7 tips to enrich your MBA experience

In your quest to upgrade your business skills, you must not forget to develop some crucial life-skills, says Harpreet Singh, President- JRE School of Management, Greater Noida.

Two years of your MBA will seem to be a very short span for doing all that you can to upgrade your knowledge, enhance your skills, attend classes, do projects and internships and finally get a lucrative job on campus.

All this and much more await you during this spectacular phase.

In this plethora of learning opportunities, a few tips would ensure you are able to make the most of your MBA experience.

1. Networking

Networking is a skill often emphasised while you are in the b-school.

Meeting and interacting with other business students from diverse backgrounds is one of the reasons why many students do an MBA.

The contacts you make at the school will serve you throughout your career.

Your classmates could be your potential business partners, employers, suppliers or your clients.

In fact, these could be the people who have important jobs in the industry who could help you climb up the ladder.

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Most b-schools provide varied opportunities outside classrooms like clubs, committees, sports etc, you can choose from a host of these extra-curricular activities.

Try to be involved in as many clubs as possible, but be proactive in a few which are of your interest.

These clubs will help you find friends with similar interests so that you can learn together.

The co-curricular activities will also help you apply what you learn in the classrooms while developing your skill set.

Never hesitate to take an initiative whenever you can.

It could be opening up a new club in your college, starting off a CSR campaign or organising the college festival.

All these initiatives go a long way in building up your leadership and managerial skills.

And that’s exactly what you would require once you step into the corporate world.

B-school is all about practical learning and this is what you will get ‘on the job’.

B-schools provide opportunities to work on live projects with the industry.

You will have hands-on experience and learning at your summer internship .

Talk to the colleagues and seniors, try to ask as many questions about the business, industry, office practices and give your best shot to the project and tasks allotted to you.

Who knows you might end up getting a pre-placement offer!

Mentors guide you through your two years at b-school and even beyond.

You could look at guidance from your seniors, alumni, faculty and even visiting guests from industry.

All of them can guide you with the varied experience they have gathered in the past years.

This will help you take crucial decisions not just in your b-school days but also after you pass out.

Although your subject knowledge and experience would play an important role for your success in career, but to succeed in the long term having strong team skills and knowing how to build and manage relationships also count.

Communication skills, time management, stress management all form a part of your overall development in soft skills.

So look at honing these skills to get ready for a challenging job.

Some institutes have a special ‘teamwork’ atmosphere that encourages interaction inside and outside the b-school.

Working in groups, making group presentations and assignments, all these activities are done so that you can develop as a good team player.

Here, you have an opportunity to learn all this through sports, clubs and other team building activities where you can display your team skills and improve on it.

The next two years are going to pass fast, so ensure your investment in terms of time and money reap you the best returns.