Maximize Your First Year at B-School
If you’ll be earning your MBA as part of the Class of 2024, you will probably spend a lot of time anticipating how you’ll spend your first year at b-school. Naturally, we have a few tips for you!
Leverage your student status as much as possible.
We’re not just talking about things like student discounts. Everyone loves students and loves giving advice to them. Is there an alum, local businessperson, politician, or community leader you admire? Use the fact that you’re a student to try and set up an “informational interview” or an informal meeting over coffee. You’ll be surprised at the kind of access you may receive.
Listen to as many visiting speakers as you can.
At least a few big-name CEOs and public figures will give talks on campus. Obviously, everyone’s going to turn up for those. But we encourage you to also consider going to hear what lesser-known business and political leaders, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit executives have to say — especially some of the younger ones. In a decade you just might find yourself bragging about how you rubbed elbows with someone who became internationally respected.
Choose your extracurriculars wisely during your first year at b-school.
Repeat after us: it’s impossible to do everything. Don’t sign up for 20 clubs only to end up regretting that you can’t meaningfully participate in any of them. You will feel totally overwhelmed by how many cool things you’ll have the opportunity to get involved with outside of class.
So before you attempt to do everything, think long and hard about what you really want to learn and what’s important to you. That way, you can focus your efforts accordingly during your first year at b-school.
Don’t forget that the “real world” still exists.
Don’t get us wrong—being in the b-school bubble is a thing of beauty. Except for when you’re especially tired and stressed (think interview season, exam time, etc.). That’s when you need to reach out to your family and friends back home, take a walk or drive into the nearest city, or do whatever else you can to put things back into perspective. The campus will still be there when you’re ready to resume Student Mode, and you’ll feel reenergized.
