4 Reasons MBA Student Activities Will Help You Stand Out In Your Career

When it comes to boosting your MBA return on investment (MBA ROI), student activities have a lot to offer.

From pitching to investors in international competitions to taking the lead in student associations, business school offers great opportunities to develop your experience, expand your network, and upskill.

For two MBA students at CUHK Business School, extracurricular activities have helped them do just that. Kevin Yu is studying for an MBA with a concentration in Business Analytics, while Sidan Wang is studying for an MBA with a concentration in Finance and Entrepreneurship.

BusinessBecause sat down with Kevin and Sidan to find out the four reasons why MBA student activities can help you stand out in your career.

1. Build leadership skills with MBA extracurricular activities

Leadership skills are developed through experience. While MBA classes offer leadership development opportunities, MBA extracurricular activities provide a real-world environment to test these skills.

“Leadership experience should be an integral part of anyone’s MBA experience. You don't learn how to be a leader unless you try it yourself first,” says Kevin.

At CUHK MBA, there are many extracurricular opportunities for cultivating leadership skills. For Sidan, this meant taking on the roles of class representative and the chair of external affairs for student associations. 

“I helped to organize sports activities and major events for the MBA program to help with connections and resources,” Sidan explains.

These events facilitate networking across the cohort and require necessary skills for leadership building, such as decision-making and problem-solving skills.

2. MBA activities promote business networking with alumni

Building a diverse network is a cornerstone of the MBA experience. Strong connections with professionals from different industries and career stages can lead to invaluable career insights and open doors to new opportunities.

As the oldest business school in Hong Kong, CUHK has built an extensive alumni network over the last 60 years. Through events such as dinners and talks among current students and alumni, the LEAP Adviser Scheme (LAS) enables students to learn from the career paths of CUHK MBA graduates and build lasting connections. For alumni hoping to continue developing their business skills long after graduation, the Alumni Audit Program offers various learning opportunities to catch up with cutting-edge business concepts.

Career insights are not the only benefits of alumni networking. As Kevin prepared for the global Turner MIINT (MBA Impact Investing Network and Training Program) competition, he actively tapped into the CUHK network.

“I've had the privilege of receiving mentorship from a lot of alumni. In our competition, my team consulted with quite a few alumni and professors who gave a lot of very useful advice. Having that firsthand career advice has been fantastic,” says Kevin.

The Turner MIINT program, co-produced by the Wharton Social Impact Initiative and the Bridges Impact Foundation, is an experiential learning opportunity for MBA students. It allows them to practice impact investing by sourcing and conducting diligence on early-stage impact investments while competing for financial investment. 

For Sidan, the opportunity to take part in the competition was not only impactful in her business education, but for her future career plans too.

“The MIINT competition helped me to determine that I want to get into the impact investing field. I would not have gained this knowledge if I was not in the MBA program at CUHK and if I didn’t participate in these competitions,” says Sidan.

3. Improve business communication skills through MBA extracurricular activities

Strong business communication skills are essential for MBA students seeking high-level roles after graduation, together with leadership skills and a solid network. 

An essential part of effective communication is adaptability. When it comes to negotiations and effective leadership, the ability to communicate with professionals from different backgrounds and perspectives is key.

“I thought I knew how to work with other people, but when I got into the MBA program, I realized there are so many kinds of people in this world. Through competitions, I learned how to interact with all the people around me—it’s a real learning experience outside of class,” says Sidan.

4. Develop a well-rounded skill set in MBA competitions

Just like internships, student clubs and competitions enable students to build technical expertise and essential soft skills to thrive in the business world.

Competitions such as hackathons have been a way for Kevin to improve his coding and programming skills. These intensive competitions have tight deadlines of 24 to 48 hours, during which participants have to build a solution to a problem. Working under strict time constraints, students exercise critical business skills such as time management and performing under pressure.

“I'm a beginner in terms of coding but hackathons allow me to upskill and provide a taste of entrepreneurship as a lot of hackathons have to do with new business ideas,” Kevin explains.

While hackathons need participants to stay focused in a tight timeframe, competitions such as the Turner MIINT require sustained perseverance and stamina over a much longer period.

“Unlike other competitions that only last for weeks, MIINT lasts for almost a year, so you have to be very persistent with it,” Sidan explains.

Perseverance and the ability to perform under pressure are valuable skills that business professionals should strive for, as shown by research at the University of Pennsylvania.

Whether your MBA ambitions are to grow an international and diverse network, build technical and interpersonal skills, or prepare for future leadership roles, actively participating in MBA student associations can give you a competitive edge.