- Come with an Open Mind – All the students are either freshers or come from a job role, remember you have seen only part of the story, your job role, your experiences in life, your perception about life, it’s time to open your thoughts and see the larger picture, others role in the organization, others experience, others perception of life, idea is to get the overall picture.
- Don’t chase jobs/packages, chase a career chase your dream – Most of the students enter a B-School to get a good pay package at the end of two years, but you don’t enter a B-School for your starting job, you come here for a career, that first job may or may not be as per your expectations, but you should develop attitude for a long career. Chase jobs/profiles that you have passion for and not the ones which interest you only because of money or because everybody else wants that job.
- Don’t judge the book by its cover – You may not like everyone around, may also have differences of opinions with a few, but that doesn’t mean that they are inferior and you are superior, remember they are equally talented or deserving as you that’s why they are studying in the same B-School as you.
- Make friends/ Make memories – B-School is a place where you can make friends for a lifetime. Make deep friendship bonds, late night hostel chats (read ‘Bakchodi’ 😉 ) brainstorming sessions, group studies, sharing of snacks in the canteen, trips are all memories to cherish. Create as many memories as you can.
- Extracurricular activities are as imp as the academics – No one likes a book worm, recruiters want people who can execute and not people who are good only at theories. Extracurricular activities teach you discipline, hardwork, jugaad, and many other important qualities required for a successful career. Also extracurricular activities are a good way to bond with people outside your peer group. Joining clubs/committees is the best way to boost your extracurricular activities.
- Team work is everything one person can’t go too far – You will be taught this from day one, it may be your projects, assignments, or any other activity, you need to work well in a group, which is exactly what happens in professional life. So learn to be a great team player.
MBA - Prof’s have something in them that’s why they are there – You may not like some faculty, find there class boring, or may not like entire subject, but remember they have something superior in them that’s why the college has chosen them to impart knowledge, if you don’t like a class, be quiet and mind your business but never create nuisance, a faculty prepares more than the students before coming for a class respect that.
- Take internships, live projects, assignments seriously – Sometimes people take internships, projects, assignments very lightly, remember apart from increasing your grades, these things also equip you with the knowledge required to survive in a fiercely competitive corporate environment. Never take them lightly.
- Network Network Network Network – Networking is as important as academics, at the end of two years everyone in the campus should know you, and you should know everyone. You never know who can come handy in times when you need help at the later part of your career.
- Eat right Stay healthy – You will be bored to the core, eating the canteen food day in day out, and will eventually venture out to the nearest dhabas/ restaurants, but remember too much of unhealthy food can spoil your health which can impact your studies.
- Handle Up’s & Downs – There will be time when you will be feeling on top of the world, and there will be times when you would just want to run away. You are not alone in this, excellent grades, failing in a subject, new relationships, heartbreaks, placement nightmares, all are part and parcel of life, remember this too shall pass. You are much more than the circumstances you are in, have faith have hope.
- Ambassadors of your college – You now represent the brand of the institution where you study. A great institution is built by the people that study there, and great careers are built by great institutions consider yourself as the ambassadors of the college and always behave in a way to enhance its glory. Comparing with other institution, cribbing on facilities, management etc don’t help much, you don’t know what problems students in others institutions face. No matter what, you will miss this place once you are out of here.
- Find yourself – MBA is a very short journey, before you realize you will graduate, but during these 2 years you will gain new experiences, new perspectives about things, if you have still not figured out about yourself, do it now, find yourself, your passion, your strength, your limitations, your ability to stretch yourself, that one thing you can dedicate yourself too, once you find that, channelize all your energy there and create a very satisfying and meaningful life for yourself.
If you follow most of these points then you will surely make your MBA a great MBA.
Featured image courtesy : BSchoolvideos
Jitu is Co-Founder of Mantras2Success. He has Engineering & MBA degrees to his name, along with 10+ years of corporate work experience in fortune 500 companies. Jitu is passionate about improving the careers of the modern day professional. He would be reading books or watching documentaries if not fulfilling his dreams at Mantras2Success.