20 Biggest Regrets Of MBA Graduates

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” – Mike Tyson

The same could be said for the first week of business school. Going in, you know the clubs you want to join. You’ve decided on a concentration. Chances are, you’re targeting certain employers too. You know where you want to spend your time and how to achieve your goals.

And then orientation starts…and your ‘plan’ runs into reality.

You meet new people and try things. You’re deluged with new ideas and possibilities. In response, you can tear up the plan or re-evaluate your intentions. Either way, you’re probably going to wish you’d acted sooner.

“The first few months of business school are a whirlwind,” explains Athena Saldanha, a ’24 graduate of the University of Chicago’s Booth School. “You are overloaded with social connections, professional opportunities, and class commitments. It is easy to get pulled in several directions. If I were to do everything again, I wish I spent some time prior to starting school determining what my goals and priorities were and aligning my schedule to those priorities.”

“BET ON YOURSELF”

At the Wharton School, Nicole Ventrone wrestled with similar doubts after arriving on campus. Now an associate at McKinsey & Company, Ventrone wishes she had invested more time in reflecting on her MBA goals and less time chasing the pack.

“At the end of the day, we are all running our own race. We have our own priorities, and we are starting this journey from different places,” Ventrone tells P&Q. “Instead of getting caught up and excited by others’ choices, I wish I would have more frequently checked in on my goals and reflected on how my actions aligned with those priorities. At the end of the day, I think the most important thing is that we make this experience right for ourselves, and that will look different for every single Wharton student.”

You might think this year’s Best & Brightest MBAs and MBAs To Watch are living the dream. After all, most are pulling in six-figure paychecks at elite firms, working in the roles and cities they’d imagined for themselves. Despite their happy endings, their paths weren’t always easy. Like most, they wasted time pursuing dead ends or missed out on transformative opportunities and relationships. Or, in the case of Yussre ElBardicy, they stuck to their plans and avoided taking risks early on.

“I would have tried new things sooner and bet on myself more,” writes the ’24 Columbia Business School MBA. “It can feel safer to gravitate to the things you’re already good at initially, and that initially kept me from exploring potential careers or clubs that I didn’t think I would be immediately “good” at doing.”

LIVE IN THE MOMENT

In other cases, the Class of 2024 raced around the building, sampling every offering and trying to be everything to everyone. They spread themselves too thin and rarely achieved anything of substance. In the end, their breakneck pace led them to an inevitable reckoning. While Olivia English is proud of her hard work as a club leader, peer coach, and top academic performer, she does wish that she had better prioritized her health at Michigan State’s Broad College.

“When faced with a new environment, classmates, teammates, coursework, schedule, and other commitments like part-time work in my case, it’s very easy to put yourself on the back burner. You can’t pour from an empty cup, and I think it’s crucial to take time for your stress relievers and whatever you need to do to show up as the most prepared and best version of yourself every day to truly make the most of these two years.”

In fact, Camila Sabogal would take English’s advice a step further. When she reflects on her time at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management, she wishes that she had “enjoy[ed] the ride” more and hadn’t stressed so much on her future job as a first-year.

“I learned that if you put enough effort into all you do, success will come and good things will happen,” Sabrogal adds. “I remember being very worried about which internship to take, what career to choose, where to settle post-MBA, and so much more. Looking back, I ended up being happy in a very different career path from what I originally planned. It’s just proof that as long as you have a general sense of direction and surround yourself with good people, you will find your way and figure it out.”

What were the biggest mistakes made and opportunities missed for the Class of 2024? This year, P&Q asked its Best & Brightest MBAs and MBAs to Watch to share the regrets they still carried after graduation. From speaking up earlier to interacting with faculty more, here are 20 pitfalls to avoid during business school.

1) Take Classes Outside The Business School: “Overall, I’ve been very happy with my MBA experience, but if I had to pick one thing I would do differently I would have tried taking more courses outside of SOM and the School of the Environment. When I enrolled in my classes, grad school felt so short and fast, so I focused on cramming in as many courses that were directly relevant and applicable to my career as possible (e.g. Sustainable Operations, Life Cycle Assessment, Business and Environment Management Strategies). However, it would have been really fun and enriching to take courses at other schools, like the School of Drama, the School of Architecture, or the Divinity School. These classes would have been a great way to expand my perspective, meet new people, and appreciate other topics.”
Jennifer Adachi, Yale School of Management

2) Leverage Your ‘Student Card’: “An interviewer once advised me, “Your ‘student card’ has an expiry date.” I constantly remind myself that this “student card” opens doors, especially when networking, that are difficult to open once part of the workforce.

For example, it is far easier to cold email a potential future mentor and ask for 10 minutes to learn about their career and current job. While cold outreach can feel awkward, it is far more awkward once in the labor force. As I feel the time ticking on my “student card”, I continually remind myself to make that extra connection that may lead to a mutually beneficial lifelong relationship.”
Frank Hager, Cornell University (Johnson)

3) Limit The Leadership Roles You Pursue: “I allowed myself to be “voluntold” in some of my leadership commitments. I realized I had spread myself so thin that it was hard to make the impact I wanted to in the leadership roles that were my highest priority. As a colleague mentioned to me the other day: “You have to figure out your strategic ‘no’s’ so that you can say yes to the things that matter to you.” This semester, I am practicing saying those strategic notes and realizing that saying them does not mean I do not care, but rather that I need to prioritize my capacity elsewhere.”
Ashley Hamilton, Cornell University (Johnson)

4) Spend More Time With Professors: “SOM has fantastic professors who really do make time to speak with students, and it’s something I didn’t really take advantage of during my first year. This past year, I made more of an effort connect with faculty outside of classes to learn from their experiences in the industry (and get great reading recommendations!), which has helped guide my learning process towards topics I’m most interested in pursuing.

In classes, you don’t just learn about what’s academic consensus– you get to hear from researchers on the cutting edge of new innovations in almost every field. I’ve had some of the best conversations with professors sparked by an in-class discussion about something that hasn’t even made it to publication yet. It can be intimidating to reach out to people who literally wrote the textbooks I read in undergrad, but also an opportunity to go beyond the classroom.”
Gurkamal Pannu, Yale School of Management

“If I could do one thing differently for my MBA experience, I wish that I would have taken advantage of office hours with my professors from the beginning. I leveraged my peers a great deal for support with challenging coursework. Once I started utilizing office hours with professors, I was blown away by how helpful they were and how much the faculty prioritized learning and development. All of Stern’s faculty also have extremely impressive backgrounds and robust industry knowledge. Often times, I would learn even more about a given topic or industry simply by grabbing coffee with them or visiting during office hours.”
KJ Brown, New York University (Stern)

“I believe that I could have created deeper connections with faculty members by participating in coffee chats or other more informal settings than the traditional classroom. Coming from a country where relations with faculty are traditionally more formal and distant, the approachable and open culture at Babson took me by surprise. At the beginning, I found myself feeling shy and uncertain about how to start conversations with my professors outside of class. Nowadays, I see faculty members as a foundation to develop ourselves personally and professionally, with invaluable mentorship and guidance.
Ana Paula Schleske Oliveros, Babson College (Olin)

5) Ask More Questions In Class: “At the beginning of our first year, I felt more comfortable listening and saving my questions for classmates later. I created a rule where I had to speak at least once in every class and did my best to follow it. The more questions I asked and participated in class, the easier it got and the more natural it felt. It allowed me to form much deeper relationships with professors, too.”
Annie Forrest, Duke University (Fuqua)

6) Take Coding Classes: “Reflecting on my time at Wharton, I think the one thing I would have done differently is to find a way to take coding-related courses such as Statistical Computing with R, Introduction to Python for Data Science, or Data Science for Finance. As technology plays an ever-increasing role in our personal and business lives, a basic understanding of one or a few of these programming languages and their associated applications would be highly beneficial.”
Andrew Elgin, Wharton School

7) Set Better Priorities: “Be a little more watchful of how I am getting on, and be mindful of burnout. I have a tendency, for sure, to overcommit. Further, I don’t like not doing my best at anything…which doesn’t help if you have three assignments, student club commitments, your internship, and friends’ birthdays all landing on top of each other! I definitely burnt out once or twice.

“Choosing what to prioritise is hard, but key. It’s something I got better at over the course of the program. Sometimes, you choose that one case that you ‘skim’ read, or leave your friend’s birthday drinks early. It’s all about doing what matters to you in the moment (hint: sleep is important!).”
Alistair Adams, London Business School

8) Worry Less and Network More: “There are so many phenomenal and well-connected people at Yale SOM. Every single thing that stressed me out, whether it be homework, finding an internship, or even things like figuring out the best way to get to the LGA airport, there was always a student, staffer, or faculty member who I could go to for help. Sometimes, we get so caught up in trying to seem like we have it all together, that we forget that we have an entire community that we can lean on. Do not let the Imposter Syndrome win. There are people here who are more than willing and excited to help you, take advantage of it!”
MiChaela Barker, Yale School of Management

Next Page: Regrets and Advice from Graduates of Northwestern Kellogg, Georgetown McDonough, Esade Business School, and More!