If you’re applying to B-school in the next few months, one of the best things you can do to improve your chances is read. Many of us haven’t picked up a book in years, and the MBA application season doesn’t particularly seem like a good time to start. However, making time to pick up the habit can have several advantages.
Firstly, reading can strengthen comprehension skills – it can act as a constructive break during the rigor of prep for competitive exams like the GMAT or GRE. Secondly, reading helps improve vocabulary and fine-tune your grammar. It can also give you creative ideas to improve sentence structures and craft essays for applications. Thirdly, a well-read person shines through any conversation. Quite simply, the more you know about the world, the more interesting you become to the world and specifically to the admissions committee.
While there are several must-read lists that have been put out for business students, we believe that the benefits of developing a sustained reading routine are underrated. To help you get started, we’ve put together a two-pronged approach that will stand you in good stead not just when you are applying to the MBA, but even when you are building your career.
Read the Economist.
There are, of course, several periodicals one can read. For example, a typical article for the Wall Street Journal, a great source of news, is usually a collected set of facts related to some event. As readers, we read and absorb facts. Here at CSB, we insist that students read the Economist for a variety of reasons. The Economist prints persuasive essays as opposed to a collection of facts. A typical Economist article makes an argument upfront and then supports it with facts. This style of writing exposes the reader to important issues and enables him or her to form opinions and interpret the written material, rather than merely absorb the information.
Do you remember the Simpsons episode when Homer is handed a copy of the magazine on an airplane? “Look at me, I’m reading The Economist,” he says to Marge. “Did you know that Indonesia is at a crossroads?”
Read a business paper everyday.
Pick up one business paper to read everyday – we recommend Mint or the Economic Times. Reading business news can often be confusing. Don’t get worried if you don’t understand some terms. For instance, while several of us are impacted by the recent demonetization move, most of us do not know anything about the mechanism itself and as a result have half-baked opinions. Mint does a great job of ensuring that the reader never reads a story without some context. Create a mind map of what you read and follow up regularly. This is the only way to understand a business or economic issue well.
While reading these papers, make sure to follow specific industries and companies that you are interested in. This helps you develop domain knowledge. Warren Buffet, one of the world’s most prolific investors, spends 80% of his time reading.
Here‘s a list of what successful people read – may give you some more ideas!
