mba student challengesUnlike many professions, those who enter business will often enter the work world after earning an under graduate degree, only to return to school later for graduate school.

This creates a situation where graduate school students have great experience , having spent years in the workforce, learning how ideas learned in school are applied in the real world. However, going back to school can often be a difficult transition, according to an article from U.S. News & World Report.

One of the biggest transitions is monetary. Business workers who return to school will not keep the same amount of money they were previously making.

College students must also balance work life with the grind of academics. That includes tests, presentations and papers. “Getting back into study mode can be quite a challenge,” Deborah Knox, an MBA admissions consultant, told U.S. News & World Report.

There are other areas that the report said could be of concern for business graduate students.

Time management. Many students earning their Master of Business Administration degree find themselves having to balance already established work and family life with the rigors of being a graduate student.  These can include group projects where meetings and deadlines are not flexible and must be integrated with existing schedules. ‘There’s just a lot going on. For two years you’re just constantly going,” Fitswa Baffour, who pursued her MBA at the Stern School of Business at New York University, told U.S. News & World Report.

Self-direction. Unlike the direction given at work, or even in their home life, graduate students in business school must design their own path to success. MBA Prep School founder Tyler Cormney told U.S. News & World Report that students should enter school with a clear plan on what they want to do during their two years in school, down even to what clubs they want to join.

Social interests. A strong social life – a connection to the larger business community – is emphasized at most business schools, meaning that students need to make time for networking with others, joining student clubs and attending business community and recruitment events.

Skills. The final area is perhaps one of the toughest – honing the bread-and-butter skills needed to be a business leader. Two areas many identify as being problematic are finance and accounting. Jeremy Grace, who works in the MBA program at Rice University, suggested to U.S. News that students could refresh these basic skills by taking a class at a community college or online.

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