For many people, obtaining an MBA degree is a significant step forward for career and personal advancement. However, many business school applicants are often so caught up with their GMAT preparations, essay writing, and admissions interview preparations that they forget that getting into their dream school is just the beginning.

Since the MBA experience is intense, demanding, and costly, it makes sense to extract as much value as possible from it as possible. Thankfully, there are numerous opportunities to explore and activities you can undertake to make the most of your experience. Here are four of the best ways to get the best out of your MBA program.

1. Network extensively.

It’s common knowledge that a solid professional network is essential to fast-track your career in the competitive business world. Luckily, business school is one of the best places to start networking. Therefore, it’s best to take full advantage of this to build genuine connections and foster relationships with colleagues that will come in handy at various times in your career. You can focus on leveraging your class’s diversity to engage with colleagues from different backgrounds, enriching your experience and perspective. Additionally, you can tap into your school’s alumni database and engage your tutors to build connections. However, MBA applicants need to enter into top business schools to access a great professional network. Reliable MBA admissions consultants such as Gateway Admissions can help with this need.

Gateway Admissions offers MBA admissions consulting services to the best candidates, helping them enter into Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, Wharton, Kellogg, and other top schools. Their admissions experts help top potential candidates throughout every stage of the application process, increasing their chances of admission. These consultants conduct mock interviews, coach you on your resume and essays, help you locate your weaknesses and showcase your strengths, and help you decide on the best messages and stories that will increase your chances of success.

2. Take advantage of available resources.

There are numerous resources available to MBA students to make the most out of their programs. Many business schools offer executives and entrepreneurs that students can make appointments with to tap into their extensive knowledge. Additionally, several research tools in the libraries, including expensive and hard-to-get databases, are free for the taking, so you can use them at your disposal to make the most of your MBA experience. When you become a business owner after school, having a good employer brand is essential to attract top talent and retain employees. Effective employee engagement platforms such as Ambassify will come in handy when seeking to forge a strong employer brand.

Ambassify is an employee management SaaS platform that helps companies manage their workers, build their brands, and achieve tangible results. Their employer branding solutions help you harness your current workers’ power, ensuring that your employee advocacy efforts are successful. Nowadays, a strong brand is necessary for potential employers because a bad reputation with current and former employees significantly harms your talent attraction and employee retention efforts. Therefore, investing in this branding is an excellent idea because it isn’t too costly and can save you significant cash in your Human Resources (HR) department.

3. Leverage flexible programming.

Many full and part-time programs exist for MBA students, and you can explore these different options to optimize your MBA experience. The COVID-19 pandemic has also introduced more flexibility into MBA programs. Several on and off-campus options offer a wide range of business school students more choices than ever before. Consequently, take advantage of flexible programming that best suits your lifestyle and hobbies, ensuring that you can enjoy more balance while studying. As an entrepreneur, investing in modern and helpful business tools is undoubtedly beneficial. Trusted enterprises such as Bright Pattern can handle these concerns.

Bright Pattern’s contact center software equips your help desk to deliver better customer service by maintaining context and relevance across multiple channels when interacting with clients. Their Microsoft Teams call center integration helps you integrate Microsoft Teams with their contact center solution. This contact center integration works with Microsoft Dynamics to streamline your clients’ journeys. Additionally, it enables your workforce to interact outside of the Microsoft Teams platform, allowing you to communicate on social media, over SMS messaging, and in many more ways.

4. Experiment and take risks.

Many business school graduates opine that enrolling in an MBA program is an excellent way to take calculated risks and stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone. Therefore, consider taking a class or two you usually wouldn’t have taken to learn several other things. Additionally, you can try out an entrepreneurial idea while in school and take up a leadership role in one of your extra-curricular activity clubs, ensuring that you try as many new things as possible to make the most of your time in school.

Enrolling in an MBA program is a worthwhile experience that you must make the most of. The above-listed points are four helpful tips worth considering to get the best out of your MBA program.