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Thousands of wannabe business leaders enroll in MBA programs around the word every year. They invest hugely, in both financial and emotional terms, in one or two-year intensive learning and networking programs, often ending with an experience abroad and/or an internship. Those who excel during, and after their MBAs tend to display certain characteristics. So, what makes someone an exceptional MBA student?

1 – Ambition

The ability to project your future as a successful one and the desire to achieve it is one of the main motivators of extraordinary MBA students. Just make sure you keep your eyes on the prize at all times, never forgetting why you thought that taking an MBA was a logical step in this venture; otherwise, when you find yourself caught between deadlines, with pages and pages of case studies to go through and presentations to prepare, you may feel discouraged.

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2 – Resilience

Managing expectations (or trying to anticipate how applicants will behave in the face of adversity) is one of the most difficult tasks Admissions Teams perform. An MBA can easily take your entire life over if you’re not organized and ready to deal with obstacles in a fruitful way. These obstacles may come in the form of a specific subject matter you have trouble with; a not-so-good relationship with the member of a work group; time management-related frustrations, such as being unable to comply with deadlines or combine your academic life with your personal life; etc. This is why exceptional MBA students almost always display the virtue of resilience, pivoting or asking for help whenever necessary.

3 – Empathy

Group work is one of the main features of renowned MBAs, keen on mimicking the dynamics of the students’ future workplaces. Everyone knows it isn’t always easy to get along with group members, even more so when it’s likely that they come from varied backgrounds and when the language used to communicate isn’t your (or others’) first language. Empathy is that rare quality that allows great students to put themselves in someone else’s shoes, feeling and thinking like they do, and then use it to foster wonderful and productive relationships.

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4 – Creativity

We often associate creativity with the arts, overlooking the fact that business leaders are often incredibly creative: they detect a problem, and go to great lengths to solve it, usually forced to think outside the box. MBA students wish to be the leaders of tomorrow, so they must muster this problem-solving attitude without fear of being original. Some do it naturally, but creativity can – like any other quality – be worked on and improved.

5 – Focus

Regardless of how they divide their time and face challenges, exceptional MBA students always manage the task at hand as if it were the only task they had. When networking, they make each person feel as if he or she had their whole attention; when studying, they disconnect from the “noise” that surrounds them; when making a presentation, they embrace their entire audience (just to give a few examples). This ensures that they are solid top performers in all aspects of an MBA.

6 – Enthusiasm

Last but not least: exceptional students are enthusiastic about subject matters, about their own potential, about the potential of their classmates and about the future. They see the glass as half full and inspire others to do the same, raising the bar for everyone and allowing for better results all around. Don’t know who’ll be exceptional at the beginning of your MBA? Look for that one fellow student that inspires you.

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