5 Things to Do the Summer Before Business School

5 Things to Do the Summer Before Business School Prospective business school students may decide to pursue an MBA for many reasons. Some wish to deepen their knowledge of the business world, while others may see business school as an opportunity to advance within their companies. Here are 5 tips that can help you to ace your business school interviewif you do decide to pursure your MBA. Whatever your reason is for obtaining an MBA, here are five things to do the summer before business school. These tasks can help you maximize the return of your degree, as well as help you begin business school on the right foot: 1. Draft well-defined career goals Do you already know what type of employment you hope to secure after you earn your MBA? Or are you hoping to cross that bridge later on? If you do not know what you would like to do after business school, now is the time to carefully brainstorm define your goals, and consider how completing your MBA will help you achieve them. With well-articulated goals, you can leverage your MBA training by choosing the right concentration to achieve them. 2. Prepare to network Did you know that there is a correlation between the members of your networking circle and the types of opportunities that you are exposed to? Once you have well-articulated career goals, you can focus on building a circle that will yield the opportunitiesthat you are interested in. Networking is also a very potent learning tool, as you are able to learn from people with whom you share similar interests, thus increasing your knowledge about your preferred business field.Before business schoolbegins, read about group interaction techniques so you can avoid talking too much or too little during group sessions, which are an integral part of MBA programs. Also learn more about the alumni at your business school. These individuals may be able or willing to offer you valuable academic and career advice in the future. These 3 tips may also helo you prepare for the business school transition. 3. Practice your public speaking skills In business school, you will likely give numerous presentations, some of which may be worth a large percentage of your grade. You can read as many articles about public speaking as you like, but nothing is as effective as practice. The summer before business school begins, seek out ways to speak publically. For instance, you can try looking for a local public speaking club or contact a public speaking tutor. 4. Exercise You have perhaps had some of your best ideas while you were in a good mood. In fact, a good mood is often correlated with creative thinking. Exercise may improve your mood, which can thus boost your creativity. Reading and analyzing different case studies as well as developing better solutions to existing problems are important parts of business school, and making exercise part of your schedule may be beneficial for this reason. It can also increase your energy and confidence. 5. Review basic concepts There are few things more annoying than reading a case study and stumbling mid-document because you do not understand a minor concept. These steps may help you identify your best study style. Spend part of the summer before business school studying a great investment of your time is a thorough review of basic concepts in related academic fields and relevant computer programs.