Anything you wish you would have done...

I'm giving this a bump, hoping that when students get back from taking a break they will participate in this topic. I think it could really help some of us '08ers preparing for B-school.

I would have skipped basic classes and taken advanced classes like regression modeling and advanced micro. I should not have been worried too much about getting A's. In business schools, I would hardly think anyone would fail as it's nearly impossible, IMO.

I would trust the system. If the school tells you to take courses, then of course do and take them seriously. If they don't, then chill. I agree with getting settled before classes begin, especially if you have to move and/or furnish an apartment. Getting used to reading a lot everyday would also help, but some people may already be used to that even before getting into school.

L.

totally should have taken more time off.

and should not have gotten hit by a car. that was not an efficient use of time.

practiced drinking shots between beers. I am used to drinking beer, and could probably outdrink most people at the school. But as soon as you throw in tequilas and random liquor at points, I am in trouble.

And they do that an awful lot here.

Actually - for anyone going Sales & Trading, Investment Management or any of those things...

work on your stock picks as soon as possible. Longs, Shorts, fundamentals why. Use yahoo finance or whatever, and then brush it up when you get to school using Capital IQ or whatever.

You will find that your shorts are gone by the fall, at least if you pick them right. However, the appreciation of how to throw together a stock pick, support it, be aware of how to defend it and all elements like that are going to be critical to your survival. Remember that really, for the pick to be valid, you need to have it tie to your economic outlook (assuming you have one - top down is way better in these circumstances to show rounded thought).

Though you will get your picks bounced out and they will be no use for interviews, appreciating how you put one together (identifying the company, sector and signals) means it will be quicker when you are in school. I want to trade fixed income, and I was asked for stock picks in four or five interviews - you need to be prepared. Considering that my short dropped 10% the day of my final interview (about 16 Jan) and I had only formalized it around 2 Jan, you can see that these things move quick (longs are always more long term as you can shift the target).

I can write some things on how to do stock picks if you like when I have a few moments. The level of detail required for S+T compared to Research is vastly different (buyside is the same as research to my mind) but you need a solid appreciation and some good support on them. The sooner learned, the easier your life will be.

sounds good to me, personally, don`t want to go into i-banking, but want to pick up the analytical skills for self-trading

Here`s the story about why not?
NB: Not having a go at `want to be i-bankers`, it`s just something i became acutely aware of for people with children.

I have kid(s), and the wife is an international school teacher. All of the children in her school are from high flyers (International assignments, ex-pat packages etc.) She teaches 6 year olds. Recently, they were given an assignment to write about their heroes. Most of the wrote about their mother or father. The most noticeable thing was that the children who had parents who were both i-bankers, consistently wrote that their heroes were their nannies!.
The other noticeable difference was in behaviour patterns of some these children, in particular how attention-seeking they were around their parents because they see them so little. The children are all bright and clever and well cared for but they lacked parental support. Lastly, the parents themselves were not great parents. Often asking the teachers to give extra activities( e.g. Homework) for their children, e.g. trying to hand down some of the repsonsibilities of parent-hood to the teachers (e.g. reading with your child is important way to build up reading abilities and an excellent way to bond with the child) so that they could have more time to do whatever they wanted. The most annoying aspect of that, was that they would ring us up during SCHOOL HOLIDAYS and ask my wife to set them homework!!!!

I must stress that this is mostly the case where both parents were i-bankers, or 1 parent was an i-banker and the other worked long hours too.

I`m sure a lot of these parents felt a little guilty or upset when they read their childs `heroes` story and realised their children identified more with their nanny than they did with themselves.

sleep more.

Not possible for me i have children
She is currently waking up at 4am every morning. Next one is due in a few months, cue even less sleep.

If you could do this that would be huge!!!

I took two Accounting classes and a Statistics course before I came so I felt pretty good coming in. The only other class I wish I had taken was an intro to Finance. The Accounting really helped as I could breeze through that class during the first two quarters and focus on some of the harder subjects. Having a background in Finance would have made the second and third quarters that much easier. Unfortunately the school I was taking classes online through didn't offer Finance at the time.

My summer before school recipe for success at B-school:
Take Accounting and Finance (Statistics if you feel you need it)
Work out and get in good shape (B-school is tough and you will need the physical and mental stamina)
Take a nice long vacation and have some fun

Also - it would help to have a career gameplan and idea of your internship goals/company targets before you get to school but it is not imperative.

Think long and hard about what you want to do and investigate careers you think you DONT want to do.

I haven't started school yet but seems to me like making a list of companies you would like to reach out to to intern with would be a good idea.