Chicago Booth has opened the 2025-2026 application, changing this year’s required essays.
If you are looking to apply for Booth’s 2026 intake, keep reading for the upcoming deadlines as well as Personal MBA Coach’s tips on how to answer the Chicago Booth MBA essays.
The Chicago Booth MBA Deadlines 2025-2026:
Round 1: September 16, 2025
Round 2: January 6, 2026
Round 3: April 2, 2026
Chicago Booth MBA Essay Questions 2025-2026
For the first time in a while, Chicago Booth changed one of its essay questions, bringing back a photo essay question in the application, something the school did over 5 years ago. As Personal MBA Coach predicted in May, Chicago Booth essay 1 (a goals essay) remains unchanged.
Personal MBA Coach’s Chicago Booth MBA Essay Analysis and Tips
Booth MBA Essay 1:
How will the Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (250-word minimum)
For this question, you will want to discuss your specific short-term and long-term goals. Be sure to explain a bit of your thinking behind these goals, allowing the reader to understand both your higher-level aspirations and how you developed them.
Watch this quick tips video with Personal MBA Coach’s founder Scott Edinburgh for guidance on how to articulate your goals:
As with other “goals” essays, you are also expected to touch upon your past successes, explaining how they are relevant to your future objectives. This question does not require you to walk through your entire resume, and candidates are advised not to do so. Instead, focus on your past just enough to establish your key skills as well as how and why you will succeed in the future.
Struggling to connect your professional examples to your career aspirations? Reach out today to find out how we can help with Personal MBA Coach’s Comprehensive Package!
Next, think about your skills gaps and how a Booth MBA will help you to close these gaps. Be specific here and take the time to do your research. Detail the classes, programs, or clubs you hope to take advantage of on campus and how they will help you to achieve your post-MBA career goals.
Again, do not include a laundry list. Instead, carefully think through how each area will help you fill in the necessary pieces of the puzzle. Finally, be sure to show an understanding of Booth’s culture.
Booth MBA Essay 2:
Chicago Booth appreciates the individual experiences and perspectives that all of our students bring to our community. This respect for different viewpoints creates an open-minded environment that supports curiosity, inspires us to think more broadly, and take risks. At Booth, community is about collaborative thinking and learning from one another to better ourselves, our ideas, and the world around us.
The photos below represent some of the values described above that we uphold at Chicago Booth. Select one and share how it resonates with one of your own values. (250-word minimum)
The second Chicago Booth essay is new and challenges applicants to not only show Booth how they will fit into the collaborative and open-minded community but also to reflect on their own values and what truly drives and motivates them. Authenticity will be key when developing your answer to this question.
Admissions committee members want passionate students and well-rounded classes. So do not simply tailor your answer to what you think admissions committee members want to hear (a common MBA application misconception). Instead, you should write about a value that you have repeatedly demonstrated throughout your life.
Once you have selected a photo that ties back most closely to one of your values, tell the admissions committee WHY this value is important to you and then show HOW you have integrated it into your life.
Be specific as you show vs. tell here so that Booth admissions can envision how you will bring this value to campus.
While there is no stated maximum for the Chicago Booth essay questions, we advise our clients to be focused and succinct. This is not the time to write a 1,000-word essay, so choose your words carefully.
Optional Chicago Booth Essay
Is there any unclear information in your application that needs further explanation? If so, please use this section to clarify. (300 words maximum)
The Chicago Booth application also includes an optional essay question. For tips on handling this third (optional) Booth MBA essay, visit Personal MBA Coach’s blog on optional essays.
Personalized Booth Admissions Consulting with Personal MBA Coach
Ready to apply to Booth MBA? Schedule a consultation with Personal MBA Coach today to find out how our founder, Scott Edinburgh, or one of our former M7 Admissions Director consultants, can help you with your Booth MBA Application!
