Students hoping to join the ranks of Booth’s 55,000-plus alumni face an uphill battle, however. The school doesn’t publish its acceptance rates, but last year’s incoming class boasted an average GMAT score of 732 and an average GPA of 3.6. While these numbers may seem daunting, Booth isn’t just looking for excellent test-takers.

“Part of the strength we have is the diversity of our students,” says Colin Davis, senior director of marketing and operations at Booth. “It’s not a conveyor belt experience where you come in and sit down and you’re just a sponge absorbing. Some of that happens. But there’s equal amounts of learning that actually happens from your peers.”

How do you articulate to the Booth admissions team that you’re a unique and qualified individual who’ll make the school a richer place? What follows are 6 tips for beating the odds and getting into Chicago Booth:

1. Is Chicago Booth the right fit for you?
2. Don’t fixate on test scores
3. Be thoughtful with the essay questions
4. Pick recommenders who really know your work
5. Don’t rehash your essays in the interview
6. Overall, think strategically about your application

1. Is Chicago Booth the right fit for you?

When selecting potential MBA programs, it’s important to consider things like location and what types of companies tend to hire graduates. But in the case of Booth, another crucial question is how you feel about the school’s flexible approach.

“If you go to Harvard Business School, the entire first year’s decided—you don’t get to choose any classes,” says Scott Edinburgh, founder of the consulting firm Personal MBA Coach. “Whereas at Booth, you choose 100% of your courses. You have to create your own destiny and design courses that you feel are right for you.”

Edinburgh adds that Booth’s analytical approach might involve things like Nobel-winning economists teaching the theory behind specific types of decision-making. If you’re craving this type of learning, Booth may be the place for you.

2. Don’t fixate too much on test scores

It’s not that test scores aren’t important. After all, they’re a way for Booth to compare students across different backgrounds and gauge their readiness for the program. But your GMAT score is just one part of the application, and every component is weighted equally.

“Other parts of the application, like transcripts, work history, and recommenders, that can certainly speak to your abilities,” says Davis.

And, as Edinburgh points out, score requirements may change based on the applicant. For example, investment bankers generally test well, but in the interest of building a diverse class, Booth will only admit so many individuals from this profession. An applicant who works for a nonprofit in a developing region might not be required to score quite as high. It also matters where a person earned their undergrad degree and what types of grades they got.

“Someone that has a really high GPA from a really tough school and test scores that aren’t as strong might still get in,” says Edinburgh. “Whereas the next person that went to a low-rated school with just an average GPA might need to get a higher score.”

Learn more: What do Booth MBA grad salaries look like?

3. Be thoughtful with the essay questions

The Booth application contains two essay questions. The first centers on your career goals, while the second asks about who you are as a person. These are two different questions that warrant different types of answers.

With respect to the first, Davis says too many students focus simply on the job title they’d like to achieve or the company they hope to work for after graduation.

“It’s helpful to think about the type of impact you want to have in your career and the type of leader that you want to grow into,” says Davis. “Then, tie that to the experiences you can have at Booth that are going to prepare you and fill your passions.”

As Edinburgh sees it, the second question is the trickier of the two.

“Chicago Booth wants a well-rounded class, and diversity can be attained in a variety of different metrics,” Edinburgh says. “What kind of a person are you? What things do you do? What things have you overcome? Are there particular hobbies or challenges that you have? Often, community impact and leadership are nice to write about here, but it has to connect to you and how you’ve motivated people to do something in the past.”

Edinburgh recommends about 500 words for each response. That’s not much space, so be thoughtful and concise.

4. Pick recommenders who really know your work

Along with answering those two questions, applicants must submit two letters of recommendation. While it may be tempting to select someone with a super-impressive title, that’s not necessarily going to win you points.

“You need to pick somebody that has an intimate knowledge [of your work] and can provide concrete examples of your performance,” says Davis. “How do you respond to feedback? How do you interact with colleagues? More so than generalities, you want to have tangible examples that someone can speak to.”

One recommender should be a direct manager, Davis says, while the other can be someone who knows you in some other professional capacity. “Think about what each person will convey,” he says. “Are these qualities that might be complementary? Are they redundant in terms of both saying the same thing? Make sure you’re not wasting opportunities to bring forth a broadening of their perspective of you.”

5. Don’t rehash your essays in the interview

If you make it past the first round and get invited for an interview, you’ll sit down with a current or former Booth student rather than an admissions director. This interviewer won’t have read your application—they’ll only have access to your resume—but nevertheless, you don’t want to simply rehash everything you said in your essays.

“The only things that should be similar are your professional goals,” says Edinburgh. “You can literally read what you wrote in the essays from memory and that should be the same, so there’s consistency. Other than that, everything should be different. Even if they ask, ‘Why do you want to go to Booth?’ you don’t want to say the reasons you wrote in your essay. They’ll have that, and if the interviewer writes notes, you’ll want something new.”

“This is the chance to show them leadership and things that you’ve done that are interesting,” he adds. “One of the nice things about having an alum or a student do this is that you get to connect with someone at Booth, and they get to see how good a fit you are with the school.”

6. Overall, think strategically about your application

On a big-picture level, the application process is a “strategic exercise,” according to Davis. Rather than treating each component like a box that needs to be checked off, candidates should think about how their transcript, test scores, work history, essays, recommendation letters, and interviews work together to give a holistic view of who they are and what they can offer the school.

“Give each component a core purpose, and make sure that that purpose is additive to your story,” says Davis. “Oftentimes, people are missing opportunities. So it’s really the connectivity and the strategy behind how you utilize all these to your advantage.”

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