How I Got To Pick Chicago Booth
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Follow my journey as I spend the next two years at University of Chicago's Booth School of Business to prepare for the next chapter in my career. |
For the last month I have been going back and forth with myself about where to attend school. I’ve talked a ton of people to death about why I wanted to go to Wharton, Kellogg, and Booth. I attended admitted students weekends and admit get togethers. I weighed every pro and con I could think of. I leaned toward Wharton only to lean toward Kellogg or Booth the very next day. Finally, last night I did the one thing I haven’t done since getting admitted. I prayed. I will be the first to admit that I’ve been quite lax about practicing my faith recently. But when push came to shove, I went back to the one constant that has yet to fail me. I prayed for clarity. I prayed that I would have peace about whatever decision I made.
I think that’s what’s been bothering me all of this time. Whenever I would start to make a decision I just could not get a feeling of peace about it. I could not get that feeling of, “this is the right decision and I’m settled with it,” to stick inside me. More than anything I feared regretting my choice. Even though everyone told me that I could not choose wrong, something in me told me that I might not choose best. So I gathered all of my concerns about each of the schools and spent this week seeking the answers to all of my questions. By yesterday night I knew that I had everything I needed to know in order to make a decision. Instead of mulling over all of the new information, I just let it ride and prayed for a sign. An unmistakable sign that one school was the right place for me to be. I didn’t have to wait long for the answer.
I had been leaning toward choosing Booth for the last couple of days, but was still a bit unsure. This afternoon I received a call from a member of the Chicago Booth Admissions team that removed all doubt. After a serious game of phone tag Booth’s adcom informed me that I have been awarded the Wallman Fellowship. What does that mean?
The Wallman Fellowship provides full tuition for two years to students demonstrating outstanding leadership, academic and extracurricular achievements, and a commitment to advancing the interests of African Americans, Hispanics, and women in business.
I asked for a sign and I got a freaking billboard. I am happy, proud, and perfectly at peace saying that this fall I will be matriculating at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Class of 2014.
