In Max, there's no need to enter a select mode. You simply pick a marquee selection type (rectangular, circular, free selection, or lasso selection), and then start selecting vertices, edges, or faces, without a hotkey, as you rotate around the scene.

Whilst I'm inordinately fond of Blender, I'm quite aware of its limitations. And there's a fair-few. They are getting around to fixing/improving them, so stick around: it's getting better -- incredibly so! -- with each release. Have you tried the loop-select thing yet? [ALT] [LEFT-CLICK] - well, that's how I have mine set up... I could never get my head around that "right-click to select" nonsense where the rest of the world selects with left-click - and you can select an entire edge-loop. And incremental-add... you have an edge-loop selected, then press [CTRL] [+] ( that's the + on the numeric keypad) and it will add edge-loops for you.

ETA: this works for vertex mode, edge-mode or face mode... and btw, you can toggle between those modes with [CTRL] [TAB]....

Monterey/Mint21.x/Win10 - Blender3.x - PP11.3(cm) - Musescore3.6.2

Wir sind gewohnt, daß die Menschen verhöhnen was sie nicht verstehen
[it is clear that humans have contempt for that which they do not understand] 

Metaphor of Chooks