Class Of 2015: The Toughest Part Of The MBA Experience

Knowing You Are Missing Out

“Balancing time.  At HBS they have this term called “FOMO” – Fear of Missing Out. With so many opportunities it’s hard to know where to focus your time and energy. I used to think I was busy working 80+ hour weeks in finance while trying to run a consulting business and make times for friends, family, and community organizations. But talk about a full calendar—from going to an info session from Google, to learning about the politics of the drug war from a Mexican politician, to learning how to code, to homework, my friends, my start-up—so much to do and so little time!”  – Michael Martin / Harvard Business School

Learning The Recruiting Ropes

“Recruiting. You will not be perfect at it and at some point you will feel rejected or discouraged while at other points you will feel like you are on cloud nine, it is a bit of a rollercoaster. It is also a process in which you learn a lot about yourself.” – Alyssa Callister / University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management 

Becoming a Quant

“For me, it was learning Finance for the first time!  I come from a liberal arts and marketing background and consider myself more of a “poet” than a “quant.”  I had to work extra hard to stay on top of those courses and really counted on the support of my classmates.” – Amy Bi / University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management

Surviving The First Semester

“The first semester was really intense, it was probably the hardest I’ve ever worked in my entire life. Trying to learn as much as I can and also search for a job required me to push my organizational and multi-tasking skills to the limit.” – John Lockwood / Ohio State, Fisher College of Business

“The hardest part of business school for me was getting back into a study routine. After being 11 years removed from undergrad, it was hard trying to take in all the material while developing a study routine. The classes were fast paced and the material came at me extremely fast. It was like drinking from a fire hose. However, once I developed a study routine, things began to slow down and I was able to enjoy school more.” – Kevin Bentley / Rice University, Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business

“Definitely the core! (I’m glad that in MIT Sloan this period is just one semester). The schedule during the core is demanding and for non-native speaking students is even more difficult, because at the same time you are indirectly trying to get use to a new hearing environment. Therefore, for me, as an international student with a hearing loss, the challenge was compounded.  Although the process of overcoming this challenge was difficult, it was also confidence-inspiring, as I experienced the benefit of MIT Sloan’s caring community, which was essential to helping me successfully navigate this period.” – Liat Kaver / MIT, Sloan School of Management

Coping With Pressure

“The insane pressure for months at a stretch. I didn’t think that it could be so difficult to complete everything at the same time.” – Sourya Datta / University of Pittsburgh, Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business

Finding and Managing Time

“The hardest part of business school was managing my time.  There are many great things you can do during your two years at business school, but you do not have nearly enough time to do all of them.  The hardest part of the experience for me was figuring out how to spend my time.”- Peter Nurnberg / Stanford Graduate School of Business 

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