How to Get Ahead During the First Term of EMBA Study

When embarking on a new path in life, we’re always keen to prove ourselves capable of taking on fresh challenges that we’re presented with. Whether you’re starting a family, preparing for your first day at work or enrolling in a degree program – being prepared for the challenges ahead and determining how you will manage these challenges is important if you want to succeed.

An executive MBA is an extremely demanding degree and requires a lot of hard work and commitment. If you fall behind during your first term of study, you could jeopardize your entire degree – this is the nature of such a high-powered program. As such, it’s important that you try to get ahead when overcoming the first hurdles of studying an EMBA so that you’re on track to achieve your goals.

Here are our top tips for getting ahead during your first term of study.

Lesson plan in advance

Coming up with a lesson plan in advance sounds like something your lecturers should be doing, however it’s beneficial for students to do the same too! Most degree programs have online portals where you can access your lesson plans for upcoming modules – make use of the online portal and research into your lessons in the weeks prior to study.

When you are working on a lesson plan, come up with questions you would like answered or discussed, look into theories and analyses relating to your topic of study and read relevant books in advance of your lectures. Many lecturers will provide you with a list of recommended reading before a module starts – so try to make use of these resources. Although this all may seem demanding, especially when you have a full-time job to contend with, the rewards of a solid lesson plan far in advance will be worth it.

Asking lots of questions is always encouraged during the first term of study, but being able to provide the answers to some of the difficult questions will stand you in good stead with your lecturers and cohort – business education is all about peer learning, after all. It always pays to prepare in advance.

Networking with your cohort

Your new cohort are the people you are going to be spending a lot of your time with over the duration of your degree, so it’s important to build up a positive relationship with them, not just . If your EMBA takes place on weekends, then you will likely be sleeping in the same hotels as your cohort, eating your meals together, attending lectures together and, if that wasn’t enough, socializing at the same networking events with each other.

As such, you should make networking a priority in your first term in order to get to know them. Building a good relationship with your cohort will also provide you with a support network for when you feel stressed or overworked. Everybody is going through the same experience as you and can relate to the issues that you face in day to day EMBA life.

Make the time to talk to members of your cohort individually during the first few weeks of study. Find out about their professional background and a little bit about themselves personally. Engaging with people outside of the lecture theatre shows that you are approachable and sociable – both key attributes in business.

Achieve work-life balance

Although advanced lesson preparation is advantageous, don’t focus all your energy on your degree. When undertaking any professional commitment, it’s important to achieve a work-life balance in order to maintain some degree of sanity. Time management is a big part of finding a work-life balance.

If you’re studying an EMBA, you will likely be juggling a degree, work and personal commitments around your hectic schedule - so don’t feel bad for taking time out from time to time. Although most EMBAs will run networking events for you to attend with your cohorts, this is not a viable substitute for a social life.

Networking events still require you to maintain a degree of professionalism, no matter how many cocktails you have consumed, so it’s important to make time for yourself away from your degree to let your hair down. When you are working out your time management, plan nights out with your friends, evenings in with your partner and days out with your family. Constant focus on your degree could result in stress and tiredness which is ultimately detrimental to not only achieving EMBA success, but also work-life balance.

Healthy lifestyle: time management

A healthy lifestyle can really help you get ahead of the competition on an EMBA program. As part of the work-life balance, a healthy lifestyle consists mainly of three main elements – adequate sleep, a nutritious diet and plenty of exercise. If you incorporate all three into your lifestyle, then you will very likely see a marked improvement in your work.

Living healthily puts you in a positive frame of mind. Eating your greens increases concentration levels (handy for particularly complex statistics lectures), exercise releases endorphins which lift your mood and having eight hours of sleep a night fights fatigue during the day – so no more yawning at your desk or falling into a fitful sleep as soon as you get home from work.

While it’s true that a demanding schedule makes finding time for the gym and cooking healthy food difficult, it can be achieved with time management. If you set aside two nights/mornings a week for exercise and prepare your nutritious meals in advance, then maintaining a healthy lifestyle won’t seem so time consuming. In fact, once you’ve felt the benefits and seen how it effects your work, you may want to make your health a paramount factor in your time management schedule while achieving EMBA success.