As the alumni club leader for Los Angeles, I had the pleasure of going back to London Business School last summer to attend a conference for all the alumni club leaders around the world.
Individual Treatment
My visit brought back many great memories sitting in the lecture hall. The Dean, Sir Andrew Likierman, shared the latest updates from the school, along with the school’s strategy over the coming years. When he mentioned the importance of making sure that the school treats every student as an individual as it continues to grow, it really struck a cord with me. One of the things I love most about London Business School is that it treated me as an individual and tried to cater to what I wanted to get out of the business school experience. Whether organizing a trip to China, or taking on two management consulting projects instead of one, students are very supported when taking the initiatives to grow professionally and help enrich the business school experience.
Collaborative Culture
The first year of London Business School consists of mostly all team-based work. Study group members help one another learn about unfamiliar subjects. My peers were very talented, driven, mature and helpful, and my desire to do well academically in the first year came partly from not wanting to let my study group down. While there is a dean’s list for the top 10% of the students, it is not a major topic of discussion. The school fosters a strong sense of support. For example, my MBA class of 2002 went through the dot com bust and the subsequent downturn. We helped one another out with project work and leads to job opportunities. Professors, too, are supportive. I had professors who went out of their way to help with my job search and offer to send my resume to company CEOs.
Diversity
Those who have a deep appreciation for and desire to learn about different cultures will thrive. London Business School attracts a diverse group of students from all over the world, which makes study groups more challenging and worldly. While earning my MBA, fellow students organized trips to Russia, China, South Africa, Latin America, etc. I now have a strong network around the world, and people to whom I can reach out when I travel or have business questions about a country with which I am not familiar.
Location
London Business School faces Regent’s Park, which covers 395 acres. Many students play tennis and rugby at the park, and I have fond memories of having lunch there with my first year study group. On the downside, the cost of living in London is one of the highest in the world (I went from having a nice, two-bedroom rental in Los Angeles all to myself to sharing a flat with two roommates in London). But, as a student, one receives discounts to many places, and it is so much fun to explore London with a big group of friends from school. We have easy access to professionals working in London, and meet many of them through company presentations or networking events at the school or at various business offices. Goldman Sach’s booked out the Natural History Museum and hosted a dinner for our entire class there. Other consulting firms hosted a river cruise and networking event at the Madame Tussauds Museum.
I am excited to recommend London Business School to those seeking out opportunities and experiences that strengthen them professionally and personally.
Christine Lin, founder
Marvel Admissions Consulting
