For those whom may be 4,5,6 years out of undergrad, and have gone to top MBA programs-- If you could go back to the moment you were an undergrad, knowing what you know now about getting in to an elite MBA program (H/S/W), what would you have done differently in the 4,5,6 years you had to prepare an application?
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If you're in undergrad:
Don't slack on academics. Doesn't mean you should get neurotically obsessed with an additional 0.1 point, but focus on academics like you're gunning for med or law school (or on a PhD track where you need respectable grades). Also, focusing on academics builds two incredibly important traits that you'll need later in life: self-discipline and deferred gratification. No one loves to study, especially certain courses like accounting, organic chemistry, etc. But getting good grades is as much an exercise in developing self-discipline as it is anything else. I know, sports - but unless you're an elite athlete where there's other avenues to develop self-discipline and delayed gratification, hit the books.
The party scene. Don't waste time there, or at least minimize your time there. You're not missing as much as you think. A borderline alcoholic binge drinking bro is not someone to aspire to, nor are the supposed hookups worth it (especially when the boasting is "I don't remember a thing last night!" - think about how absurd that is, that you have so much "fun" you black out). Instead, use as much free time as you can to get involved in activities you genuinely enjoy or want to get better at. Maybe it's a running club (or some organized sport that gets you up early in the morning). Or arts, nonprofit, politics, religion, etc. Not only are you bettering yourself, an incredible byproduct of this is you'll make REAL friends with people based on shared values - these are the people you'll likely still be friends with years from now (and any dating you do as a result of meeting people through these activities will also be better). The party culture is a trap, and seeing it for what it is and not giving into peer pressure (especially if you're at a school known for its party culture) will teach you how to be an adult when you're faced with other kinds of social pressures as you get older - to be your own person.
A big part of college is not just learning how to learn, but developing habits for success that will carry you into your future. And a lot of that comes down to your mindset and how you prioritize and manage tradeoffs with your time, because there's a lot coming at you. At any given time, you can choose to finish off that problem set, go drinking, or volunteer somewhere, or just waste time - and then juggling that with sleep and your health.
And in my opinion, the priorities as a college student should be:
In that order. Always. With student-athletes, perhaps their sport and academics are 1 and 1A (either way).
You WILL have chances to have fun. But make that last. Maybe that may mean instead of staying out until 4am with a bunch of blacked out drunks eating pizza they'll never remember anyways, try disappearing at 1am so you can get up the next morning to go on a 10k run with your real friends (or studying for an important exam).
If you do this, you'll set yourself up for two things:
Habits for success (in anything), and
Better recruiting opportunities coming out of college (GPA, extracurriculars, etc).
There isn't one thing in college that will set you up for a top b-school years later, but a cumulative effect of things, which starts with building good habits NOW.
I think Alex's points are super and I'd take every one of those.
As someone finishing at MBA business schools ">M7, here are some extra takes:
your life isn't all about career. any student life / job these days can pretty dehumanizing, but make sure to carve out some time for your family, your extended family, your friends, and set some time aside to meet new people and make friends.
Meet people with open mind, and at the minimum, be nice to the any perceived "losers" you meet - first of all, you don't know if they're real losers; even if they were, they still could have a connection to change your life; lastly, if they rejuvenated from their stupidity, they can be superstar too
win a lot, but give back some to other fellow human. At some point, $$$ is just a number and it'll be hard to buy happiness with $$$ - believe me, many tried, and failed in a landslide. What feels best, is actually when you do something that gives smile to someone in need. That gratification is both instant and natural.
make your resources count - maybe similar to the spine in Alex's comments, but there are plenty of opportunity to waste resources, of which the most important is time - that's often why you see losers the way they are, because they either have no resources or aren't spending time to build it. You got to keep an eye on your resources, because other people don't always take care of YOUR resources as gently.
Salute to the silent idiots that left monkey shit on this post, and I'd happily defend MBAApply's incredible post too.
but you know what? You must be an infrequent winner in real life, so sad!
I couldn't agree with point number 1 more - I didn't focus on academics at all, and while things have worked out for me it would have been a lot easier had I spent time studying in undergrad. My GPA was an anchor both in terms of getting a job post-college and in MBA applications.
However, I would put an asterisk next to point 2. I was in a fraternity in college and we drank a LOT. Some of us balanced studying and drinking well, others did not. We've now had ~7 weddings for people in my pledge class, and at each one of those ~15/17 of the members of my pledge class have been present. Those guys I got blackout drunk with are my closest friends now, and to give you a sampling of their achievements- MD, MD, JD (NYU), JD (NYU), JD (Harvard), MBA (Stern), MBA (Wharton), MS Comp Sci (Stanford), M Arch (Harvard), PE MF, Junior Partner (FoF), Goldman to large HF. So it's not always true that the people who you get drunk and party with in college are a) a bad peer group or b) not the people you'll be friends with the rest of your life.
Haven't done the MBA yet, but interested as well.
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