When Brian Ellis began exploring graduate schools, he assumed he needed several more years of preparation before he would be able to submit applications. Then a conversation with his BYU-Idaho Business Management Professor Bill Crawford changed his plans.
Brian, who graduated from BYU-Idaho with a degree in industrial and organizational psychology and a minor in business analytics, was recently accepted into the University of Chicago Booth Scholars Program, a highly competitive deferred MBA program that allows students to secure admission before gaining two to five years of work experience.
Thanks to the small size of the business leadership course in which he was enrolled, Brian was able to receive one-on-one instruction and valuable career mentorship from Professor Crawford. Because of that relationship, Brian decided to visit Crawford for advice on developing his five-year plan.
“He was the one who actually brought up these deferred admittance programs,” Brian said. “Even though I thought I needed more time to prepare and gain experience in my field of study, he told me I should apply [for the deferred MBA] immediately. That was the spark that initiated my application and eventual admittance to Chicago Booth.”
For Brian, the path to Chicago Booth was directly and powerfully impacted by inspired faculty mentorship—and by one professor’s willingness to recognize his potential and point him toward an opportunity he did not know existed.