What you should do before your MBA Program
Getting into a top MBA program is no small feat. That said, while it might feel great to relax and celebrate after you get accepted (you should absolutely celebrate) the work should not stop once you are in. A business school curriculum is rigorous, and students often cite the first semester as one of the more challenging aspects of the MBA program.
Why should you prepare before you get to business school?
As the saying goes, failing to prepare is preparing to fail! After interview hundreds of MBA students and Alum for my book, MBA Insider, I found that some of the most successful students were the ones who were able to hit the ground running, because they properly prepared for business school. But bigger than that, the MBA experience is an intensive one, filled with many priorities and never enough hours in the day. Regardless of where you go, the experience will be challenging, but if you can get started early, you can 1) hit the ground running when you get to campus and decrease your ramp time and 2) have more time to work on the myriad of things you’ll have to do when you get to business school
What should you do to prepare for your MBA?
Preparation during the summer months can make the transition back into academic life smoother. There are several things that students can do to prepare for their MBA before they start.
How to Prepare for Your MBA Paperwork
Ariadne Sabatoski (Fuqua, ‘20) was excited to move from San Paolo, Brazil to Durham, North Carolina with her husband to attend Fuqua, but she also had so much work to do. “You don’t realize how much work is involved, especially when you are moving to a new country.”
Leading up to her move, Sabatoski had to do many things to get ready, including filling out the necessary paperwork, finding an apartment and signing a lease, applying for student loans, getting her university transcripts translated, and tracking down her immunization records. She offers the following advice to other students, especially international students: “Take the time to make sure your paperwork is in order. It may seem tedious, but it’s necessary.”
To stay on top of things, Sabatoski recommends staying connected with current students at your Program who have a similar background to you. At Duke, Sabatoski took advantage of the “Fuqua Buddy” program where she was paired with a second year student with a similar background who was able to help answer her questions, ranging from where to live, what paperwork to fill out, to where the best supermarket was.
Actions
- Make sure to submit all your paperwork
- Make copies of all important documentation
- Ask Current MBA students for a list of important resources, such as grocery stores, pharmacies, laundrymats, gyms, etc
How to Prepare for your MBA Recruiting
The MBA admissions process is often a great way for students to reflect upon their career aspirations, but it doesn’t need to end there. Furthermore, perhaps through the admissions process you realized that the career goals that you wrote in your essay are no longer the actual goals you want to pursue. Even if you do know what your career goals are, taking the time right now to get ready before you get to campus will ensure you are ready to get started early, and since career work starts the moment you get to campus, doing some prep work will help immensely.
Shannon Griesser (Fuqua, ’19) spent time before entering her MBA Program to go through a series of self-reflection exercises to help her get ready for the year. “After I was accepted, I made sure to spend time thinking and reflecting on my past experiences and crafting my story and focusing on why I might be a good fit for my desired career path.” During the fall quarter, Griesser still had her work cut out for her, but taking the time to think about her past experiences helped her identify her strengths and articulate her aspirations which made her much more confident in speaking with recruiters, alum, and hiring managers in the interview process. And if you are one of those people who know what you want to do, even more reason to get started early. If this is you, take time to read your schools latest employer report, build a list of companies that you are interested in working at, look up alum, and current students who are at the companies you are interested in, or reach out to your school’s career management center to get the resume template (Pro Tip: You’re going to have to update your resume to match the school’s template
Actions
- Reflect on your career goals and aspirations, write them down – Take time to reflect on what you want your goals to be, or what you really want to do career wise when you are in business school. Since you have time now, get a head start, as once the school year starts, things will get hectic! Note: If you need help reflecting, check out this post
- Practice Your Elevator Pitch – An elevator pitch, or a short intro about yourself which you’ll use countless times, whether it’s introducing yourself to your classmates or recruiters at company events. Spend some time refining and practicing it, so that once you’re at school you know what to say.
- Prepare Your Resume – Your school will have a template that they want to see your resume in. This will be somewhat different than the resume you submitted to business school. Reach out to your Career Center at your school to get the template and start updating it before you get to campus. You may even have the ability to work directly with a Career Director who can give you feedback and coaching.
- Build a Company List – Come up with a list of companies that you are interested in exploring when you get to campus. Also, check out Steve Dalton’s 2 Hour Job Search
- Check Out Out Pre-MBA Programs – Check out programs like Mckinsey’s Early Access Program, BCG’s Unlock, or P&G’s Brand Camp. These are great ways to build relationships with a firm and learn about opportunities in an industry or function of interest.
- Read: Here are some books I recommend to folks who want to prepare for business school. The majority of these books are career related, and provide some time to think through your own career aspirations, and how you can use time in business school to achieve them.
How to Prepare for the MBA Academic Experience
First-year business school students read hundreds of pages a week to prepare for class discussions. If you haven’t had time to read anything longer than a Wall Street Journal article in the past couple years, now is the time to ease back into the practice to minimize fatigue.
But even if you don’t plan on brushing up on your quant, it never hurts to get into the academic mindset. As a former teacher, Najee Johnson (UNC Kenan-Flagler, ‘15) was used to the academic environment but did not have a formal business background. Leading up to entering UNC, he made sure to get into the business school frame of mind by reading the Wall Street Journal every day. If you already know what companies you are interested in learning more about, set up Google alerts on them to get up to speed.
Why it’s important
Do you have a hunch about what you want to do? Start learning as much as you can about that particular industry or function. Do you want to work in management consulting? Check out Management Consulted. Interested in Marketing? Start reading Adage, CMO.Com, and other marketing outlets. The goal here is to get up to speed on your future career. Hopefully, the topic is engaging and interesting to you, as it will most likely be your future profession. Lastly, you’re going to be affiliated with your school for the remainder of your life. Definitely take the time to get up to speed on what’s going on, who’s doing what, and what’s coming in the future, especially about news that is related to the MBA program. Finally, don’t forget to stay up to date on everything that is going on with the MBA by listening to the MBA Insider Podcast.
How to Prepare for The Online MBA Learning Experience
As a result of COVID-19, as of March 2020 all MBA programs have moved to a virtual learning environment. While things continue to evolve month by month and nobody knows for certain what August or September will look like, many MBA programs are operating under the assumption that some of the MBA experience will be done online, or best case, the in-person academic experience will not be the same as it once was prior to March 2020. One of the elements that many new MBA students struggle with is the adjustment of returning to the classroom after a few years off from the academic world. In addition to that, many have not had to learn online before. If you are in this boat, consider getting up to speed on what the online experience is like, and understanding what you might need to do in order to make the learning experience as beneficial for you. Learning new material can be challenging – learning new material in a new format (online) can only make it tougher. Spend some time reading up or talking to current students about what the experience in the spring was like taking classes online.
Actions
- If your school offers a pre-academic program, sign up for it
- Take an online course, such as MBAMath
- Begin reading the Wall Street Journal, Axios, and MBASchooled
How to Prepare for MBA Social Life
One of the reasons why many people go to business school is to build relationships with their fellow MBA classmates. There will be plenty of opportunities to do that, but you don’t need to get to school to do that, you can start early. One way to do this is by connecting with the other fellow students who currently live in your area. Sometimes, schools will organize pre-MBA events, but even if yours doesn’t you can connect with fellow students in your area by organizing something on your own. Finally, don’t forget to spend time with your friends and family. The next two years are going to be intense, and it’s important to make sure the people who are important to you stay a part of your life. Spend time with them, and also, make sure when you get to school, you find ways to keep in touch with them and what you are up too.
Actions
- Join your school’s Class Facebook Group or Slack Group
- Connect with them virtually