Why Its Hard to Be a Poet in Business School

Once MBA  classes start, they move very quickly, and although  you’ll want to spend a lot of time outside of class trying to understand  the new concepts you are learning, you wont have much time.  For someone who doesn’t have a strong quantitative background, taking statistics, accounting, and economics at the same time can be quite challenging. If you’ve never seen a financial statement or learned how to do derivatives, you might want to consider doing some work before you get to campus. Take a look at what classes you’ll need to take over the course of  your MBA program. These will likely be similar across programs, so you can figure out which classes will  be most helpful for you to take at your local community college, extension program, or online before school begins. If you’ve never taken economics, pick up a book about demand curves and learn how businesses determine how much of a product to sell.  If you haven’t taken a math class since your freshman year of college, take at least one before you get to campus. With a basic understanding of statistics, accounting, and economics, you’ll be much more successful during your first year of school, and you’ll also be a great resource to your classmates who might be struggling a bit more than you. Recommended classes to take are business statistics, financial accounting, and microeconomics, but if you only find â€Å"accounting† or â€Å"statistics† courses, those will still be quite helpful. Taking on extra quant-based  coursework might seem like a daunting task while you’re working full time, studying for the GMAT, and writing essays for your business school applications, but it is definitely worthwhile  Ã‚  just think, you’ll be this busy if not busier in business school, so you might as well start now and learn how to manage your time. Those quant classes  will also help you prep for  the GMAT, so it’s really a win-win. When you’re feeling overwhelmed during your first few weeks of school, just remember that you’re not alone. There will be a lot of people in your class who come from a humanities background, and you will still have a lot to offer your classmates,  even if it is not  through your accounting or statistics expertise. Applying to business school? Call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today, or take our free MBA Admissions Profile Evaluation  for personalized advice for your unique application situation! As always, be sure to find us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+  and Twitter. Colleen Hill  studied Middle Eastern and North African Studies at UCLA before heading to Michigan’s Ross School of Business to pursue international development consulting in Africa. She’s very happy she took accounting and statistics in the year before she moved to Ann Arbor.