The second,oldest business school in the U.S., the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business was the first business school to have an executive MBA program or a doctoral program in business. Formerly known simply as the Chicago Graduate School of Business, the school changed its name in 2008 after an $300 million endowment by alumnus David G. Booth. Chicago GSB's reputation is anchored in its analytical approach, with particular analytical strengths in economics, finance and accounting.

The MBA curriculum is unusually flexible, with only one pre-set course, LEAD, which focuses on the fundamentals of leadership and the rest of required classes chosen from a menu of foundational areas. With more choice in the program, MBA students aren't grouped into cohorts like they are at other business schools. However, students tell Vault that the atmosphere is still mostly collegial. Classes lean towards quantitative rather than soft skills, but students can concentrate in areas ranging from marketing management to human resources to econometrics. Students can also choose from a variety of joint degrees with the University of Chicago's professional schools and area studies programs.

Chicago GSB graduates mostly go into finance, 52 percent of the class of 2007, which makes sense as most recruiters come from Wall Street and consulting companies. Though the campus itself is safe, its surrounding neighborhood, Hyde Park, doesn't have the best reputation. Most students live in surrounding Chicago areas, meeting for networking functions and the twice,weekly social functions thrown by the school.