Awesome! Got my first several questions a while back (sorry for the delay). Figure I’d answer them in this post.
“this is more of a “THANKYOUSOMUCH YOU ARE AN ANGEL” than an “ask”, but i happened to stumble upon your blog after trying to fish for more details/pros/cons/rants about ugba classes, and your little overviews were PERFECT! i’m starting at haas in the fall – and i’m SUPER nervous! hopefully my first semester will turn out well!
thanks for all your help! :]”
Ha – I guess this isn’t really a question, but I’m glad you found those posts useful! Congrats on getting into Haas, and don’t be nervous, you’ll really enjoy the top-notch professors and (most) of the classes, depending on your interests. What I like about Haas is that the core classes provide a comprehensive look into most aspects of business.
Just be yourself, do your best, don’t give in to the notion that you have to act a certain way to win approval or success. In the end, it’s the quality of your work that counts. Make some new friends, help others along the way. I’m tired of our perception from other majors, although it is somewhat deserved (though not always the case). I’ll have to save this for a future post.
“Great blog, very well rounded!
You have great success getting internships, I’d love to hear your thoughts in general about them. How important they are for business students and tips! Lots of tips!
So, internships, how did you go about getting them?
Anything you like to do before, during, and after the interview?
For someone looking to do an internship during the fall or spring, what kind of schedule do you recommend? 2 or 3 days of school during the week? Is it still possible to work an internship with 5 day school schedule?
Thanks!”
Thanks for the kind words! Ah, internships. Yes, definitely very important for business students. Since we’re considered non-technical majors compared to math majors and engineers, prior experience is a must in differentiating among every other business student looking for internships. Don’t be afraid to start small – take an unpaid internship for the experience, work in a smaller firm where you’ll be exposed to a variety of tasks. From there, you’ll see your opportunities grow. Of course, connections never hurt – don’t be afraid to reach out to people you know. That’s definitely the most common way people end up with good jobs.
For interviews, if you’re doing just a behavioral interview (most internship interviews have some form of this), make sure to prepare. This was something I personally had to learn, because I hate scripts and would prefer to go off the top of my head. But to do well, you must prepare. Really think over your previous experiences, list out several significant accomplishments, think of specific instances where you solved a conflict, demonstrated leadership, etc. The nice thing about interviews is that most questions are similar in content or theme, so once you get the main idea down, you can adapt to the specific question.
When you answer interview questions, don’t just talk about what you did, talk about the impact! Interviewers want to see something tangible from your accomplishments, because it proves that you were successful in solving that specific problem. After the interview, make sure to follow up with a thank-you email.
If you’re doing an internship during the fall or spring, the first thing you should do is make sure you can balance your course load, clubs, and work. Worst thing that could happen is you realize midway through the semester that you’re overloaded, and then you’ll have to drop something or under-perform.
Definitely possible to work an internship with a 5 day school schedule, but would require a flexible employer, so you’d have to figure that out when searching/recruiting. Ideally, working 2-3 days of the school week would allow you to balance work and school pretty well, in my opinion. Cuts down on transportation time, too.
That’s what I have for now, hope my answers were helpful! Any other questions, feel free to drop me a note. And by all means, Ask Me Anything questions don’t have to be school or work-related (although those questions are fine, too!), so the rest of my readers, feel free to ask away! Link below.
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Haas at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.