The academic year in a B-School usually starts from mid-June to July and the overload of information and instructions makes students anxious. This time leading into the summer intership interviews is the most important time in an MBA student's life. Failure to recognize one's priorities and the inability to streamline preparations may affect the outcome that one expects while securing admissions in their respective colleges. From my personal experience during two years in FMS Delhi, I saw many students breaking down during this stressful phase, and this is true for all top b-schools in this country simply because the scope of learning and improvement is way higher as compared to the time that is available at your hands. Therefore, it is essential to be motivated, prepare right and improve one's skills essential for securing dream summer internships. I have listed some major pointers that students fail to keep in mind during this initial journey of their MBA life.
- Get over your CAT/interview success immediately:- A good b-school in our country is extremely difficult to crack, clearly depicted by the application-to-admission ratio. Hence, students tend to get easy on themselves after cracking their dream colleges having thought that the major part is done, but it is important to remember that CAT was a starting step to achieveing your dreams and having accomplished that, one should immediately focus on the next target to justify their efforts put in thus far.
- Listen to the right seniors:- Without sounding arrogant, I state that not all seniors will give you the correct advice, because everyone is adept to succeed via a different startegy suited to them. Listen to everyone but implement what is best suited for you. Some major red flags for first year students are "Academic classes are not as important as your content sessions", "This initial MBA phase is just built to teach you how to fight deadlines and stay up all night", "Prepare for everything" and so on. If any senior gives these advices, immediately run away from them. The theoretical frameworks learnt in lectures are extremely important and professors are ultimately your best guides, way better than your immediate seniors. Also, this initial phase is to introduce new concepts and make one adept to them through practice and learning. The answer for the last comment (prepare for everything) is tackled in the next point.
- Prioritize Smartly:- Not everyone is built for every profile. Someone may be a good fit for consulting, some other may perform well in marketing, probably someone is built for product management and so on. Analyze your CV, assess your skills and carefully identify your interests to streamline your interests for certain profiles. Always prioritze profiles over companies because eventually switching jobs within a same profile will be much smooth. But for prioritizing smartly, one must first understand what each profile entails and for this most b-schools have pre-induction tasks that are rolled out before commencement of the academic year. Once you are sure where you wish to land, prepare well for that profile, consult with the right seniors and professors and make yourself fit for that role.
- Practice, Practice, Practice:- Do not give up on practicing cases, going through theoretical frameworks, reading about relevant news and mock interviews. Every passing day one should bring improvement within themselves via practice and make sure that same mistakes are not repeated. Assess how many hours of practice are important for you. It is not advised to deliberately push your body without sleep specially at the the risk of inviting medical concerns. Whatever amount of practice works for you, improves your scores and makes you solve cases better, do that daily.
- Look out for each other:- The last and most important point is to look after your batchmates. No one understands what you are going through better than your batchmates at this point of time. Solve cases together, conduct mock interviews for each other and make sure that your friends are in a right state of mental and physical health. It is not a competition amongst yourselves in the same campus and most people fail to acknowledge this basic fact.
Most people wish that there would have been someone to tell them these things and guide them properly. So I jotted down these basic pointers to help students in their most stressful phase. A good summer internship does wonders, but always remember that not securing your dream company in summer internships does not mean that there is no way out. It absolutely does not. It is just that one needs to work hard similarly during their final interviews in second year and continue to build their profiles throughout their MBA journey. Hardwork is always rewarded. All the best!!