Five Years to B-School: The Second Year

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Having strong quantitative skills is a must because a school such as Wharton, says Hodara, expects applicants to be in the 85th percentile on the GMAT quant section. Study up!

Some applicants also spend time studying and taking exams for certificates such as the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst). While this doesn't hurt, Richmond says that becoming fluent in a foreign language might be a better use of your time. Again, this will help you compete with an ever-increasing number of international applicants and make you more appealing to admissions committees—and employers facing a global economy. Speaking another language is a skill that will remain on your résumé long after you graduate from an MBA program.

Investigating the MBA application process is an appropriate task to take on now. Surf the Internet to check out programs that might interest you and align with your career goals and where you'd like to be geographically. You might visit forums, such as the ones on BusinessWeek.com, to get in touch with other applicants, MBA students, admissions consultants, and alumni.

Talk to people in your office who have an MBA about the process and the options available to you. Consider visiting campuses that are of the most interest to you. "I visited Wharton my second year out of college," says Richmond. "It gave me something to look forward to. It planted the seed." Seeing the school for yourself helps you imagine your life there, and it could motivate you even more.

Start Socking Away Your Pennies

You should continue to strive for a well-rounded life. That means that you can not work all the time without taking time for yourself. While you need to be a devoted and dedicated employee, you also must show the admissions committee that there's more to you than your résumé. One way to fix this is to actually use your vacation time. Traveling, especially if you are lacking in international experience, can also provide you with interesting anecdotes for essays and interviews, says Richmond. It can open your eyes to other cultures and pique your intellectual curiosity.

In Year Two, if not sooner, you must begin to save money for your MBA education, which costs upward of $80,000 for a top full-time program. Add in living expenses and the salary you'll give up while hitting the books, and the price tag can easily top $200,000 or more. "Scholarship dollars are few and far between," says Lawrence Murray, program director of the BSBA Program and former associate director in MBA Admissions at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School. "Going into Year Two, you must have a savings strategy that gets more conservative as you get closer to entering a program." Put away those pennies, start packing your lunch, and live humbly, so that you can afford two years of paying tuition without earning an income.

Exceptional students might actually start applying to business school in Year Two. Schools, such as Harvard Business School, have begun accepting students with extraordinary backgrounds earlier than the traditional five years. Some of these programs entice women, who might want to start a family five years out of an undergraduate program, to earn their MBA sooner rather than later. These personal goals must be weighed in tandem with your career goals when deciding the time line that is right for you.

By the End of Year Two…

You should have:

• Shown progress in your career

• Received a promotion or taken on a project or assignment that had you in a leadership role

• Started thinking about your next career move

• Taken on more responsibility for your relationship with your mentors and built an even larger network of professional contacts

• Demonstrated initiative in one of your extracurricular activities and continued to pursue your passions whatever they may be

• Worked on any weaknesses in your academic record

• Gained either exposure or experience internationally

• Begun to save money to finance your education

Di Meglio is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com in Fort Lee, N.J.