Battle of the Bands!

One aspect of the Booth experience that I value the most is that as students, we have numerous outlets to express ourselves creatively. One such event that showcases Booth's musical talent is the Battle of the Bands, where students from both Booth and Kellogg head to Metro (a popular music venue here in Chicago), for a night of watching their classmates perform and rock out. In this week's TBE blog post, Cory Burns, a second-year student and drummer for Hobo Goat Chic, gives us a glimpse into what it's like to be a literal rockstar at Booth. If you'd like to see more photos from Battle of the Bands, Photobooth (a photography oriented student organization) has a great Flickr set, which you can find here.

Dana
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Bright lights, loud distortion, crowd-surfing classmates, torn t-shirts, melted faces.
While Chicago Booth gives students plenty of opportunities to develop their leadership skills in real-world projects, very few of these projects have the above goals. They were achieved last week when AudioBooth held the 2nd Annual MBA Battle of the Bands (BOTB) against our rival Kellogg bands, drawing a crowd of 850 sweaty b-schoolers from both sides of town at Metro, a historic Chicago venue that has hosted such acts as the Ramones, Bob Dylan, and Kanye West, and now, Booth bands HOBO GOAT CHIC (HGC) and Guitarbitrage. Let me take you behind the scenes of rocking at Booth.

What’s a HOBO GOAT?
Besides confusing non-Boothies, HOBO GOAT CHIC (anagram-tastic name) formed last year to provide the live-band pre-show entertainment for Booth Follies—an annual student-run variety show. Before that show, Bala TK (HGC’s bass player) met with a few Kellogg students thinking that if our bands could combine, cross-market, and leverage our existing rivalry, we could draw a much larger crowd for a show. We did. The first Battle of the Bands was held at the Double Door in Wicker Park and sold out at 550 tickets.

What happens at the band practices?
We usually meet at a studio in West Loop that rents practice rooms with a drumset, PA, mics, guitar and bass amps, and just bring our own guitars and bass. Other times we’ll have an acoustic practice in someone’s apartment who needs to retaliate against noisy neighbors. Every time we jam (improvise) a bit, drink beers, argue about which songs to play, rehearse and arrange songs, jump around, overheat, and end the 2- or 3-hour session sounding a little bit better than when we started.

How is running BOTB good management experience?
First, you must overcome the logistical challenge of finding 10 hours per week that a group of 7+ can get together to make a set worth listening to. Throw in a few more weekly hours for 100+ threaded emails with subject lines like “FINAL SET LIST GOOGLE SPREADSHEET—rank and insert comments NOW!!” Next, design and implement an effective marketing strategy: how do convince enough people to come that we don’t all lose money fronted for venues, pro-sound gear, lights, etc…? Finally, how do you do this all with a budget of zero? If you’re looking for a good answer to recruiter’s “Describe a time you’ve led by influence” question, getting involved with BOTB could be for you.

Ancillary benefits
From my experience, having a resume with the line “Organized, marketed, and managed Booth’s first BOTB competition; drew $12K in revenue” was a huge hit with recruiters and gave me an excuse to talk drums and bands with almost every potential employer. It should also be noted that rockers are automatically cooler than non-rockers.

Getting involved
AudioBooth will be holding auditions to fill departing musician slots next fall. We welcome rockers of the Class of 2014!

Anticipating Admit Weekend!

Can you believe that Admit Weekend 2 is already here? Almost 350 admits and partners will be arriving at the Harper Center for an action-packed weekend of receptions, activities, tours, dinners, faculty discussions, trivia, and after-hours outings. This week, we have Sheelu Nandigam, a first-year student, reflect on her experience as an Admit Weekend Squad Leader and the things about Booth she loves most. We also have our next installment of the Day in the Life series, featuring yours truly. I'll give you a glimpse of just how time consuming the New Venture Challenge really is and how great it's been to be a Wine Club co-chair. On behalf of all of us at Booth, congratulations to our Round 2 admitted students!

Dana

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As Round II Admit Weekend approaches, it’s hard to believe that just a year ago many of us were in the same position as the hundreds of admits that will descend upon the Harper Center in a few short days. Ask any first year and there is a common sense of disbelief at how fast a year has flown by, but also how excited we all are to celebrate the latest round of admits and to share our experiences over these past nine months with all of them. Particularly as a Squad Leader, I have a unique opportunity to help admits get a taste for what life at Booth is really like.

I will confess though that before coming to school I was always a bit skeptical when I heard people talk about how business school is such a transformative experience. Ever the pragmatist, I just didn’t see how it could really be that different from undergrad except for the fact that we were all a little older (and probably a few pounds heavier). Well, it was my experience as a Squad Leader during Admit Weekend I that truly helped me realize that maybe those people weren’t just making it all up. Hearing Dean Kole welcome the Round 1 admits in February, I found myself nodding along a she mentioned how Booth helps prepare its students for an ever changing environment or as she explained the strength of our community. I always thought I knew my answers to the inevitable “why Booth” question, but over the course of the weekend I discovered more answers to a question I have answered countless times and it is my hope that I can help admits do the same. It is all the things that can’t be measured in stats or read on Poets and Quants that truly make Booth a special place to be – it is the classmate who invites you over just mere hours after moving to Chicago or the second-year who brings her husband (who you don’t know) to Starbucks on a Sunday to help you prep for an interview. It is winery tours in Argentina during Random Walk, Winter ski trip to Aspen and dancing the night away with 80+ of your classmates on spring break. Most of all, it is sharing these experiences with admits and helping them create new experiences together during their short time with us Chicago that makes Admit Weekend so much fun (not to mention getting to know who will be sharing the Winter Garden with us next year)!

From LEAD to Random Walk to exploring Chicago nightlife with classmates, there is so much about the Booth experience to enjoy but there is one common thread makes it all so wonderful – the Booth community. Whether it’s hanging out in the Winter Garden, running into classmates in downtown Chicago or traveling the globe, I am excited to help admits experience the richness of our community first hand. If Admit Weekend I was any indication of the level of awesome that is to come, I can’t wait to do it all over again for Admit Weekend II!

Chicago Booth Follies!

Hi everyone,

Over the past week or so, the Winter Garden has been abuzz with filming and students with scripts in hand. There have also been some pretty witty messages left in the student mail folders in the past few days. Why? It's all part of the preparation that leads up to Follies. In this week's post, Renata Johns and Geoff McQueen, our Follies Creative Team co-chairs do a great (and funny) job of explaining what Follies is all about and have left us with a "trailer" to get us that more excited for Thursday, May 3!

Dana

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Hey there!

It's mid-April, which means only one thing – the inaugural annual "What is Chicago Booth Follies About" post on The Booth Experience blog. Follies is Booth's annual variety show where we come together as a community to share some laughs, highlight our class talents, and poke fun at ourselves and life at Booth. This year the evening’s events start out with a special LPF event complete with heavy hors d’oeuvres and a few frosty beverages, lead to the Booth Follies show, and end with a trolley ride to an after party event. (No frosty beverages if you're on stage though…*cough*Tim*cough*) Last year's show created some amazing memories for everyone involved (Asian boy band anyone? “Real Harper Heroes” anyone?) and it's up to us the creative co-chairs of Follies along with our other co-chairs to build on that experience and make it bigger and better each year.

The amazing thing about Follies is all the different ways to get involved. Even with no prior experience on stage, Booth students can audition to sing, dance, or act in front of all of the Booth Community and show off a side that may not come through during class or a Corporate Finance study group meeting. Or, for those who are more of a 'behind-the-scenes' type, there’s a production team that works to coordinate lighting, sound, and equipment. For those who feel like they used to be creative, only to have the real world and 80 hour work weeks turn them into Excel automatons in their previous jobs, they can rediscover those creative talents on our writing team and help write a full-length two hour show from scratch.

One of the best parts about Follies is that it isn't limited to just Booth students. Follies involves professors, staff, and of course, Dean Kumar, whose Tony for last year's performance must have gotten lost in the mail.

The other unique aspect of Follies is in how it brings the community together not only for the night of the show but for the months leading up to the event! The three first-year co-chairs work directly with the four second-year co-chairs learning how to take the reins for the following year and working side by side on managing the entire process. In addition to that, there are at almost 100 Boothies that touch Follies directly in some way, whether it is directing a skit, recording audio, editing a video, writing a sketch, designing lighting, singing, coordinating rehearsals, or choreographing a dance routine. It takes a large part of the community to make the show happen, and given how busy Boothies can be, it's no small feat! The reward is in discovering just how talented and gifted the community really is! (And not just with academic stuff!)Regardless of any past theater experience, production skills, or writing talent, Boothies can be a part of Booth Follies, the only show produced by Boothies for Boothies. Even with absolutely zero relevant skills, someone has to write next year's second annual "What is Chicago Booth Follies About" post!

Meet Booth’s Dream Dates

Happy Friday! Hope everyone’s week is wrapping up well. Here at Booth, we kicked off our weekend on Thursday with a fun fundraising event. Last night hundreds of Boothies filled the Chicago Cultural Center for Giving Something Back’s Annual Charity Auction. A silent auction featured prizes including dinner with professors and photo opps with Booth’s Nobel Laureates, while a live auction offered students a chance to bid on a date with one of their classmates. Today at TBE, we hear from some of the students who were auctioned off and learn why they went for thousands of dollars last night.

David Osei
Boothies should bid on me because I'm a great listener and self-esteem booster. Also, I once won a dance contest at a Mexican-themed bar in Canada. Just saying.

A dream Booth date would start with a drink at the fifth floor Gleacher Center bar, followed by dinner at the secret basement Gleacher Center restaurant. (I know people there.) After dinner, we're off on a stroll to MPP. I don't live there, but it's great people watching.

Jess Scrimale
Boothies should bid on me because:
1. I can say bad words to you in Italian
2. I know the entire "Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It" rap and have some sweet dance moves to accompany it
3. I'm a cheap date and a 12 year old at heart - my favorite things include Sour Patch Kids and chocolate milk

My dream booth date would go something like this: You pick me up at the Metra station. We head to the Harper Center and hit up some recruiting events for some Potbelly's sandwiches, grape tomatoes and hummus, or maybe if we're feeling really classy, some pulled pork sliders. We play a game or two of pool in the student lounge. Then, we take a scenic stroll through the winter and summer gardens and head to Ida Noyes to finish the evening off with a few beers.

Anna Yang
Why should Boothies bid on you?
1. I'm a good chef
2. I don't get the Asian flush
3. I have all my teeth (and they are all real)

What's your dream Booth date?
Dream date: You buy me fro-yos from Kovler (free with $6 purchase!)
and we sit underneath the Charlie Brown Christmas tree statue in the
summer garden to get to know each other better.

Want to check out another Booth student? Vamsi wasn’t auctioned off but his DITL video shows a pretty great day at Booth.

Have a great weekend all and check back in next week to see more springtime fun at Booth!

Beth

Introducing...your new Communications Co-Chairs!

Hello Booth Experience readers! Beth and Dana here, writing to introduce ourselves as the new DSAC Communications Co-Chairs. We have some big shoes to fill. In the past year, Tina has brought this blog, the Facebook page, Wednesdays in the Winter Garden, and the Day in the Life videos to life. We are thrilled to have all of these forums to show you what life at Booth is all about. To kick things off, we thought we’d share a quick tale of how we first met and what’s in store for The Booth Experience over the next year.

How we met:
Maybe it was fate. Or maybe it was just a careless coat checker. But Beth and Dana were destined to meet, and it’s only fitting that their first meeting was facilitated through their class Facebook group.

Per Thursday tradition, both first year students met up with 100 or so of their classmates to kick off the weekend at a local bar this January. When Beth went to retrieve her coat from the coat check she was handed an almost identical coat and learned that hers had been given to someone else. She put a call out for her coat on Facebook and Dana responded. When they met at Harper to make the exchange, they learned that they had more in common than their puffy coats. They shared a passion for wine, live music, and all things admissions. Three months later, their relationship became official when they together took on the roles of DSAC Communications Co-Chairs.

What’s next:
We are so excited to work on The Booth Experience! In the coming year, we hope to continue to share the Booth community with everyone through all of our online channels, and to increase interaction with our readers through them as well. We’ll be featuring many of the academic, professional, extracurricular, and social elements at Booth that make this school such a wonderful place to be. We hope you’ll let us know what you want to see more of, what topics you’d like covered, and how you think we are doing. Here’s to a great year and getting to know each other better!

Also, this week, make sure to check out Beth's Day in the Life video to learn more about her! Follow her on a day where she plays strategy games in class, skypes with Australia, enjoys a sushi dinner and the kick-off to Admit Weekend 1 at a bar downtown, and ends the night with a Booth favorite - Rock & Roll McDonalds!