6 Simple Tips to Succeed at HULT
“Pack your bags, get ready and say goodbye to the old you- because once you get here, you are going to change so much and for the better.” One of my fellow classmates and fellow Hultian Jorge Bazoberry beautifully summed up his HULT experience, and to be honest I couldn’t have said it better myself (and I’m very good with words).
HULT is one of the best and life changing experiences you will ever go through. I loved it so much in fact that, after completing my MBA in London and rotating to Dubai, I’m back in Boston doing my Masters in International Marketing. Doing this for the second-time round, I reflected (something they will ask you to do a lot at HULT) on my experience in the past year: What worked? What didn’t? And what can be improved? And I thought I would share my experience with you in the hopes that my advice will help wind down the stress and turn up the enjoyment.
1. Break It Down and Tackle 1 Thing At A Time
Have a big group project and don’t know where to start? An essay to write but facing writer’s block? Feeling like you have a lot going on and that it’s JUST TOO MUCH? We’ve all been there, and it’s not a fun place to be. Here’s the problem, we think of things as a whole and not as parts. Let’s assume you want to write a 1000-word essay, don’t just think I have to write an essay. Break down into steps of what needs to be done. An example would be something like this:
Create an outline
Do online research and get at least 5 good references
Interview an expert
Write 200 words per day for 5 days
It doesn’t so overwhelming, anymore does it? I only started doing this last year and it helped me be much more productive and efficient and I now do a list for almost anything.
There are great websites and applications to help create to-do lists like trello.com (what I use). Moo.do, todoist.com (no it’s –ist not list). The good news is that they are all free and some of them, like Trello, also has a mobile app so you can have your lists on the go. Todist.com even features several languages including Italian, Spanish, French, Japanese and Korean.
2. Take 1 day to plan out per week
Don’t leave anything that you have due to the last minute. This applies to everything from your daily course readings to your assignments and everything in between.
Yes, you might get the assignment done and hand it in, but you will get stressed out, hand in barely acceptable work and not learn anything in the process. Yes, you won’t be penalized if you go into class not having done the readings, but you will tune out and get bored if you haven’t read them and can’t discuss anything in class. If you want to avoid these situations, make sure to plan ahead.
Take 1 afternoon (I usually do this in the weekend) to look what you have due for the coming week and what readings you have and divide the workload over a few days. This way you will get everything done, work a little bit every day (instead of a one-day cram session) and still have most of your weeknights and weekend free to do whatever you want
3. Schedule team meetings ahead of time and set an agenda
At HULT, there will be days where you might be working with up to 4 teams at a time. You will have your Module team, your Triad (leadership group in MBA), your HBC team and the HULT prize team (if you decide to sign up for that). With each person working with different teams, taking time to work with each team becomes much more difficult to plan. Therefore, make sure to schedule meetings with your teams at least one week in advance. Decide how many times you want to meet, and for each meeting set goals. Don’t just meet without having any idea of what you will accomplish during that meeting.
4. Keep an eye out for events happening on campus
There always things happening at HULT whether its company presentations, career workshops, guest speaker events, networking events or club events. Pick out what you think you might be interested in and make time to go. It’s a great way to meet people with similar interests, network and have fun. Always check the events happening every month on the page of MyHult, posters in the elevators and keep an eye on your inbox.
5. Talk to your career advisor
So long as you are a HULT student, you have access to a great career advising team (Mark Daley from London I hope you are reading this). They are here to help you with feedback on your Résumé, job application tailoring for a vacancy, mock interview practice before your actual one and a lot more. Make use of this resource wisely.
6. Do what you don’t usually do
I was a terrible public speaker. I would choke and start speaking so fast. But the only way to get over that is to keep practicing and learning till I got it right. And HULT is just the place for that. If you are the shy one on your team, now is your chance to start presenting. Worried about messing up? It’s better to do this now in front of your friends and teachers who want to help you improve rather than strangers in a board meeting in your future job.
Need more advice? Happy to help! Reach out to me at dalameddine2017@student.hult.edu . And remember to have fun on your HULT journey!
