Chicago Booth EMBA Overview

The University of Chicago launched the world’s first Executive MBA program in 1943 with 52 students. By 1947 it had 81 students, slowly inching to the numbers of today. Since then the Chicago Booth EMBA has continued to refine the programs and curricula to equip mid- and upper-level managers and executives in all sorts of fields with the agility to manage high-performance, high-impact, fast-changing business environments and challenges.

The Chicago Booth EMBA continues to base its world-renowned program on what is called The Chicago Approach, coined in 1956: coursework that emphasizes the theoretical concepts underlying business management and undergirded by “rigorous inquiry and intense collaboration.” “Our educational philosophy,” the school says, “is rooted in the belief that transformational insights start with rigorous inquiry and a fundamentals-based understanding of how organizations function, how markets work, and how people make decisions.”

Booth touts itself as “the first to originate the study of modern finance, develop the concept of social capital, redefine the science of the stock market and pioneer quantitative marketing.” All that translates to its EMBA program.

Graduates of the Booth EMBA program have attested they gained the confidence and skills to lead teams, manage ambiguity, and tackle any business problem.

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Personal MBA Coach’s Tips For Getting Into Booth EMBA Program

If you are thinking of applying to Booth EMBA program this year, check Personal MBA Coach’s tips for addressing the 2023-2024 Chicago Booth EMBA essays below.

Get Personal MBA Coach's tips for the Booth EMBA essays

What Sets the Chicago Booth EMBA Program Apart

  • London, anyone? Chicago Booth’s EMBA program spans the globe, with campuses in Chicago, London, and Hong Kong. It is the first and only US business school to have programs on three continents with the same program, same faculty, same curriculum. The 22-month program in Chicago includes one-week sessions in both London and Hong Kong. Everyone takes two electives weeks in Chicago.
  • Program Structure: The foundations of the Booth EMBA are analytical methods, managerial psychology, financial accounting, statistics, and macroeconomics. While you lay the foundations, you learn to apply them with courses on leadership exploration, managerial decision making, and global strategy. Those are all enriched in the second part of the program by the two weeks of electives in Chicago, followed by an experiential capstone course.
  • Capstones: The Booth EMBA experience ends with a team experiential capstone course: Integrated Strategic Management, which simulates a startup founding and growing experience drawing from the entire Booth curriculum, or the Global New Venture Challenge, in which teams from the three global campuses start businesses and then compete in finals coached and judged by alumni business people from around the world.
  • Global Career and Leadership Development: Leadership training and career development are fundamental to the Booth EMBA. The Global Career and Leadership Development (GCLD) team oversees the required Leadership Exploration and Development course (LEAD) as well as optional programs designed to help executive students become better leaders. The GCLD team offers skill-building workshops, personalized coaching, curated discussions with alumni, and career support, all with a global approach and all specifically designed for executive-level students.
  • Time Abroad: Everyone in the program spends five international session weeks. A global cohort community offers experts from every field in countries all over the world and gets together several times a year around the globe.
  • The Social New Venture Challenge: Run by the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation in partnership with the Polsky Center at the University of Chicago, it features competing teams that present a business model with a social mission and a plausible plan for financial sustainability.

2025 Booth EMBA Class Profile

The Chicago Booth EMBA class of 2025 is made up of 209 students who represent 45 nationalities. Of these students, 112 have advanced degrees and 28% identify as women.

Class of 2025 Booth EMBA students had an average of 14 years of work experience and an average age of 38.

Twenty-two industries are represented in the Booth EMBA class. Top pre-EMBA industries include technology (18.7%), investment banking/brokerage (8.6%) and investment management/research (8.1%). Top pre-EMBA functions were general management, engineering, and investment management/research.

Average GMAT:

705

Average Executive Assessment:

154

2023-2024 Chicago Booth EMBA Application Deadlines and Timeline

  • Application Deadline: October 30, 2023
  • Application Deadline: January 15, 2024
  • Application Deadline: April 8, 2024
  • Application Deadline: June 12, 2023