Folks who are going back to business school for their MBA degree have more than just complex coursework ahead of them — many prospective MBAs face plenty of social struggles as well, in addition to the challenges of earning their degree.
Whether your particular program is full-time or part-time, in-person or online, you will soon be facing new challenges, some expected, others not. One thing is for sure, though — despite feeling a bit overwhelming at times, seeking your degree will be an exciting process.
We’re going to outline some of the common social struggles an MBA may face while earning their degree.
Social Struggles of an MBA Student
Adjusting to a new place
The first, and probably most obvious, challenge students encounter is getting used to a new place. Unless you’re enrolling in an MBA program close to where you currently reside, you’ll be moving to an entirely new metro. Look at this as a fun thing — moving means new people, new culture, new opportunities. Be sure to visit your new hometown and research what goes on in that city so you have a good feel for the area once you move in and start working toward your degree.
While visiting your new metro is a huge plus, it’s also imperative to take a campus tour of whatever business school you decide to attend. Campus tours are a great way to familiarize yourself with the resources available to you at your new business school. They provide the opportunity to get a firsthand look at how classes operate and ask questions to students, faculty and advisors.
Campus visits grant you some very important face-time with the school’s Admissions Department and give you a chance to see if the institution and its campus are a good fit for you and your lifestyle.
You can read our article on how to get the most out of your campus visit. Here are a few additional tips to consider when it comes to campus visits.
- Stop by the institutes, centers and open lectures that constitute the program’s resources within your focus area.
- Look closely at the career placement resources available and the students’ use of those resources.
- Tap into your personal network to see if you know any current students in the business college or another college within the university you’ll be visiting.
- Be sure that you have your travel plans and hotel reservations set in advance and that you’ve taken off of work.
- Create an itinerary that allows you to explore the MBA program as well as the metro that your university calls home.
Even if you chose a program that is in your current metropolitan area, there will be other social struggles you’ll need face as you adjust to graduate school. You’ll be meeting new friends, some through your cohort, others through student organizations or jobs.
One way that business schools help break the ice between new students is through orientation programs. For example, a committee of returning MBAs at the Robert H. Smith School of Business planned a two-week incoming MBA orientation that ended with a Washington Nationals baseball outing.
During the orientation new students were able to ask questions to a panel of second-year MBAs, such as: “How do you balance your studies with the job search?”; “How do you prepare for career fairs?”; “What is the value of case competitions?”; “Is it important to buy every textbook?”; “What would you do differently if you were starting over?”
The new students also had time to network with second-year MBAs who serve as mentors and help incoming students find summer internships that match their career goals. The incoming MBAs also got to meet each other at the baseball game, and through other activities such as kickball, a ropes course and icebreaker games.
Balancing school, work, social life, and family
An MBA is a huge time investment — earning this degree will take up a lot of your time. In order to succeed, you’ll have to develop some serious time management skills. This can come as a huge struggle at first, especially to folks in part-time MBA programs who are working and taking class at the same time. The challenge doubles if you also happen to have a family to take care of and spend quality time with.
Sameer Saran of TopMBA recently outlined Ten Time Management Techniques for part-time MBAs. They include:
Write it down: There are tons of things to do as a part-time MBA, meetings to attend and small, easily-missed requests or tasks. So, in order to stay on top, write down each and every task that needs your attention. Use a tool like Google Keep to help you.
Prioritize, as much as possible: The management side of time management is that not everything needs your attention right now –so, prioritize. Not just in your head, order the tasks in your list. Again use tools to help you with this.
Don’t do what is not important: Don’t try to do everything. You have goals and targets to meet for your MBA, so focus. Don’t waste time doing what is clearly not going to help you reach your goals.
Don’t overdo it: Only put in the effort needed, not more. Your time can be used more productively elsewhere. At the beginning of my career, I used to get frustrated after spending days on a presentation or document that was meant to show technical data but nobody really cared if the left side margin was a little more than the right side margin on the page.
Relax, take a break when not at your peak: The most important of my time management techniques in my point of view. If you’re tired or stressed out, it’s hard to be productive. So, take a break from working and studying, and do something fun, engage in some kind of sport and recharge your batteries before getting back to action. You’ll be able to achieve more in the same amount of time.
Finding the right internship
After adjusting your new home, your new schedule, and your new coursework, you can start worrying about other things, namely your future. Alright, I kid, I kid. Don’t get too stressed out about it, but an MBA internship is a huge point of stress for business school students.
As we’ve stated in previous articles, internships are the real deal for MBAs — three-month trial runs for companies where graduate students gain real-world experience by working on major projects with paid professionals in actual industries.
Succeed in your internship responsibilities, projects and goals, and there’s a good chance you’ll be rewarded with a job. According to quintcareers.com, several studies show that organizations that offer MBA internships strongly prefer hiring their interns.
One study that found that not only did employers say they hired more than half of their MBA interns, but they also paid those they hired a higher salary than other new hires. Another study of employers who offer MBA internships found that almost three-quarters said they first interview previous MBA interns for new positions before opening the position to other candidates. A third study of MBA candidates found that almost 90 percent of interns were offered full-time positions with their employers, further stating that the internship helped them make key networking contacts and find a mentor.
If you’re stressed out about the prospects of you MBA internship, check out our “Guide to MBA Internships” for more insight. So while MBAs face many social struggles, the benefits of the life-long friends you’ll meet and the professional network you’ll create makes pursuing the degree a worth while (and valuable) decision to make.