What To Do Before You Start Your MBA Program

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How Should You Prepare For Your MBA?

Congrats on being admitted to an MBA program and for accepting your offer! So what now? Odds are you have a bit of time before school starts, so what do you do now? 

The MBA is a challenging and busy experience, especially in your first year. Things happen fast, there are lots of priorities, and never enough hours in the day. In my experience, most MBA students wish they did some level of preparation before school which helped them onboard faster, prioritize better, and navigate the challenges of the first year. When I talk to new MBA students, one of the most common questions I get is how do I prepare for business school?

As someone who talks to thousands of MBA students through MBASchooled, I’ve researched and learned a lot on how to prepare for business school. Here are the most important things I think you can do to prepare and start off on the right foot.

 

Mindset: The Marathon Runner

To help you think about how to approach preparing, consider the training of a runner who is training for a marathon. When someone is running a marathon, they don’t show up on race day and run the race. Instead, they start a few months before, get into a regimen, and slowly build toward race day. Furthermore, in a normal race, there are diverse levels of participants, and so while everyone prepares, each preparation is unique.

Think of preparing for your MBA in the same way. There is no “one size fits all approach,” and while I encourage everyone to prepare, there are plenty of people who do not do much before they start, and still end up being successful. That said, these are the tools you can take advantage of, in order to put into practice the mindset, and achieve better results.

Note: Plenty of people do none of these things and still achieve their goals. Plenty of people do some of these things and achieve their goals. And some do all. I do believe that being able to prepare helps prioritize your time and effort which is really important so that the general notion of preparing is advantageous (and I have seen enough people do this to know it to be true) but don’t feel compelled to do something if it doesn’t make sense for you. “Take the best and forget the rest.”

Here are the things you should consider doing after you get admitted to an MBA Program to prepare for business school

Career 

  • Read the employer report – Identify trends and insights for any industries or functions you are interested in, and take note of companies that are of interest. (Ex: Here)
  • Research Alum on LinkedIn that are in your desired industry or function – Identify alum of your desired industry or function, and study their Linkedin profile or backgrounds
  • Develop a “dream companies” or “target companies” list – Put together a list of companies that you might be interested in working at. You’ll eventually need to do this when you get to school, so why not get started
  • Review past job postings for internships and look for keywords and phrases to build out your resume – Note: this is only recommended if you have a good sense of what you think you want to pursue for an internship. 
  • Revisit your MBA application to reflect on your career goals and aspirations – Review what you wrote in your MBA applications and reflect upon if those aspirations and goals still make sense for what you want to pursue when school starts
    1. Take advantage of any Career Center Pre-MBA career Resources (ex: resume review, coaching sessions) – Some schools provide their MBA students with access to coaching and advising in the career center before they start. Consider doing this, especially if you are taking part in any pre-MBA conferences
    2. Look for a Pre-MBA Internship – If you have the time, and are interested in getting additional experience, consider taking on a pre-MBA internship in an industry or function you are interested in exploring.
  • Prepare for Pre-MBA Conferences – If you are in Forte, ROMBA, or Consortium, make sure you are ready by preparing for your Pre-MBA conference
  • Research and sign up for Company Pre-MBA Programs – Check with your career center to learn about any programs from companies who do Pre-MBA programs (ex: ExperienceBain, P&G Brand Camp) to get a chance to meet companies you are interested in.  
  1. Start Your Career Search – Research industries and narrow down your target list (Our Guidance: 3 industries max, 1 first-choice and 2 backups)

 

Academic

  1. Brush up on quantitative skills through online coursework  – Consider taking classes on the foundations/core classes, especially  Accounting, Finance, Economics, Stats
  2. Read business books – Start reading business books. (Link to Follow)
  3. Listen to MBA podcasts – Listen to MBA and business related podcasts (Link to Follow)
  4. Start reading business news – Update your news consumption to include more business-minded journalism outlets or news outlets (check out our list)

Personal and General MBA

    1. Research the cost of living in the city or state you are moving to – Tuition is a big portion of your costs, but don’t forget the living expenses. Make sure to double check on this to prepare for what your new life will be like and what it might cost.
  • Learn about the onboarding process to school – Make sure to review the programs for new student orientation, or any other Pre-MBA programs your school offers
  • Reach out to clubs, and student ambassadors – Check out any club websites that are of interest, and reach out to student leaders in those clubs so you can learn more about the club, or find out more about their experience

 

While the hard work of applying and getting admitted to an MBA program is behind you, there’s an exciting but daunting road ahead. Hitting the ground running by tackling some of these items on the checklist will help you prepare for business school, and lay the foundation for MBA success.