How to Make the Most Out of Your MBA

There are many reasons why you might decide to get an MBA. Some people pursue the degree in hopes of growing or sustaining their business venture. Others want to climb the ladder within their company, make more money, or change their career. No matter why you decide to apply, earning the degree comes with a handful of challenges. Candidates often liken the experience to drinking from a firehose. The intensity of the academic course load, mixed with a never-ending stream of business theories, constructs, cases, models, and frameworks, can feel incredibly overwhelming — especially for students who also have full-time jobs. As a result, the majority of MBAs struggle to decide where to focus their attention while in school. Candidates report retaining only a small fraction of the curriculum upon graduation, and many fear that they won’t know how to apply it to the “real world.” If you are a current or prospective MBA candidate, you can expect to face similar obstacles. To get the most out of your program, and avoid burnout, you’ll need to be selective with where you place your attention and decide what aspects of your education will be most beneficial to your career. The key to figuring that out depends on why you chose to pursue an MBA in the first place. Below are four common reasons people pursue an MBA, and how to make the most of your time at school. Each “why” also offers an example from a real MBA student who participated in my research study. 1) To grow or sustain your business venture Maybe you’ve just started your own company. Or maybe you’re trying to scale your business. Either way, it’s likely that you have a laundry list of urgent and important problems you’re trying to solve at work. An MBA can help you solve these problems by giving you the “know-how” and the network to tackle them head on. If you want an MBA to grow or sustain your business venture, ask yourself these questions: What are the persistent problems I’m facing at my business? Which business concepts can I learn at school that may help me solve these problems? How can I quickly introduce and integrate these concepts into my company? Any coursework that helps you answer these questions deserves your immediate attention. For example, take Steve, a co-founder of a technology startup and an executive MBA student. At work, Steve was wondering how to best go to market with his product. In class, he learned about two business concepts that helped him solve his problem in real-time: market segmentation and beachhead markets. Steve had never studied business before, so the concept of market segmentation (the process of dividing existing and potential customers into smaller groups that will respond to particular products, price points, promotional campaigns, and distribution channels in different ways) was new to him, as was the concept of beachhead markets (segments of the target market that are ideal for introducing new products or services). Steve was immediately able to apply both tools to his business to develop a go-to-market strategy for his venture. By focusing on his “why,” which was his desire to scale his business, he was able to identify these learnings as something that deserved his attention and time. 2) To get a promotion If you’re vying for a position with greater scope and responsibilities at your current company, getting an MBA could help you get there. Make it a goal to bring innovative ideas from business school back into your workplace. You can apply leadership or business concepts that you learn in school to the function in which you work. If you want an MBA to help you get a promotion, ask yourself these questions: Which work practices, if changed, would accelerate my promotion? Which business concepts from school can I apply to change these work practices? How can I leverage the improvements I make to advocate for a promotion? Jen, for example, was vying for a promotion at work while earning her MBA degree. While studying a case in school, she saw an opportunity to improve management practices at her own organization. The case wrestled with this question: Do managers add value to their employees, teams, and organizations? It suggested that good managers do, in fact, make measurable positive impacts and that the most important attribute of these managers is their ability to effectively coach others. Jen introduced the case to her supervisor, and using her analysis as evidence, she proposed that her organization develop a new management training program that teaches managers how to coach their employees. Introducing and piloting this idea helped Jen later build a case for why she deserved a promotion. 3) To change careers If you’re thinking about changing career paths, you can use your MBA program to experiment with different roles and industries. While in school, focus your attention on studying business concepts that sit at the periphery of the companies, functions, or specialties you’re interested in. It’s also a great opportunity to network with people doing jobs that you want to pursue, or who work at organizations you are interested in applying to in the future. If you want an MBA to help you switch industries, companies, or roles, ask yourself: What does my current career path look like? How do I want to change it? What experiments can I conduct at school (and at work) to try out this new path? How can I leverage these experiments to change careers? For instance, Zara loved her career in technology and found that she was most fulfilled when she had the opportunity to think strategically. As a technical product manager, she had a lot of experience executing strategies, but was rarely involved in actually developing them. She thought getting an MBA might give her a chance to test out a career change, and it did. In her first-year strategy course, Zara wrote a paper applying Porter’s Five Forces (a method for analyzing business competition) to her industry. She viewed this paper as a chance to try on a new identity by putting herself in the shoes of a strategy analyst. Turns out, she enjoyed the experiment so much that she decided to major in strategy and refocused her coursework to build out her experience in the field. After graduation, this work allowed her to easily transition into a new role. 4) To figure out your path forward If you don’t really know what you want out of your career, an MBA can help you figure it out. Take advantage of your program by delving into various subjects and see what sparks your interest. This is a great opportunity to pause, look inward, and learn more about yourself and your career goals. If you want an MBA to figure out your career goals, ask yourself these questions: What are some possible post-MBA careers that might interest me? What are my personal values, and how do these possibilities align with those values? Which MBA courses would allow me to explore those possibilities? Richard, for example, was working for a federal government contractor. He knew he wasn’t interested in pursuing that path forever, but he wasn’t sure what path he was interested in. While attending an online MBA program, he explored a variety of options, from entrepreneurship to finance. In a business communication course, Richard developed and presented a product pitch to his classmates as a means of exploring whether he wanted to start a venture. During a business analytics course, he brought financial modeling techniques from his curriculum into work to explore his growing interest in financial analysis. Richard decided that entrepreneurship and finance weren’t for him — at least not now — and he kept exploring. Getting your MBA doesn’t have to feel like drinking from a firehose. By determining your “why” for earning an MBA, you can focus your learning activities on the information that is most important for you. That will go a long way in helping you make your education relevant today, and for the rest of your career.

How to Make the Most Out of Your MBA

Summary.

Partner Center