My Long Road to Graduation

From quarantine to cap and gown, it's been a fun journey.

It’s a very exciting week for me: I officially earned my MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business¹. I submitted my last project for my classes today, completing the required curriculum.

5 years, 21 classes, 3 jobs, 2 apartments, 1 global pandemic, and many memories later, I finally graduated.

As I sit on a plane flying to Aspen to celebrate graduation and attend my final class, the Corporate Governance “Week 10 Seminar,” I have had time to reflect on my atypically long journey through the Evening MBA Program at Booth.

This journey started back in 2019, when I distinctly recall a phone call with my dad feeling a bit lost. While I loved my role as a software engineer at ParkWhiz, I felt something was missing. I consistently found myself wanting to do more and understand more parts of the business. I did not have a cohesive vision for my career, but I knew that I wanted to continue to make an impact on startup companies.

My application to Booth began with the following response:

Why are you seeking an MBA from Chicago Booth?

When I started my career, I was naive enough to believe the Field of Dreams philosophy for tech startups: “If you build it, they will come.”

I have since realized that it reads more like “If you build it, market it, get a few customers, continuously iterate on your product to satisfy these customers, build features required to obtain new customers, all while closely monitoring industry trends, customer behavior, the actions of your competitors, and the burn rate of your remaining cash, you might have a chance to succeed as a startup.” In short, building a business is no simple matter, and there is no clear playbook that will lead to success.

A successful entrepreneur needs to understand every aspect of the business, and when I look at myself, I recognize the gaps in my knowledge. I have never formally studied disciplines such as finance, accounting, economics, or marketing. I know that Booth's highly respected MBA will give me the foundational knowledge I need to be able to ask the right questions and continue to learn in these realms.

When I was accepted to Booth, I was very excited for the next chapter of my life. I was prepared to go to my orientation weekend (aka LAUNCH) on a Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, that Friday was March 13, 2020. Some of you will recognize that as the day the U.S. shut down, and the long lockdown began.

My first class at Booth was on March 30, 2020, my 25th birthday. Two weeks after the pandemic began, I was holed up on my laptop, quarantining in my parent’s basement in Michigan, but excited to start my program on Zoom.

After 18 months of learning virtually, I finally got the chance to step into the Gleacher Center for class. It was my first MBA classroom experience, and it was electric. It was filled with intelligent, passionate, motivated people who all willingly sacrificed their evenings in order to further their careers. It’s a crazy thing to do, I understand. Everyone in the program is a bit crazy.

And yet, over the next 3 years I met some of my closest friends, and was so grateful to combine my Booth life with my life outside of the classroom. Classes about entrepreneurship, finance, accounting, strategy, management, and so many topics in between have taught me a lot. But I feel the real value of the MBA is in…well, actually, I’m going to save that for a future post.

I can confidently say that I am a different person now than I was 6 years ago when I started studying for the GMAT. And yet, it is difficult to articulate exactly how. I am certainly more confident, and yet I feel I better understand the value of humility. I feel more deliberate about my life, my relationships, and my time.

It’s hard to say how much of my growth and change has come from my studies at Booth, and how much of it has just been going through my late 20s. But as I both graduate from Booth and turn 30 at the end of the month, I am very optimistic for the future.

So much can change in 5 years. I once heard that we as humans consistently overestimate what we can accomplish in a year and significantly underestimate what we can accomplish in 10. We don’t do well with ambiguously long timelines and predicting how we will feel or who we will be over the course of time. I think that rings true at the 5 year anniversary of COVID being declared a global pandemic, as well as my time concluding at Chicago Booth. I hope my next 5 years will hold even more fond memories, strong relationships, and endless learning and curiosity.

I’ll leave you with another part of my application, that even 5 years later still holds up. It was refreshing to stumble upon this writing, and see that my conviction back then still holds to this day:

What is your long-term post-MBA goal?

As a 24 year old who has recently joined the workforce, I find it difficult to answer this question, as I do not know exactly where my career will lead me. However, when I think about the future, I see a multitude of paths I could choose.

I am certain of a few things. I know that I love technology, and that my desire to build innovative products will consistently guide my career choices. I am certain my role will be in an entrepreneurial capacity, where my hard work and creative ideas will make a direct impact on the success of the organization. And lastly, I know that we are at the precipice of extreme technological breakthroughs across many industries that are ripe for disruption.

I can see myself developing my own startup or playing a vital role in an existing early stage venture. I will be leading an excellent team of highly capable and talented individuals, and together, we will thrive. I greatly value the team-oriented approach and the desire to build revolutionary products that will improve lives, and I will maintain this passion throughout my career.

Although the specifics are unclear, I know that when the right opportunity arises, I will be prepared. I want to sit at the intersection of technology and business, and I know that with the education and resources that Chicago Booth offers, I will make this vision a reality.

A lot can happen in 5 years. I don’t know exactly where the next 5 years will take me, but I am excited for the journey.

Until next Tuesday,
Cory

1. I’m realizing that this comes with the assumption that I pass my classes this quarter, so if you’re reading this Nick Epley, Anna Costello, or Dennis Chookaszian, please give me some bonus points if I need them to cross this finish line.