Slow down. Take a moment. Look around. Soak it all in.
You won’t experience another moment like this.
That’s business school in a nutshell. At home, students are busy corralling peppy children and cleaning clogged gutters. At work, there are antsy clients and unforgiving deadlines. In between, there is the executive MBA program: late-night meetings, early-morning readings, and weekend classes. Life is emergencies sandwiched between distractions, served with sluggishness and garnished by guilt.
Many times, EMBA students are encouraged to hunker down and just get through it. If you ask graduates, many will say that dogged pursuit is what they regret most about business school. They fixated on the outcome rather than the process. In the end, some wondered if they missed out on the most important part of the experience.
LIVING IN THE HERE AND NOW
Arief Wana, University of Chicago (Booth)
“[I regret] not taking more time to pause and enjoy the moment,” admits Arief Wana, an Indonesian asset manager and philanthropist who competed his Executive MBA at the University of Chicago’s Booth School. “Between assignments and deadlines, I sometimes forgot to celebrate how far we’d come. Looking back, every 2 am team call and hallway debate was part of a rare, transformative season of life.”
Janitra Taylor also regrets not fully living in the moment. A highly-decorated banker, Taylor became heavily involved in campus activities as a EMBA at the Yale School of Management. A student ambassador, Taylor became well-known among recruits for documenting her MBA experience on social media – even once being recognized as “that woman from IG.” Despite this, Taylor sometimes wonders if she should have devoted more time to living the moment rather than capturing it.
“Balancing work, school, and personal life made it easy to get caught up in what was next rather than savoring what was right in front of me. I appreciated the incredible people around me. However, I often found myself so focused on the next assignment, the next deadline, or the next goal that I missed opportunities to truly slow down and enjoy the experience.”
NEVER STOP LEARNING
Still, Wana and Taylor – two members of the EMBA Class of 2025 – dodged an even bigger regret: not enrolling in business school at all. That’s why Arthur Bochner, a University of Michigan Ross School and chief communications officer at News Corp, urges prospective students to take a leap of faith and return to school.
“Whether it’s an EMBA or any other program, if you’re considering going back to school in the middle or later parts of your career…just do it. The insights, knowledge, and experience I’ve gained at 43 are ten times more valuable now than they would have been at 23. Education is a lifelong endeavor, and the rewards far outweigh the costs. I’ve also seen executives who don’t continue their education journeys lose touch with the latest thinking. The field evolves, and you have to stay fresh.”
What are some other mistakes that business students regret? As part of the Best & Brightest Executive MBA selection process, Poets&Quants asked top spring graduates to share their biggest regrets around business school. Here are seven of the biggest ‘do-overs’ from the Class of 2025.
Katie Anderson, Arizona State (W. P. Carey)
1) Spent More Time with Classmates Outside Class: “The cohort is your greatest asset, and I wish I had taken more weekends or shared more long dinners to truly learn from them.”
Kishan Chalumuri, UC Berkeley (Haas)
2) Taken Advantage of More Opportunities Outside Class: “For example, there were several opportunities to network with students in other programs and connect with speakers that could have proven useful in my network. But I did not always take advantage of these opportunities. In retrospect, I should have pushed through the tiredness, occasional apathy, or discomfort to take full advantage of these opportunities.”
Katie Anderson, Arizona State (W. P. Carey)
“My biggest regret was not having the time to fully explore everything the program had to offer. Between running my businesses, managing family responsibilities, and staying on top of coursework, I often had to prioritize the essentials. While I gained a tremendous amount from the classroom and my cohort, I wish I had carved out more time to engage in additional experiences — from speaker events to campus activities and deeper networking opportunities. There was so much more available beyond the core and, in hindsight, I would have loved to take greater advantage of it.”
Amir Alwani, Southern Methodist University (Cox)
3) Spent More Time on Campus During Class Weekends: “[That includes] studying in the libraries, walking around campus, and letting myself fully soak in the Yale SOM atmosphere. Looking back, I wish I had given myself more space to just be present.”
Janitra Taylor, Yale SOM
4) Completed More Global Residencies: “I am grateful I was able to travel to Australia and Vietnam, but would have loved to have explored other regions of the world as well. The learning and experiences were impactful. The residencies also provided the opportunity for deeper connections and an international perspective on business. The global residencies changed how I view the world and provided unique learning opportunities and access to global executives.”
Karen Pfister, University of Virginia (Darden)
5) Said ‘Yes’ More Often: “My biggest regret is probably not saying “Yes!” to more of the myriad learning opportunities outside the formal content of the programme – for example, the startup boot camp weekend and the M&A simulation evening. There are so many readings and assignments to prepare; saying yes to the extras can at times feel overwhelming. That said, hearing from others that events that you missed were supremely rewarding (and fun!) makes you think twice about saying anything other than “Yes!” to the next opportunity.”
Francis Clay, INSEAD
6) Stopped Trying to Do Everything: “One of the beautiful lessons from the GEMBA is also learning to let go of the illusion that you can be everywhere and do everything. The world is more complex, diverse and rich than any one person can fully grasp. Learning to prioritize, to be present where you are, and to accept that “missing out” is sometimes part of life – that in itself is a valuable insight. So yes, FOMO may have been my regret, but learning to live with it might have been part of the growth.”
Sikander Malik, IESE Business School
7) Built More Relationships: “It’s easy to let work consume any leftover time in residential sessions or even during online sessions. It took me a while to realize that I needed to make this program more of a priority and make developing relationships with my cohort members and professors the main objective. These are the relationships that will serve you in future.”
Eduardo Paredes, IE Brown Executive MBA
DON’T MISS: BEST ADVICE FOR EXECUTIVE MBAS … FROM TOP 2025 GRADUATES and BEST & BRIGHTEST EXECUTIVE MBAs: CLASS OF 2025
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