Now, apart from connecting and networking with seniors, another essential thing to be prepared for is to be thorough with the basics. When I talk about fundamentals, I would like to draw your attention specifically to two subjects, i.e. Accounts and Economics. The reason for the same is that these two subjects are very technical and take time to understand. Generally, a term of two-three months may not be enough to master or at least properly know the subject and so it’s good to prepare the basics beforehand which will help in understanding the subjects in a much better way. For Economics, the book ‘Day to Day Economics’ by Prof. Satish Deodhar is a must-read irrespective of the field you have studied. The book covers macroeconomics in a very concise and easy way and forms the base of Economics that will be covered in an MBA. As far as Accounts is concerned, instead of books, online courses are much better as the courses will help you understand how the practical sums are solved. Courses can be done from various online sources, but I found the introductory courses of the Corporate Finance Institute (CFI) quite insightful. They are free and provide certificates that can be added on LinkedIn. Still, if you prefer books over courses, then ‘Romancing the Balance Sheet’ by Prof. Anil Lamba is a great book that argues that there is no such thing as a ‘Non-Finance’ Person.
And lastly, above all, the most important thing, without which the MBA is not possible, is having good friends. The friends are the ones who will ensure that you do not miss the morning 9:00 am class, that when you are trimming your beard for the interview, they are tending to your ties and shoes. Friends are the ones who will take those 10:00 pm sessions (we call them Knowledge Transfer Sessions or KTs) the night before the exams which will guarantee the passing of the subject. Remember, that MBA above the degree and placements is an experience, an experience which you will hardly get anywhere else and that experience is incomplete without friends for they are your family not for the next two years only but for the whole life as the things that they will be able to understand no one will ever understand it.
I would like to end this article with this famous quote:
“It is our choices, that show what we truly we are, far more than our abilities” – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
You might be having umpteen skills and talents, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to how you decide to use them, and those choices will make or break your MBA.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author: Summit Gupta is currently a second-year student of IIM Shillong. With a BBA degree in finance and an SIP experience at Goldman Sachs, he is a finance enthusiast and loves to read about the current happening in the world of business and Economy.
Comments