MBA: Flexible curriculum! (Part 1)

Most of the people I have met from Chicago Booth point out its flexible curriculum as one of the most salient features of the school. However, as applicant, as admit and as first year student, I did not perfectly understand what all this meant to me. Now that I am wiser, I would like share my understanding. In this post I would tackle the mechanics, the dimensions of the flexible curriculum.

Aquick glance at the School’s website indicates that 196 professors in the School offer 154 courses under 13 academic areas. In addition to that, the courses in Harris School of Public Policy, the Law School, the Department of Economics, the College, and independent studies with professors are available for Booth students. Only one course – Leadership Effectiveness and Development aka LEAD is compulsory. In a nut-shell it is a choice galore!
How does it work?

It is not a free-for all. There are some limitations and restrictions – some implicit and others explicit.

The first limitation is that not all professors take their courses at all times. Most of them teach in a specific quarter or two specific quarters. Moreover, some of your favorite classes may be at the same time, or may have demanding assignments or examinations during the same time.

Furthermore, many courses require you to take another course before enrolling, or to complete a specific number of courses. Some of those requirements, or pre-requisites, may be suggested, while others are strictly enforced by the professor. In a small number of courses, enrollment requires you to obtain the professor’s permission.

There are also certain requirements imposed by the Academic office. You are expected to choose and take courses from a specific set of courses. You need to plan for that because if you don’t complete those requirements, you won’t graduate. That is STRICT! Here the School is striking a balance between flexibility and the need to ensure that the students graduate with a basic set of business skills.

Another dimension is timing –not all timings may be suitable for you. During the weekdays there are two class timings at Harper Center targeted at Full-time students - 8:30 to 11:30, and 13:30 to 16:30, and one class timing at Gleacher center targeted at evening/part-time students - 18:00 to 21:00. On Saturdays, there are two class timings at Gleacher center targeted at Weekend students - 9:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 16:00. Irrespective of whose convenience the timings are intended, you have option of enrolling for any.

You get your courses through the bidding. It is a separate and complex topic which I hope to address later, and here I will mention in brief. A few weeks before a quarter commences, the Office that runs the bidding process sends you an email directing you to log into a tool call iBid, and bid on the available subset of courses. You go through the motions, and get a set of courses you’ll be taking during the quarter.

Once the class you have enrolled for starts, it is runs as the professor wants to run it. Till they operate within a very loose set of rules governing curriculum, process, grading, etc, they are free to do whatever they want. So those who wish to pick a fight with a professor be advised that she is the sole master of your academic experience in the class. It is better to request a change in a polite manner because most of the professors are committed to teaching you exceptionally well. Otherwise you might end up biting more than you can chew!

You grade may depend on a combination of periodical assignments, class participation, paper, projects, examinations and whatever else may strike a professor’s fancy. There is a wide variation in the emphasis on various elements. Some professors will grade every submission, while others will randomly pick. Some professors will put 50% on class participation, while others might be happy with putting 5%. For some courses you may end up working for 20 hours in a day, while for others you will get away with little work.

I have this much to say about how it works. In the next post – part 2 of this series - I will address what it means to you.