Almost every top business school embraces the concept of the study group. The study group is simultaneously one of the more frustrating and beneficial aspects of business. This theme runs throughout the entire business school process, even beginning with your application.
Application = Team Player: Business schools are looking for people who have illustrated an ability to work as part of a team. You can best highlight this in your essays. If one of your essays involves work, then stress how you worked within a team or helped to bring each team member’s talents to the forefront.
If you are lucky, you have an ever more compelling story of how you made it out of the jungle and will be appearing on the National Geographic show “I Shouldn’t be Alive” only by working together with the rest of the group. If you are a member of the rugby team that the movie Alive was about, you might want to leave out some details. Short of that, a sports team that you still play on or the one you played on in college also makes for a good point to squeeze in somewhere. However you choose to express your “teaminess”, somehow underscore your great ability to work with a team and when needed be a team leader.
MBA = Group Projects: Once you arrive at business school you will be placed into a study group. Assuming your school is similar to most they will take four or five people of very different backgrounds and make them work together for a quarter on many different subjects and tasks. If you approach this correctly and do not get one of the few people in the section that no one can stand, this can be a great experience. This group allows you to make connections with classmates that seemed a bridge to far in undergrad.
Once assigned a study group you need to get together quickly and determine everyone’s strengths, weaknesses, career goals (trust me this matters) and schedules. During first quarter almost everyone has the same class schedule, but if your study group has a new parent, a just out of undergrad student and an international student their after school and weekend plans might be very different. Carve out group meeting times that everyone can commit to and treat that time as if it is another class.
Each member’s career goals matter because recruiting and grades will have varying importance to fellow classmates. A banker or consultant aspirant will place a greater value on grades, whereas other students might be looking to get a “gentleman’s B.” If this is not addressed tensions will rise as everyone gets the same grade for each assignment.
You will end up being much closer to your first study group than any of the following groups you have during the two years you spend in business school so enjoy it.
Good luck!
