Category — MBA Building Blocks

This is the fourth in a series of “MBA Building Blocks,” posts that focus on the key things pre-MBAs should be thinking about and doing before they start school.

So, now that you’ve done a little thinking about yourself in part 1 of this post, let’s get down to business.

The Classes

In case you haven’t gotten your hands on a typical first-year schedule yet, the major quant classes you’ll likely be taking are Accounting, Statistics, Economics (either Micro-, Macro- or both) and Corporate Finance.  I say “major,” because depending on your program, there may be others.  In fact, another class that will probably involve lots of numbers is Operations, but most of the math in Ops is likely to be pretty basic so I’m not going to focus on it here.

What You Can Do

So, is the suspense killing you already?  Well, here’s a short list of ideas that is by no means all-inclusive, but should give you a start. [Read more →]

This is the third in a series of “MBA Building Blocks,” posts that focus on the key things pre-MBAs should be thinking about and doing before they start school.

When I talk to pre-MBAs, one question that invariably comes up is this:

How should I prepare for all of those MBA quant classes?

And even though there is no one single answer to that question, it’s one of my favorites to respond to.

[Read more →]

This is the second in a series of “MBA Building Blocks,” posts that focus on the key things pre-MBAs should be thinking about and doing before they start school.

Business school is exciting time.  You’ll have all kinds of new experiences and meet tons of new people.  And with all of that activity, it’s easy to lose contact with the outside world and the people that you care about – even if you live in the same house with them.

With that in mind, I believe it’s important to prepare your friends and family for what you’re about to go through and how it might affect your relationships with them. [Read more →]

This is the first in a series of posts labeled with category “MBA Building Blocks.”  These are what I consider to be the backbone of this site and posts with this label will cover the meatiest topics.

Of all the things you could possibly do to prepare for school, there is one question you must ask yourself (and answer), and it is simply this:

Why am I going to business school?

Simple, right?  You wrote several (if not more) application essays on this exact topic and probably have your “elevator pitch” down pat.  And that helped you get you into school.

So, do me a favor, open up your admission-granting essay and re-read it now.  And think about this question again:

Why am I going to business school?

For some, the essay may have nailed it and if you’re in that group, congrats!  You’re a step ahead of the crowd.  If you’re now re-thinking what was in your essay — or your essay was more fantasy than reality — here’s what I suggest you do now:  take some time and really think about why you’re headed back to school. [Read more →]