10 B-school Tips from Smith MBA Students

"A lot has happened since August 2014, so I thought it would be interesting to reflect upon my experience at the Smith School to-date," says Allison Davern, first-year MBA student at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, in her latest blog post. "When I put pen to paper, I realized that my growth and memories have been strongly influenced by my wonderfully creative classmates. This blog post really wouldn’t exist without them, so I thought it was only appropriate that my classmates contribute to it."

In their own words, here are the top 10 things the Smith MBA Class of 2016 has learned thus far about business school:

1. Don’t forget to suit up!

“Always keep a suit and a pair of sweatpants on campus. You never know when you’ll need to dress up for an unscheduled employer or to dress down for those late nights preparing for a case competition.” – Kelsey Giraitis

2. It’s all about the team. 

“The only thing harder than doing group work is scheduling everyone to come in and do group work.” – Talel Aissi

3. The bigger the challenge, the bigger the change. 

“Push yourself and step outside your comfort zone. Whether it’s participating in a tough case competition or taking on a leadership role, you’ll learn a lot more when it’s hard.” – Katica Kiss

4. Communication fundamentals. 

“The ability to listen is equally as important as the ability to express.” – Gloria Zhang

5. Cases, cases and even more cases. 

“You can never practice case interviews too much.” – Bill Fegan

6. Bribery works. 

“Bring snacks for late-night group sessions. It’ll keep the team going and make you the most popular group member. Chocolate covered espresso beans are a big hit.” – Katica Kiss

7. Don’t be afraid to ask. 

“Take advantage of being a student again. Ask interesting people for informational interviews and network your butt off. Take advantage of playing the student card. Relationships can land you a great job.” – Lana Bronipolsky

8. Play to your weaknesses. 

“Classes outside of your areas of familiarity provide the biggest bang for your buck, so take advantage of them because learning is more important than grades!” – Nkosi Thomas

9. Go big.

“Throw yourself in 100 percent. Anything less and you will be missing out.” – Bill Fegan

10. Last dance, last chance?

“It is probably the last school experience for most of us. Make sure you work hard, play harder and take up new challenges.” – Ambudhi Manchanda

For more blog entries, visit: www.rhsmith.umd.edu/blogs.