[讨论] Top 10 Things to Do Before B-school

wwwzzz

First of all, congrats to everyone who received offers and more importantly, good luck to those still waiting! Now that you have 5-7 months before school actually starts, you might wonder "what are the top things I need to do prior to my MBA studies/life"?

Well, the title is just a teaser...I actually only have two ideas to share for now... They are lessons from my own experience as a first-year MBA student here in the US, and are perhaps more applicable to those who will come directly from China.

1) Speed reading: Get familiarized with articles in Financial Times and Wall Street Journal. If possible, read some original cases in Harvard Business Review. With weekly reading assignments often exceeding 100+ pages per course (3-4 courses per quarter), speed reading will be a valuable skill that can help you get more sleep and social time that are crucial for survival at b-school. Try to avoid "reading silently to yourself" while reading, and concentrate more on the structure and key concepts than details. Pretty much like GMAT reading, actually.

2) Social talk: Forget about what was taught in college "spoken English" courses. People don't talk like that in real life...Try to mingle as much as possible with native speakers, or at least watch some sitcoms or movies. Pick up some American idioms and brush up on comtemporary culture/politics/ sports. They will help you to understand your American (and other international) classmates better and find topics to carry on your conversation. Believe me, it's embarrassing just sitting there with new friends, not knowing what to say and fearing to make a fool of yourself by laughing at the wrong time, hehe.

Feel free to input your comments....

mumuwa

thanks Betty, you are really helpful, 顶！顶！

chipmunk

Good point, wwwzzz! I would add something specifically for those who wants to puruse Wall Street jobs.

1. Study accounting and finance, if you're not from that background;

2. Follow the markets, including U.S, and Great China Area;

3. Read books about Wall Street jobs;

4. Download Vault and WetFeet guide about how to get into Wall Street.

DukeSam

All I want to do is travel!

delphine18

原来wwwzzz jj 叫Betty呀：）

Admire

enjoyeveryday

喜欢wwwzzz jj

david02

Valuable advice. However any good advice on how to improve fast read?  Even for GMAT, I find it hard to skip anything! Any good books on this topic to recommend?

Excel skills are also very important to save a lot of sleep at B-school. (Heard from a MBA graduate.)

dashasha

Thank wwwzzz and chipmunk for the advices, although I haven't taken the GMAT.

eutopia

啊? TOP 10里面, 居然没有enjoy a nice vacation? sleep for a whole day? ... 呵呵

tommysu2004

一定要好好地在国内没有去过的地方玩一下。否则以后机会更少了，而且年纪也不等人呀。

我计划了有一年了，想自驾车去西藏和新疆玩，顺路考察一下当地的基础教育和为自己找个退休养老的地方。

我老婆反对我开着车到处乱跑，但是如果能够录取到自己心仪的学校，我想她会恩准吧，呵呵。