

What is the main idea of Chicago? ›

The basic theme of Sandburg's "Chicago" is to celebrate the city. The poem develops several alternative names for Chicago that note its connections to industry, such as "Hog Butcher of the World" and "Stacker of Wheat." The poem acknowledges that the city can be rough around the edges but proudly defends Chicago.

What is the Chicago Convention answer? ›

The Convention establishes rules of airspace, aircraft registration and safety, and details the rights of the signatories in relation to air travel; it also exempts air fuels from tax. The Convention was signed by 52 states on 7 December 1944 in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., and came into effect on 4 April 1947.

What is an example of the Chicago School theory? ›

If one community is experiencing a high level of “social disorganization” due to inequalities experienced because of low employment, or low education opportunities, or even the inability to communicate within its own neighborhoods because the population is unable to understand each other, then there can theoretically ...

What is the Chicago School method? ›

The “Chicago School” refers to a specific group of sociologists at the University of Chicago during the first half of this century. Their way of thinking about social relations was heavily qualitative, rigorous in data analysis, and focused on the city as a social laboratory.

What is the purpose of the Chicago School? ›

The Chicago School educates the next generation of change-makers in innovative theory and culturally competent practice to strengthen the integrated health of individuals, organizations, and communities.

What is the first Chicago method? ›

The First Chicago valuation method is a tool for determining the value of a company based on the analysis of its expected future cash flows in multiple scenarios. According to this model, the value of a company is equal to its present value of future cash flows.

What are the principles of the Chicago School? ›

The Chicago Principles articulate the importance of free expression as an essential feature of the university. They commit the university to allowing the widest possible range of ideas to be spoken and heard, even those that are considered wrong or offensive by many.

What is the Chicago style method? ›

About Chicago Style

Chicago style is an "author-date" style, so the citation in the text consists of the author(s) name and year of publication given wholly or partly in round brackets.

What is the video essay question for Chicago Booth? ›

Video Essays

Applicants who are invited to interview with Chicago Booth are also asked to complete a short video response to one of the following two prompts: Tell us about something new you learned recently that shifted your worldview. How did it influence your behavior and/or actions?

How long is the booth interview? ›

Then, you'll do your interview. The Booth interview is blind: the interviewer will be familiar with your CV, but nothing else; your interviewer will not have access to your video essay. The interview will last 45-60 minutes. Depending on your location and availability, your interview will be either in-person or online.

What is the ideal booth size? ›

The most common dimensions include 10×10, 10×20, and 20×20 sizes. 10×10 Booths: Also known as standard booths, these are commonly used by small to medium-sized businesses. 10×20 Booths: These booths are double the size of a standard booth. They offer more space for display and customer interaction.

What was the purpose of the Chicago movement? ›

The Chicago Freedom Movement focused on homeownership and rental injustices facing black families. Dr. King and his staff visited tenants in apartments with atrocious conditions. Many of the apartments were rat-infested, without heat, dangerous, not regularly repaired by the landlords, and extremely overpriced.

What is Chicago perspective? ›

Chicago/Ecological School theory, otherwise known as the ecological perspective. or the theory of social disorganization. We will also discuss modern research on. this theory, which assumes that the environment people live in determines their behav- ior.

What is the Chicago style simplified? ›

Short Form
  • Author's last name (for edited works, use the editor's last name, but omit the "ed." after the name)
  • Shortened form of title (2-4 words; omit initial articles such as A, An, or The from the title)
  • Page number (when available)

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