Helpful Advice for Incoming MBA Students

If you are an incoming first year student, we may have already met. I’m looking forward to seeing you again in September! Here are some helpful tips for success as you transition into the program:

Get to know your classmates

This may seem like common sense, but I am going to say it anyway. Now, I know some of you may be married and/or have kids, and this makes it very hard to do this outside of class studies, but get to know your classmates. Some of them are going to be friends for life. They will be great connections as you advance your career. And most of all, they are amazing people. How do I know this? The Foster admissions staff does a pretty good job of selecting great people. The first person I met shares my love for music, particularly hip-hop, and we have been best friends since. This amazed me, and it is only one example of the great people you will come to know. This also includes second years! I was a little timid in getting to know the second year students when school first started. They don’t bite. At least, I didn’t get bit, I didn’t see anybody get bit, and I have no urges coming on to bite people as I get ready to start my second year. Before you know it, we’ll be gone and you’ll be giving this advice to a new set of students, so don’t wait until it’s too late.

Utilize MBA Career Management during Fall Quarter

Winter quarter gets here quick. Internship recruiting starts basically the day winter quarter is here. Don’t wait until that time to get to know MBA Career Management and what they can offer because internship recruiting can be very overwhelming if you don’t feel prepared. I don’t care how busy you think you are, get in there fall quarter. Set time for this. Talk about your goals. Do mock interviews. You will thank me later and I can say I told you so. MBA Career Management is great, but you have to get in there and leverage them. They’ll be expecting you.

Get Involved

Volunteer. Do the C4C Weekend in California. Go to Whistler after fall quarter ends. You don’t have to do them all, but make sure you do some of the extra activities that the school and the students organize. They are great ways to get to know your fellow classmates and they also happen to be a lot of fun. It’s a short two years here; don’t look back and wish you would have done more of the activities, because I guarantee you people will be talking about how fun they are after they’re over.

You Will Survive

I’m not going to elaborate on this too much. You will have multiple times fall quarter where you think you aren’t going to make it. You will. I promise. In addition to your family, friends, and spouses, you have a great support system at Foster. You’ll learn more about this when school starts. Lean on them. They will help you get through it.

These are just a few takeaways from one student who has completed the first year of this great journey. Many others will no doubt have great advice for you. In closing I would just like to say, it’s going to get a little crazy at times, it will feel overwhelming, but make sure you remember to have fun. See you this fall.

~ Dennis Grubbs – Full Time Class of 2014

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