Call for Immediate Action From Booth Deans & Administration

Implement a new Phase 2.25 bidding phase to allow E/W students to bid for evening/weekend courses before cross-program access is granted.

OR

Cancel the planned Phase 2.5 exclusive access for Full-Time students to E/W classes and address FT students’ concerns via different methods that won’t negatively impact E/W students. 

Events Surrounding Winter 2025 Bidding:

• The new MiM and MiF programs were granted Phase 1 Access to FT classes for W25 bidding, which took seats from FT MBA students
  Angered by this, FT MBA students started a petition calling for change and posted online criticizing Booth.
• Friday afternoon November 22nd, the deans of Chicago Booth emailed the full time student body letting them know that they would receive a new phase 2.5 of exclusive access to classes in the evening weekend program before E/W students would have access to phase 3.
• It was never communicated to evening/weekend students that full time students would receive a new phase 2.5, purposely leaving us blindsided & in the dark.

Sadly, this is not the first time that Booth’s deans have deprioritized the E/W program and its students:

• The E/W program has lost 13 classes or ~750 seats compared to last year, while FT gained 19 classes or ~1,320 seats
  
  

Why You Should Care:

Short Term Impact on Winter 2025 Bidding

• It will become harder and/or more expensive to bid into the other side of the E/W program (Weekend students targeting evening classes or vice versa).
• Popular classes such as Building the New Venture or Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity only offered on the weekend this coming winter quarter and likely will be filled up by FT students, leading to E/W students having to take other classes.

Long-Term Impact

• This decision sets a precedent for future quarters and academic years if Booth admin keeps phase 2.5, most immediately affecting Spring bidding and 2025-26 academic year course planning.
• The number of course offerings for Evening/Weekend students has declined for two consecutive years. With the administration granting priority access to Full-Time students, this situation continues to deteriorate for us.

Conclusion

• The administration has repeatedly overlooked Evening/Weekend students' needs, despite being well aware of our scheduling constraints and the fact that many of us travel from outside Chicago, flying across the country for these classroom opportunities.
• The lack of consultation with Evening/Weekend students prior to this decision demonstrates a lack of respect and a fundamental disconnect with our community's needs.
• We pay the same high tuition for Booth resources and classes that many of us have been considering since beginning our academic journey. Protecting access to our home programs across evening/weekend classes is critical.
• If we allow this change to go unchallenged, it may lead to further decisions that undermine our program. We must unite and ensure our voices are heard.