Meet The Chicago Booth MBA Class of 2017

Mary Mei

University of Chicago, Booth School of Business 

Hometown: Saint Paul, MN

Undergraduate School and Major: Wellesley College, Economics and Political Science

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: Office of the UN Special Envoy for Malaria, African Leaders Malaria Alliance

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE? Practice, practice, practice! Until you’ve reached the point where nearly every problem looks familiar, you can probably still benefit from more review and practice tests.

Based on your own selection process, what advice do you have for applicants who are trying to draw up a list of target schools to which to apply? Be thoughtful about what you want to get out of your MBA, and then do research on those schools that best fit your goals. Once you’ve narrowed down the list, go and visit each campus to get a true feel for the faculty, student body, and each campus’s unique culture.

What advice do you have for applicants in actually applying to a school, writing essays, doing admission interviews, and getting recommenders to write letters on your behalf? Apply when you have a good idea of what you want to get out of the MBA experience, which is to say, when you’re truly ready. Don’t apply because you think it’s the ‘right’ time to go to school. If you have a compelling story for why you want an MBA and recommendations to back it up, schools will naturally see you as a strong candidate for their MBA programs.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? Academics and location are the two main reasons I chose the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Booth’s outstanding faculty coupled with a unique curriculum that frees students up to take challenging coursework from day one and allows me to tailor my MBA learning to suit my professional aims. Its long-standing ties to the greater Chicagoland business community also appeals to me, as it provide many unique opportunities to explore careers and build strong networks within the city.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? From a personal standpoint, I look forward to learning from and forging lasting friendships with classmates from around the world. From a professional standpoint, I would like to challenge my entrepreneurial skills and take advantage of Booth’s New Venture Challenge to launch a public health ed tech platform.