What They don't Teach You about in B-school

Maybe you're already in an MBA program, and you're finding it a little tougher than you thought it would be. Maybe you're due to start a program this fall, and you're starting to think about how you can make the most of it. Or maybe you're just weighing the option of taking the B-school plunge, and you're wondering what issues you should look at before you leap.

No question about it: There's no business like the business-school business. At last count, nearly 300,000 people were pursuing an MBA degree at a U.S. institution. Meanwhile, at most MBA programs, the number of applicants continues to grow each year, in some cases by 20% or more. But a couple of questions are worth asking: What do all of these people get out of going to business school? And how do they get by while they are there?

Perhaps nothing you learn in B-school will matter as much as what you learn about B-school -- because how you approach this two-year experience will largely determine what you take away from it: in the way of knowledge, in the way of connections, in the way of a job.

The best teachers are students. In this edition of Toolbox, seven leaders from the class of '99 -- heads of student government and editors of student-run newspapers at top-ranked programs -- offer some hard-won insights and some surprising pieces of advice on everything from how to study to how to party. Why learn such lessons the hard way -- when you can let these hard-charging students learn them for you? So let the learning begin!

Name: Michelle LeBlanc, 27, one of three executive officers in the student senate; MIT Sloan School of Management.
Job before B-school: International-business analyst at Textron Inc.
Summer internship: Marketing analyst at 3M Corp.

What I've learned

Keep your eye on the ball -- or it will blow right past you. Many people go into business school not knowing exactly what they'll do when they finish. Nothing wrong with that: There's no better place to investigate various career possibilities. But you need to have a clear idea of what's important to you, or you'll end up following every other MBA into consulting or investment banking.

It can be difficult to stake out an independent career path in B-school -- in part because the pressure from recruiters never lets up. Then, in November of your second year, consulting and investment-banking firms start waving fat salaries and signing bonuses at you. When 60% or more of your classmates are accepting offers from those firms, you'll be tempted to go that route too.

I seriously considered going into consulting, but I decided against it once I remembered what I care most about: I want to have some control over my work life. I want to work from a home base instead of constantly living out of a suitcase. And I want to be able to take charge of the projects that I work on.

Coordinates: Michelle LeBlanc, leblancm@mit.edu

Name: Dan Sullivan, 28, coeditor of the Cold Call Chronicle; Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia.
Job before B-school: Aide to Mark Warner, then a candidate from Virginia for a seat in the U.S. Senate.
Summer internship: Investment-banking summer associate at J.P. Morgan & Co.

What I've learned

Your experience counts -- even if it's not in business. When I enrolled at Darden, I considered myself an outsider, but I soon discovered an essential truth about B-school: Outsiders are not all that uncommon. At orientation, I found that my classmates included a Navy SEAL, a NASA engineer, and an entrepreneur from Uzbekhistan. If you're an outsider, be ready to play the game a little differently -- from when you first apply to when you take a job.

I applied to just two schools: Darden and another top-ranked MBA program. With both schools, I played up my political experience. But I knew that as an outsider, I had something to prove. I had contacts inside the Darden community, and I was able to leverage them. But I didn't know anyone at the other school, and partly for that reason, I didn't get accepted there.

Coordinates: Dan Sullivan, sullivand99@darden.gbus.virginia.edu

Name: Nici Audhlam-Gardiner, 28, editor-in-chief of the Harbus; Harvard Business School.
Job before B-school: Business analyst at McKinsey & Co.
Summer internship: Summer associate with Merrill Lynch's financial-institutions group.

What I've learned

You've got to speak up -- and you've got to speak well. When I arrived at HBS, I thought that I would be evaluated according to my exam scores. But I soon discovered that my performance would be measured by how well I spoke in class -- and that if I were to succeed, I needed to learn how to speak to a large audience.