Getting Acclaimed to B-School: Scavenger Hunting at Booth
So you’ve just been accepted to Chicago Booth School of Business’ Full-Time MBA program: expect day one to begin with a little competition. Here’s how last semester started for incoming MBAs—a little taste of what you can expect in your first 24 hours at Booth.
In teams of 15, MBAs marched around campus armed with nothing more than three campus maps, pens, a camera, and a to-do list. But this isn’t your ordinary scavenger hunt. This is Booth, after all.
What did student’s find on their to-do lists?
Robie House. Human pyramid. Toilet paper–mummified classmates.
One team made up of members from eight different countries that spoke 14 languages among them set out to meet “At Least Eight.”
The “At Least Eight” team’s first stop was the Nobel Laureate display wall, where they sought the first item on the list—a photo with a Nobel Laureate.
Led by Vanessa Douyon, a former recruitment manager in New Orleans, the team then congregated in front of Robie House, the prairie style Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece, for a quick picture before heading south to the Midway.
“The scavenger hunt was definitely not what I pictured while I was fine-tuning my application,” Douyon said. “But now that I’m here, I couldn’t imagine a better way to get to know the campus and the people I’ll have the privilege of working with.”
Robie House, check. Human pyramid, check. Toilet paper–mummified classmates, check.
For 10 points, Vanessa, along with the rest of her team, twisted their bodies to spell out B-O-O-T-H, with Siddarth Doshi, a former management consultant from India, forming the crossbar for the letter “H.”
The scavenger hunt was designed primarily for fun, but cohort pride and prizes of Booth gear also were at stake. The Walker cohort teams amassed the most points for the overall title.
“I think we’ve all heard alumni loud and clear when they’ve told us that the most important part of our experience will be the people we meet along the way,” Douyon said. “Nothing kills first-day-of-school jitters like intense competition, free cupcakes, and mummy-wrapping people you just met.”
