Chicago Booth MBA Recommendation Questions
The Chicago Booth MBA application is now live, meaning that the Booth MBA recommendation questions for the 2025-2026 admissions season are now available for applicants and recommenders. Applicants must provide two letters of recommendation, one from a current supervisor, and one from someone who has worked with you in a professional capacity, organization or club, or volunteer project. If a current supervisor is not feasible, explain the circumstances in your optional essay. If you work for a family business or own your own company, you can submit a letter from a client or outside party who does business with you and can provide an objective assessment.
2025-2026 Chicago Booth MBA Recommendation Questions
Recommender information
- Contact information
- Relationship to applicant
- How long have you known the applicant?
- Do you have an MBA degree?
- Are you in any way affiliated with The University of Chicago or Chicago Booth?
Skills Assessment
Recommenders are asked to rate the candidate on a handful of leadership traits and skills on a scale of one to six, with one being “area of concern” and six being “exceeds expectations.” Unable to Assess is an option.
Please assess the candidate’s skills in the following areas. Your honest and candid assessment greatly helps the Admissions Committee in evaluating the candidate. Most candidates will have a range of marks; it is extremely rare for a candidate to exceed expectations in all areas.
- Self-awareness
- Initiative/Self-motivation
- Confidence and professional impression
- Openness to feedback and constructive criticism
- Ability to adapt to change and make the most of situations
- Collaboration with others
- Interpersonal skills with colleagues/subordinates
- Interpersonal skills with superiors/executives
- Respect for others’ perspectives
- Critical thinking and problem solving skills
- Leadership and development of others
Peer Comparison
Based on your professional experience, how does the applicant rate within his or her peer group?
- Best in Career
- Truly Exceptional (top 5%)
- Outstanding (top 10%)
- Very Good (top 25%)
- Average (top 50%)
- Below Average
- Unable to Assess
Please indicate the reference group for this comparison (fill-in).
Overall I:
- Enthusiastically recommend this candidate
- Recommend this candidate
- Recommend this candidate with reservations
- Do not recommend this candidate
Letter of Recommendation
Please provide a written letter of recommendation in support of the applicant addressing the following questions:
- How do the applicant’s performance, potential, background, or personal qualities compare to those of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? Please provide specific examples.
- What is the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant? Please describe the circumstances, your feedback, and the applicant’s response.
MBA Applywire
In addition to my undergraduate degrees in landscape architecture and geography, I also have an MA in geography 3.9 gpa, and a PhD in Architecture. I am currently a VP at my company and a likely candidate for CEO in the near future. I want to continue working while pursuing my MBA to increase my chances of moving into the CEO role. Also, my goal is to start my own ClimateTech firm in the next several years. An MBA will help achieve both of these goals. For each of the selected schools, I would pursue their online MBA program so I can continue working. While I, of course, want to attend a prestigious program, I'm not willing to sacrifice my money or too much of my company's money to spend six figures on an online MBA. That is a part of the driver for the programs I have selected to look at. In the US, it is rare that online programs provide funding; a bit seems to be available at European programs.
- International Male, 26, southeast Asian (non-Chinese/indian)
- BEng, top 15% of the class, the best local uni (but unknown outside of the country)
- (0.5Y) Global LDP program of a F500, left early to join consulting
- (2.5Y) at S&, strategy consulting in the field of fintech/ banking, top tier performance (5% of the cohort in the region, early promotion)
- (1Y) Left S&, started my own fintech for underserved teenagers, got pre-seed funding from a tier 2 Banking VC, closed after a year due to regulations change, small scale with multiple impact rewards (20k+ farmers
Goals: Join a fintech in the US (strategy div), or Financial services consulting (like OW, McK) incase i can't secure a fintech position (internationals), with a long term goal of starting another fintech
- International Male, 26, southeast Asian (non-Chinese/indian)
- BEng, top 15% of the class, the best local uni (but unknown outside of the country)
- (0.5Y) Global LDP program of a F500, left early to join consulting
- (2.5Y) at S&, strategy consulting in the field of fintech/ banking, top tier performance (5% of the cohort in the region, early promotion)
- (1Y) Left S&, started my own fintech for underserved teenagers, got pre-seed funding from a tier 2 Banking VC, closed after a year due to regulations change, small scale with multiple impact rewards (20k+ farmers
Goals: Join a fintech in the US (strategy div), or Financial services consulting (like OW, McK) incase i can't secure a fintech position (internationals), with a long term goal of starting another fintech
Education: B.Tech Information Technology (Tier-2 college)
GPA: 9.16/10 (Converted equivalent: 3.91).
Standardized Testing: 715 GMAT Focus (99th percentile equivalent).
Professional Achievements (Bulge bracket investment Bank)
Role: ML Engineer , ~3 YOE now (will have 5 at the time of matriculation).
High-Impact Innovation: Awarded "Most Innovative Project" for three consecutive years (2024 ,2025 and 2026).
Secured 1st Place in 2025 and 2nd Place in 2024 in the Technology Innovation Program
Revenue Generation: Designed and implemented a scalable recommendation system for wealth management that drove a 45% increase in revenue for the targeted segment.
Operational Efficiency: Engineered an Agentic AI system for automated customer support, significantly reducing overhead and optimizing resource allocation.
System Integrity: Spearheaded a performance audit that resolved critical failure rates in cloud-native microservices, ensuring zero-downtime for high-stakes financial data.
Leadership & Civic Engagement
Youth Parliament: Recognized for leadership in simulated legislative environments; developed high-level skills in policy advocacy, structured debate, and consensus-building. Winner of District level in 2025,2026
Strategic Collaboration: Partnered with senior stakeholders to align technical roadmaps with institutional wealth management goals.
Post-MBA Goal
Short-Term: Transition into Investment Banking (IB), specifically within Technology or FinTech coverage groups, leveraging technical depth to advise on M&A and capital markets activity.
Long-Term: Executive leadership within the global financial services ecosystem.
MBA LiveWire
WL since R1. Not sure if it’s over, even if I wasn’t rejected.
Waitlisted R3 and accepted in R4 with $! quant was low - completed MBA math, sent 2 updates, talked to current students, sent an additional LoR, showed my genuine interest in Fuqua. Super excited!
Military applicant. Waitlisted in Round 2 with a 317 GRE and I took the EA while on the waitlist.