The 4 Character Traits It Takes to Make It in Business School

By Danielle Wirsansky on November 10, 2016

This article is brought to you by Kaplan, the leader in test prep for over 90 standardized tests, including the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, and MCAT.

Business school can be a great opportunity. It can help you learn more about owning or managing a business; it can help you get a better position; it can even help to increase your salary.

But business school is not for everyone or rather, I should say, not everyone is cut out for business school. Any kind of graduate school is difficult but business school can be particularly grueling. You have got to have a certain skill-set, character traits if you will, in order to succeed there.

So read on to learn the character traits that it takes to make it in business school!

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Determination

Graduate school is tough. It often entails endless hours of reading, homework, and tears of frustration. It is a lot of work to get through business school. And it takes a lot of determination to do so. You can’t let anything stop you from achieving your goals, not the mountain of boring books you have to both read and write reports on, not the 20+ page papers you have to write, not the professor beating around the bush and never answering your question to your full satisfaction.

You have to be strong willed and push yourself forward. You cannot let yourself be deterred and you have to persevere. You cannot be afraid of hard work. You might have to sacrifice a few nights out and a weekend or two. But if you are determined, you can achieve most anything that you want and business school is no exception.

Ambition

You are already ambitious if you made the choice to go to graduate school and, even more, were accepted. You have already been doing good work, networking, and setting yourself apart. But in business, you have to be ambitious to succeed and business school is no different.

You should not just want to get through this experience — you need to get everything out of it that you possibly can. You need to milk the experience of attending graduate school for all it’s worth so that you can make the most of your time and money spent there.

You do not just want to pass; you want to make the best grades possible. You do not just want to take classes; you want to take the courses that will help you the most and that are taught by the professors that will be the most valuable connections. You do not just want to be a member of the graduate student association; you want to be a board member.

Take the extra step to make yourself stand out. Do not be afraid, be ambitious.

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Confidence

Confidence is taking ambition one step forward. Being in the business world is risky business (ha ha, get it?) and you cannot just have big dreams. Big dreams are not enough to succeed. You also have to believe in yourself and your dreams in order to accomplish them.

Dale Carnegie, one of greatest business tycoons in America’s history, once said, “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”

It is great to have dreams and ambitions; those are your starting places. But then you need the courage to act and confidence in yourself in order to make it big and achieve those dreams. Be confident. Run for the open graduate student association board spot. Actually go to your professor’s office hours and talk to them. Get that prestigious interview or win that grant. Take all the workshops they offer and do not be afraid. Believe in yourself. Listen to Carnegie and get on your feet and go.

And if Carnegie believes in you, then you should too.

Charisma

Business school can be considered a test run of what it will be like to really be in the business world. And the most successful business people are not usually those that trip over their tongue, can’t think of the right thing to say, or just do not talk at all.

You have got to have charisma! Many people think that charisma is inherited, that it is something that you are born with and not something that you can cultivate but that is not always the case. Charisma is an extension of confidence, where instead of just believing in yourself and your dreams, you exude this confidence in a way that makes others believe in you and your dreams as well.

The way that you do so is to be sure in your words and your actions. You should not waver though that does not mean that you should dive in headlong into things without thinking them through. But you want to be confident enough in yourself that everyone else believes you will succeed and wants to be a part of your vision. Charisma is all about being cool, calm, collected and passionate.

Learn more about Kaplan’s test prep options and start building the confidence you need for Test Day.

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