15 Biggest Regrets Of MBA Students

Cambridge Judge’s Melony Mahaarachchi

4) Started Business School Earlier: “Looking back over my Cambridge MBA experience, I wish I did my MBA sooner. I could have been a better engineer, team member, leader, and even a better friend, mother, and wife. When people say an MBA is a transformative experience, I didn’t quite buy into it until I sat in Management Praxis, Negotiations, and Organisational Behaviour classes. My tunnel vision suddenly turned into x-ray vision and I started to reflect on my past experiences, seeing them in an entirely new dimension.”
Melony Mahaarachchi, University of Cambridge (Judge)

5) Taken More Finance Classes: “I shunned finance as the concentration for bankers – it wasn’t until my last semester that I realized the intimidating jargon is just math equations and there is tremendous value in understanding financial instruments you can use to widen your impact.”
Marnie Harris, Emory University (Goizueta)

6) Played Harder: CEIBS’ MBA program keeps students super busy studying, practicing leadership, and developing their career (I thought I was going to die because I could sleep only for 4 -5 hours each night during term 1). But still, some classmates often went out to party in Puxi (in the city center far away from the campus) and practiced “work hard, play hard.” Instead of staying on campus to repay my sleeping debt, I should have gone out with those classmates and leaned how to realize “work hard, play hard” (which could have opened my eyes to a new world).”
Shoko Ogasawara, CEIBS

7) Spent More Time With Classmates: “I wish I would have spent less time focusing on academics and career during the first year and more time getting to know my classmates. Following some reflection in the summer, I realized that beyond cases, classes, and lectures, my classmates have been the most valuable source of knowledge, experiences, and wisdom the MBA has to offer have… and I trust many of them will continue to be for years to come. In the second year, I shifted my priority to fostering more meaningful relationships with the people around me. With the rich diversity of backgrounds IESE students have, there is plenty to share, to discover, to talk about, and to learn from any one of them. This period represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do it!”
Connie Melgarejo, IESE Business School

University of Oxford’s Eli Mitchell-Larson

“There’s a stereotype that MBA programs are as much about social and professional networking (which sometimes translates to partying) as they are about the academics. I wished I had discovered sooner that it can be much more rewarding to find less conventional ways of connecting with my peers, whether it’s a morning woodland hike, a dance class, cooking a meal, or joining a ukulele jam session. Not everyone connects over a pint (or four) in a pub, and an MBA can be an opportunity to experiment and form genuine, more memorable connections in new contexts.”
Eli Mitchell-Larson, University of Oxford (Saïd)

8) Taken Advantage of Case Competitions: “During my first year, I didn’t think I was knowledgeable or experienced enough to join a team. However, I participated in one during my second year and immediately realized that wasn’t true. A competitive team approaches a case analysis from multiple unique perspectives, and you don’t need to have a certain number of MBA classes under your belt to offer that. If I hadn’t hesitated or doubted myself at first, I could have capitalized on more opportunities to collaborate with and learn from my classmates. I loved the way case competitions exercised my teamwork, critical thinking, and presentation skills, and now I recommend them to MBA students no matter how far along they are in their program.”
Micheala Sosby, University of Missouri (Trulaske)

Georgia Tech’s Jasmine Howard

“I wish I had participated in more case competitions. Our current first-year students are killing it on the case competition circuit, and they’re gaining supplemental learning, interview stories, and prize money! It would have been fun to immediately put coursework to use like they are.”
Jasmine Howard, Georgia Tech (Scheller)

9) Spent More Time With Loved Ones: “I would make more time for my family and friends from before Fuqua. The first six months as a business school student was time-intensive, which made me inconsistent about calling back home or FaceTime-ing my friends. If I could do it all over again, I would be more mindful about taking the time to talk to the people who ground me.”
Sahana Qaundinya, Duke University (Fuqua)

10) Stopped Pursuing Perfection: “Looking back over my experience, I would have started the program with a much calmer mindset. I initially started as a perfectionist, wanting to make straight-A’s in every assignment and aim for that 4.0 GPA. Unfortunately, I put tremendous and unhealthy pressure on myself, and I struggled to find ways to relax my mind. My grades were not all A’s, and I blamed myself for not seeking academic perfection. However, at the start of my second year, I began to rely on my Nichiren Buddhist practice for tools to ease my MBA journey, take better care of myself mentally and physically, and spend more time with loved ones when I needed support. I also incorporated meditation, light exercises, stretching, and singing to calm my mood. Additionally, I learned to improve my nightly sleep (from 4-5 hours of sleep per night to 8 hours of sleep per night) to absorb course materials efficiently and excel in challenging exams and final projects.”
Raynelle Anwukah, Southern Methodist University (Cox)

11) Spent More Time Relaxing: “While as expected, an MBA program is very fast-paced and there is always something going on. I found that sometimes I was not maximizing the moment and was only thinking about what next thing, the next meeting, social event, project, club, or event that was coming up. With these last few months remaining, I plan to make the most of my time and enjoy every day!”
Catie Mannarino, Emory University (Goizueta)

12) Joined More Student Organizations: “Early on into the MBA program, I had an idea of what I wanted to do and joined specific clubs promoting my goals. Looking back there were so many different student groups I could have joined to diversify my conversations and thoughts. MSU offers so many opportunities to expand your experiences and culture, I feel being in three student groups was a mistake considering how many we have here.”
Jamari Brooks, Michigan State (Broad)

University of Michigan’s Kevin Carrier

13) Engaged With the Larger University: “I wish I would have taken advantage of building relationships with students in other programs and attending lectures and events hosted by those other programs. I think the leaders of tomorrow will need to be interdisciplinary, and I wish I would have cultivated that more during my time.”
Travis Black, Texas A&M (Mays)

14) Stopped Saying “Yes” to Everything: “I spent most of my time in business school trying to say “yes” to everything and constantly be present. I wound up overextending myself taking on a number of leadership roles. In hindsight, I would have scaled that back to really be able to fully commit to a more limited number of roles rather than trying to scramble and not fulling being able to invest in everything. That said, if I hadn’t done that experience I wouldn’t have learned that there are not in fact 30 hours in a day to try and finish everything I want and need to get done. So, while scaling back would have been the smart move, I’m glad I was involved and learned some valuable lessons in time management.”
Kevin Carrier, University of Michigan (Ross)

15) Don’t Wait: “The words First-Year LO (Leadership and Organizational Behavior) Professor Peter Belmi offered up during the first week of Darden’s pre-MBA program still stick with me to this day: Don’t Wait. If there is one thing I would do differently during the first few months of my tenure at Darden, it would be to dive into the waters of opportunity and experience sooner. I spent the majority of my first quarter at Darden stuck in my head about saying the right thing, sounding smart in class, and trying to understand every ounce of material. In reality, the true learning came from engaging, asking questions, and joining the “wave” of our classroom discussions. The same can be said of extra and co-curricular experiences — my life at Darden changed the moment I started to embrace my personal voice, get in the mix, and adopt the growth mindset that acknowledges there are lessons in failure and trying something new and that this is part of the process of “becoming” — if only I had done this sooner!”
Chloe Stegeman, University of Virginia (Darden)