It honestly feels kind of odd having all of my applications submitted. Applications for business school have been my singular focus since the end of August when I finalized my decision to pursue that path, and now there is a bit of a void. However, I am reasonably confident that I will be matriculating this fall somewhere, so I know that the next month or two are simply the calm before the storm. Life for Elizabeth and me will become very busy, exciting, and difficult once the dominos start to fall.

So, to keep my mind occupied and take advantage of this brief quiet spell, I'm thinking of the things I can do now that will help me prepare for B-School. Obviously, taking an econ or finance class would be beneficial, but I've decided against that; after all, those are what I'm going to school to learn in the first place, and I'm confident in my ability to absorb the material quickly once there. I've decided instead to read BCG's book on strategy. I figure this will be beneficial for a few reasons. From what I hear, recruiting basically starts the day you get on campus, so I want to be prepared (BCG is a company I really have my eye on). Secondly, I don't think I'll have much time for "discretionary reading" once school starts. And lastly, I do think this can help me get my head in the game before I even show up for class.

If nothing else, perhaps it will help me keep my mind off of those impending decision dates and from being tempted to even look at the BusinessWeek forums....

So what is everyone else doing for "preschool"? Do you plan to read or study anything before starting school? Taking any prep classes?

--Chris

For those of you interested in pursuing a consulting career after B-School, here is an interesting read about a student consulting project at Tuck. I think this is a good example of the types of things that consulting-heavy programs frequently offer. The article doesn't specify, but I imagine that this project was part of the Tuck Student Consulting Services. I it is safe to say that even if you aren't planning on going into MC, projects like this seem to offer a great way to apply what you are learning, while you are still learning it, and that has to add value to anyone going into business.

There is another lesson in this for businesses. If you are looking for new ideas for your business and have a business school in the region, it's probably worth your time to contact them. A relationship like this is mutually beneficial to both the school and the business.

-Chris