On my 29th birthday, the 14th of August 2024, I arrived in East Lansing, Michigan.

I had accepted my offer to pursue an MBA at Michigan State University—stepping into a system I didn’t fully understand, but was ready to navigate. What followed was a year of unlearning, rebuilding, and rising. From choosing my concentration to securing a role with Microsoft Xbox, the past year of my life captures what it meant to step into the unknown—and begin again. In this post, I share what I believe every (aspiring) MBA student should know.