It can be hard to know what to do before you start your MBA. With a spot secured and the hard work of the application process complete, the upcoming MBA experience can evoke mixed feelings of excitement and trepidation. How, you might wonder, can you prepare for it?
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the academic and personal steps needed to do so. An MBA program is rigorous and intense, and preparation such as that which we have outlined below helps ensure you seize the opportunities that it offers.
Academic Readiness: Brushing Up Before B-School
Brush Up on Quant
Your quantitative skills will play a significant role in your MBA. Before you start, give yourself a refresher on the key components to make sure you’re up to speed—statistics, Excel, economics, finance, and accounting.
There are several resources available to help you prepare for the MBA’s quant content. Some key examples are:
- HBS CORe (Credential of Readiness): Run by Harvard Business School, this is an online program that dives into business analytics, economics, and accounting.
- MBA Math: A platform covering essential quantitative topics. Learning is self-paced and the site offers tutorials.
- GMAC Business Fundamentals: A three-part course designed to equip learners with foundational business knowledge. The course has been designed by GMAC in collaboration with Kaplan. This program claims to prepare students for their MBA by developing both knowledge and an academic mindset.
Core Concepts
Getting familiar with some of the core concepts that you will cover in your MBA helps ensure that you hit the ground running.
You may want to take a look at:
- Corporate finance, building a basic understanding of valuation, risk management, and investment.
- Marketing frameworks, such as the Four Ps of product, price, place and promotion
- Organizational behavior, familiarizing yourself with the fundamentals of motivation and team dynamics.
Reading List
Compiling a relevant reading list can help you build foundational business knowledge before you begin your MBA. Plus, getting a head start on your reading assists you in thinking critically and in growing accustomed to a high reading load—a certain feature of your first year in business school.
You can start with reading publications such as the Harvard Business Review. Business Because also recommends the following books for anyone preparing for an MBA:
- “The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind” by Jonah Berger
- “Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World” by David Epstein
- “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion”, by Dr Robert Cialdini
- “What to Do When it’s Your Turn (and it’s Always Your Turn)” by Seth Godin
- “The Personal MBA” by Josh Kaufman
When reading, practice active engagement by summarizing chapters and noting down your thoughts and takeaways.
Career Preparation: Clarify Your Goals Before Starting Your MBA
Your MBA is a chance to accelerate your career and secure your dream role. To ensure that you make the most of this opportunity, there are some steps you can take before you start the MBA program.
First, you should reflect on what your career goals actually are. This is a topic you will have dived into during the application process, but should not leave behind in your essays; keeping sight of your goals, clearly defining them, and reminding yourself of an MBA’s relevance towards them is an important step to take before starting your program.
This reflection will help you in two ways. First, it will motivate you, highlighting the importance of your MBA to your personal goals. Second, it will prompt you to consider the specific ways in which an MBA will progress your career and the skills it will teach you, allowing you to focus on these when the program begins.
Next, you should begin conducting informational interviews. These interviews—via which you can connect with professionals in your target field—are great for both networking and information gathering, giving you more insight into career opportunities and suitability.
Third, you may wish to familiarize yourself with common MBA recruiting terms, and consider how to begin applying these during the early stages of your program. For example:
- OCR, or On-Campus Recruiting, whereby companies seek employees from top-ranked business schools via events and networking opportunities.
- Casing, in which MBA students and graduates are asked to apply their theoretical knowledge to practical, real-world scenarios during interviews.
- Networking coffee chats, or casual conversations with employees of your target company.
Finally, ensure that you update your resume and LinkedIn profile to reflect your admission to an MBA.
Technical and Soft Skill Building
Your academic knowledge is not all that you will need to brush up on before beginning your MBA. Throughout the program, you will lean on and develop a range of technical and soft skills; spending some time on these before you begin will ensure you put your best foot forward in the program.
These skills include:
- Excel, PowerPoint, and any other tools central to business modeling and presentation.
- Public speaking, email writing, storytelling, or any other of the communication skills that you will likely use in class, group work and interviews.
- Teamwork, debate, and active listening.
- Time management, prioritization and calendar blocking. Learn some techniques for this before you begin your program—it will prove crucial.
Practicing these skills before you begin your MBA lays the foundation for your success on the program. With the groundwork secure, these elements can tick over in the background— leaving you free to focus on the educational content.
Personal Logistics and Lifestyle Prep
Preparing for the practical side of your MBA takes time, and should be begun as early as possible.
This is especially important if you are relocating for your MBA. Search for accommodation near your campus, check out transportation options, and secure your living arrangements early on.
Pre-MBA is also a great time for financial planning. With MBA costs higher than ever—tuition alone at a top school usually costs between $50,000 and $75,000 for just one year—carefully budgeting needs to be done. Take a look at Clear Admit’s breakdown of MBA costs to get a sense of what you need to consider, and don’t forget to look into your options for financial aid.
Finally, take the time to mentally prepare yourself for the MBA. Build healthy habits to help with stress management and the intensity of your first year—which will be filled with networking and recruiting alongside your study. Discover what helps you regulate stress and build it into your schedule, and identify the places you might find support.
Community Engagement
You’re likely not the only person wondering how best to prepare for your MBA. A cohort-sized group of others all have the same questions too: your future classmates.
There are many ways in which you can connect with them before your MBA—over slack, forums and WhatsApp, or in more formalized ways such as Welcome Weekends.
Reaching out to your classmates allows you to build meaningful connections from the very start of your MBA. Each person you connect with is a potential source of support, a link in your network, and a chance to hear new perspectives.
You can learn more about Welcome Weekends and how to make the most of them in our guide.
Your pre-MBA preparation is also a great time to begin checking out the clubs, affinity groups, and events on offer on your program. Each of these provides further opportunities to meet other students, as well as a chance to build up your leadership skills and experience.
You could even reach out to the students currently enrolled on your MBA program, or alumni that have recently graduated. Both of these groups will likely have valuable insights on the academic life of your MBA and advice on how to leverage it effectively. Some schools may even have student and alumni contacts listed on their website (Harvard Business School has an email address for “alumni”).
Mindset and Motivation
A huge part of preparing for an MBA comes down to getting in the right mindset. We already touched on stress management and support networks, but—while that certainly plays a part here—the mindset we are referencing is more about getting the most value possible from your program.
There are a few ways to get into the right mindset for your MBA.
The first relates to your classmates. They will undoubtedly be impressive: practice appreciating this, rather than being intimidated by it. This is the advice that Anica Nangia, Berkeley Haas MBA ’24, shared with Clear Admit in our Real Humans series, saying that incoming MBAs should “take full advantage of the opportunity to learn from each other and build lasting relationships.”
The second step before you start your MBA is about maximizing learning. One way you can do this is by reading up on—and cultivating—a growth mindset. A growth mindset entertains the idea that innate talent is a myth; all success is gained through hard work. That means trying, that means taking risks, and that means embracing failure and discomfort as part of the learning process.
The new things you learn on your MBA will likely feel hard; a growth mindset allows you to view this difficulty as a sign that you’re growing, rather than an indication of your inability. It’s a technique that has been proven to increase motivation, achievement, and resilience while learning.
And the third involves challenging the inevitable—imposter syndrome. Before you start your MBA, spend some time thinking about your unique values and what you bring to the table. It’s easy to compare yourself to your classmates, but remember that you too have achieved a spot on this program, and practice commending yourself for doing so!
What to Do Before You Start Your MBA: Final Tips
Preparing for your MBA comes down to both academic and personal readiness. Brushing up on key skills, familiarizing yourself with fundamentals, and getting in the mindset for learning can all help you make the most of the program.
Remember though, that some balance is needed here. Preparation is helpful, but don’t try to master everything— focus on readiness, not perfection. If you’re considering what to do before you start your MBA, make sure you include some time to recharge; your years on the MBA will demand much of you, and embarking on the journey well-rested is a good idea.
To help you with knowing what to do before your MBA, we’ll leave you with this quote from our Real Humans series. “Stepping outside my comfort zone,” Yaritsa Brea told Clear Amit, “could have enriched my learning experience and personal growth. Embracing a broader range of opportunities might have opened doors to unexpected insights and skills that have proven valuable in my career.”
In other words—keep an open mind, and ready yourself for the unexpected opportunities that your MBA will undoubtedly send your way.
