The representatives were kind enough to respond to the following admissions questions and more in a post-Q&A interview, and we’ve added their answers to the transcript as well:

Q: I hear so much about students entering the job force post-graduating LBS, how about entrepreneurship? How does the school help address starting or continuing a business post-MBA?

Q: How would you describe the type of student LBS is looking for? What’s one word to describe an LBS graduate?

Q: Does LBS have any specific courses or programs that focus on management in the non-profit or public sector?

Q: The length of the program is 15-21 months. How would a student finish the program in 15 months? Would this impact the possibility of benefiting from an internship or exchange? Are there more course options offered in the 21 month program? Is there a difference in program cost?

Q: Can any of the current MBA students discuss how participating in the Global Leadership Development Programme has helped developed their leadership abilities?

Additionally, here’s a sneak peek into the scintillating transcript:

Linda Abraham: Ira asks, “With regard to the various essays in the application, would you recommend a more formal professional tone, or a lighter tone that reveals some of the applicant’s personality?”

Karen Benge: I think that is a personal decision, but the importance of the essays is that we can get a sense of the individual who has applied. While I don’t recommend being very informal, I would let some personality come through so that we can get a real sense of that. There are points in the application essays where it is more appropriate to do that. For example, there is the question about involvement in the student community. Another question is not as directly related to the course and your career goals.

Peter Johnson: I 100% agree with Karen, and I’m sure it’s something that you will back up Linda, from your years of experience. It’s remarkable sometimes how little effort people put into their essays, and the essays are the most critical part of the application. It’s the short opportunity people have to sell themselves. And sometimes people actually treat it so superficially despite the fact that the rest of their application may be very strong.….. What is critical is that your real personality shines through and that we can really get a sense of who you are and what you would add to the program. So Linda, I’m sure you tell people this all the time: however much time you were planning to spend on the essays, spend twice as much.

View the full Q&A transcript (which includes the post-Q&A interview at the end) to get the answers to the above questions or to review the Q&A from the beginning. You can also download an mp3 version of the conversation and listen to the Q&A on the go!

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Although I am presenting our conversation in interview format, her responses are not verbatim quotes. They are based on my notes.

Sloan Masters in Leadership and Strategy (12 month program)

LA: Two of the things that are distinctive about the Sloan Fellows Program are that it’s a full-time residential program and that the applicants tend to be more experienced than regular MBA students. I noticed that London Sloan Fellows have 15-16 years of experience on average and that they need to be in decision –making roles when they apply. What are the minimum and maximum years of experience that you would recommend for a Sloan Fellow applicant?

BG: Although we look closely at the quality of an applicant’s work experience, the minimum amount of work experience is ten years. The maximum? There really isn’t one. Last year I believe our most experienced student had 25 years of work experience.

In terms of qualities we really want to our students to have progressed in their career and have worked their way up to a strategic decision-making role when they join our Sloan Fellows program. They will have been proactive in managing their careers, and many are at a turning point where they recognize that this is a crucial year to build skills and knowledge for the next phase.

What do you want to see in an applicant? What are the criteria for admitting Sloan Fellows?

We want our Sloan fellows to have had strategic decision-making experience. That quality is key. We want to see that they have moved up in their careers, that they have had successes and failures and more importantly they learned from these experiences.

Naturally we also want to see evidence to the intellect necessary to succeed in this program.

What are the typical educational and professional backgrounds of participants in the Sloan Fellows Program?

It varies widely. We tend not to focus so much on undergraduate grades, but we do want to see either in the GMAT or the transcript or the work, that an applicant can handle the coursework, specifically the quantitative aspects of the program.

Given the importance of experience in the Sloan Fellows program, how important is the GMAT?  Is it a major factor in the admissions decision?

It is one element in the decision-making process. Our GMAT average is about 650, and we don’t place as much emphasis on it as does the regular MBA. It is not the be-all and end-all of the decision-making process. Again, we want to see somewhere evidence that an applicant has the quant skills and can handle the work. The GMAT is one way to present that evidence especially for applicants who have been out of school for ten or more years.

Sometimes we see that evidence from work experience or the essays. Sometimes we see it in the references, which we review carefully. Occasionally we will see it from a candidate’s performance in a previous MBA.

The application process is already tough, with a lot of information and essays that should stretch you to demonstrate your candidacy. The GMAT supports this and also helps us position successful candidates in study groups.

Do you accept the GRE?

As a business School we are always reviewing selection tools however at present the GMAT is required.

Is London Business School’s Sloan Fellows program experiencing stable, increasing, or declining application volume?

Last year they trended down slightly. At this stage in a candidate’s career, the level of self selection is very high, and this is a niche program.   The application quality indicators have been good – even improving.

What percentage of Sloan Fellows is sponsored at this point in time?

20-25% are sponsored at least partially. Sponsorship numbers can also vary by geographic region. For example, students from Japan and Korea are almost always sponsored.

Does sponsorship play a role in the admissions decision?

Somewhat. It is vote of confidence from a third party who is willing to invest in an applicant. Sponsored applicants also have a clear path and job waiting for them when they complete the program. It’s great to know someone can go back.

Do fellows have access to the career services even if sponsored?

Yes. They have access to all career services’ events and services. Our career services provide an opportunity to network even if someone is returning to a previous employer. They teach valuable resume and interview skills, which a fellow may use at a future time in his or her career or may use as an employer seeking to hire staff.

There is a suite of skills development that inter-connects with the Leadership development strand of the curriculum, this offers valuable self analysis and frameworks to help a Sloan develop their career strategy.

We expect the fellows to act professionally, but the understanding that fellows have with their employers is between them and their employers. We provide the career services for our students.

What does Sloan Fellows offer self-sponsored students or those interested in entrepreneurship.

We offer a range of electives in entrepreneurship and just had an entrepreneurship fair. The courses cover different areas and sub-topics in entrepreneurship as well as finance, managing growth or new venture development.   The Sloan program offers those fellows interested in starting an entrepreneurial venture a place to prepare to launch that venture as well as a safe environment in which to develop and test their ideas.

What is the purpose of the online Pre-program and orientation?

The purpose of the online pre-program is to strengthen the fellows’ quant skills and prepare them for the demands of our core courses.  It’s a foundation for the classes that follow.

It also includes a thorough leadership questionnaire which will serve as the basis for our 360-degree leadership assessment.

The pre-program is entirely online, but the orientation is in residence and it provides an opportunity for fellows to get to know each other and the school. In that sense, it is a traditional orientation program.

Fellows can socialize with the people who will be in their study groups. They can get comfortable before the hard work starts. And they can learn about the 70 active clubs at London Business School. There are clubs for professional interests, recreational interests, and geographic regions, and these clubs are really the heart of the school. In addition students from all the programs participate in the clubs. So students in the Private Equity Club can come from the Sloan Fellows, the MBA, the EMBA, or the MS in Management programs.

It seems like the Third Term and the Optional Elective Block are optional. The site says “you have the flexibility to balance your elective choices with your reintegration back into the workplace.” What determines whether one stays in the classroom or returns to work?

London Business School prides itself on its flexibility. In that vein, the Sloan Fellows program offers fellows the option of completing their coursework in a very intensive two terms as opposed to the more typical three. We don’t recommend it and not many do it, but some are here for a sabbatical of a defined term and can’t take the full year. Others may get a lucrative job offer or simply have to get back to work. This option is there for them.

They still have to fulfill all requirements including at least one component in Term 3 so as I said it is very intense and compressed.

I realize that London Business School attracts students and professors from around the globe, but does it provide study opportunities outside the UK?

Yes. Sloan fellows take a trip to Shanghai every year. This is a one-week study trip where they learn about the Chinese economy and meet with business leaders to get insight into the Chinese business environment and economy.

In addition, and this is true of all London Business School programs, the education is internationally focused. Students learn organically how business differs from country to country.

By Linda Abraham, President and Founder of Accepted.com.

10 Best European Business Schools

1. HEC Paris
2. London Business School
3. INSEAD
4. IMD
5. IE Business School
6. Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University
7. ESCP Europe
8. Esade Business School
9. IESE Business School
10. EM Lyon Business School

Other articles in the report of interest include:

• “Challenge for European business schools as US goes global” – an interesting article on the increasing globalization of US business schools and the threat they pose to European schools.
• “HEC Paris at the top” – an analysis of this year’s ranking winners and losers.
• “New ideas in tough times” – an article on how the changing face of the economy has affected business school and the business world. Note the emphasis on the role of overseas expansion.
• “The Bologna Accord: a revolution by degree” – an analysis of the impact of the Bologna accord on the European rankings.

Are you thinking about pursuing an international MBA? Check out our new special report, Internationalizing the MBA, by Accepted’s internationally-based consultant and editor, Tanis Kmetyk. (P.S. It’s free!)

Although I am presenting our conversation in interview format. Peter’s responses are not verbatim quotes. They are based on my notes.

Is the experience requirement similar to that of the MBA? Do you require experience for the MiF?

Yes, we have a required minimum of two years of full-time work experience in the financial field but we strongly prefer three or more years. Candidates who will only have two year’s experience at the start of the programme will typically be of a fast-track program with a top financial institution.

Our average amount of work experience is six years, with the part-time program being slightly higher. Also the upper end of work experience for our students tends to be higher than the MBA and may overlap the Sloan Fellows program, as the programme can also be a good fit for people in more senior management roles.

The absolute experience requirement is finance. The MiF Is not for career changers. It is for finance career advancers and enhancers.

What are the typical educational and professional backgrounds of participants in MiF?

They have to be bright enough to do well is a quantitatively rigorous program, and they have to be able to show us that brightness.

We also want to see a real commitment and passion for finance. We want to see that they will be able to contribute. Do they have the technical skills?

Is the CFA viewed as evidence of those technical skills and of that passion?

Yes. It is a recognized credential.

What about the GRE?

We say that the GRE can provide evidence that you will do well or poorly on the GMAT, but we still require the GMAT.

Is London Business School’s MiF experiencing stable, increasing, or declining demand as evidenced by application volume?

Application volume for the full time program is steady; there has been a very substantial increase for the weekend-format program. We have noted an increase in the percentage of very strong candidates in the applicant pool.

What percentage of MiF participants is sponsored at this point in time?

Approximately 50% in the part-time program and around 10% of our full-time applicants. It can also vary by geographic region. For example, students from Japan and Korea are almost always sponsored.

Do MiF students have access to the career services even if sponsored?

Yes. They have access to all career services’ events and services. Our career services provide an opportunity to network even if someone is returning to a previous employer. They teach valuable resume and interview skills, which a student may use at a future time in his or her career or may use as an employer seeking to hire staff.

What does the MiF offer those interested in entrepreneurship.

We have some entrepreneurs amongst our alumni, but the program isn’t really geared to them. Our entrepreneurs are usually those who a few years after earning their MiF tire of investment banking or whatever they’re doing and then follow the entrepreneurial muse within them. It’s a small percentage of our alums, but we do have them, and they say the MiF helped them structure their business and get the funding for it.

What is the purpose of the Pre-program and orientation? Are they required?

Both are required and the MiF pre-program is in residence. The MiF program includes a thorough introduction to London Business School’s leadership style and completion of our questionnaire on leadership.

We also do a comprehensive review of basics that our students may not have studied since college if ever, specifically accounting, statistics for business, and decision tools. Students can waive these classes if they have the background.

Does the MiF program allow students to finish in a shorter period of time that the typical ten months for the full-time program or 22 months for the part-time program?

We will occasionally allow an enrolled student to finish early, but we don’t want them to start with that idea.

I realize that London Business School attracts students and professors from around the globe, but is it “global” in any other ways?

We don’t have a study trip, but international cases predominate and because both the faculty and the student body come from the four corners of the globe, classroom discussion and club events have a distinctly international flavor.

Please join Peter and other members of the London Business School team on Thursday December 9 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/ 6:00 PM GMT for Learning about London, an MBA admissions Q&A devoted to London Business School’s MBA and MiF programs, or as they would say, “programmes.”

By Linda Abraham, President and Founder of Accepted.com.

Now is your chance to learn more about London Business School‘s MBA and Masters in Finance programs when you join Kara Regan, Senior Manager, Recruitment and Admissions (MBA), and Peter Johnson, Senior Admissions Manager (MiF), for an informative question and answer session on Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/ 6:00 PM GMT. During the Q&A webinar you’ll get a chance to ask your questions about London Business School’s admissions process, student life, the MBA’s entrepreneurial curriculum, and the MiF program’s focus on finance.

Don’t you think it’s time you learned about London Business School and the steps you need to take to apply successfully to its MBA or MiF program?

Register now to reserve your spot for the London Business School MBA/MiF Q&A!

What time is that for me? Click on the link to find out the exact time for your location.

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Top 30 U.S. Business Schools of 2010 (2008 rankings are parenthetical.)

1. Chicago Booth (1)
2. Harvard Business School (2)
3. Wharton (4)
4. Northwestern Kellogg (3)
5. Stanford GSB (6)
6. Duke Fuqua (8)
7. Michigan Ross (5)
8. UC Berkeley Haas (10)
9. Columbia (7)
10. MIT Sloan (9)
11. UVA Darden (16)
12. Southern Methodist Cox (18)
13. Cornell Johnson (11)
14. Dartmouth Tuck (12)
15. CMU Tepper (19)
16. UNC Kenan-Flagler (17)
17. UCLA Anderson (14)
18. NYU Stern (13)
19. Indiana Kelley (15)
20. Michigan State Broad (2T)
21. Yale SOM (24)
22. Emory Goizueta (23)
23. Georgia Tech (29)
24. Notre Dame Mendoza (20)
25. Texas-Austin McCombs (21)
26. USC Marshall (25)
27. Brigham Young Marriott (22)
28. Minnesota Carlson (2T)
29. Rice Jones (NR)
30. Texas A&M Mays (NR)

Top International Business Schools

1. INSEAD (3)
2. Queen’s (1)
3. IE Business School (2)
4. ESADE (6)
5. London Business School (5)
6. Western Ontario Ivey (4)
7. IMD (7)
8. Toronto Rotman (8)
9. York Schulich (2T)
10. Cambridge Judge (2T)
11. McGill Desautels (2T)
12. IESE (9)
13. Cranfield (NR)
14. HEC Paris (2T)
15. HEC Montreal (HR)
16. Oxford Said (10)
17. Manchester (2T)
18. SDA Bocconi (NR)

BW bases its rankings on employer and student surveys, as well as what they call “intellectual capital,” or school research output. For more information on how the rankings are determined, read BW‘s “How We Rank Business Schools.”

Other articles in the report that may interest you include:

• “The Best U.S. Business Schools 2010” – This article highlights ways that business schools are dealing with the sour job market—putting a new emphasis on job placement, reaching out to alumni for job leads, using technology to connect with recruiters, and bolstering career services departments.
• “Top Global Business Schools” – Read about how the Great Recession has affected the international MBA scene, why new schools have popped up on the top 10, why students are being drawn to emerging markets, and more.

Related Accepted.com Resources:

• The Rankings, a free special report on how you should interpret the rankings in your own b-school quest.
• Internationalizing the MBA, a free special report that will help you determine whether an international MBA program is right for you.

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Let’s start with the actual rankings.

Top 15 International EMBA Programs

1.   Kellogg / Hong Kong UST Business School – China

2.   Columbia / London Business School – USA / UK

3.   Trium HEC Paris / LSE / NYU Stern – France / UK / USA

4.   INSEAD – France / Singapore / UAE

5.   University of Chicago, Booth – USA / UK / Singapore

6.   London Business School – UK

7.   IE Business School – Spain

8.   University of Pennsylvania, Wharton – USA

9.   Duke University, Fuqua – USA

10.  Chinese University of Hong Kong – China

10.  City University Cass – UK

12.  IMD – Switzerland

13.  UC Berkeley Haas / Columbia – USA

14.  Kellogg / WHU-Otto Belsheim School – Germany

15.  Columbia Business School – USA

15.  ESCP Europe – France / UK / Germany / Spain / Italy

You can tell simply by looking above where the EMBA “hot spots” are—the USA, UK, China, Singapore, Paris, France, and Spain—or you can take a look at the FT‘s interactive map: Hot spots: the most popular cities in the world for Executive MBAs.

For an analysis on how the rankings were determined, check out “The ranking decoded.”

For an explanation on the challenges business schools face with this executive degree, see the lead article in the report, “Business schools face EMBA challenge.” (Just to give you clue—it has something to do with the economy and companies becoming less than willing to shell out $100,000+ in sponsorship funds. Surprise, surprise.)

Yet challenges aside, many EMBA programs (especially those in countries that have been, until recently, underserved by business schools) are seeing an increase in enrollment. For more on EMBA success, read “Rising demand: executive MBA sector shows healthy growth.”

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Related Accepted.com Resources:

• Navigate the MBA Maze, a free email course
• 5 Fatal Flaws, a free email course

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Fuqua’s new program is intended “to give a bit of business know-how to recent graduates in subjects as varied as philosophy, modern languages and maths,” reports a Financial Times article on the subject, “Masters of the universe: the rise of ‘pre-experience’ degrees.”

And the program won’t be limited to Duke’s North Carolina campus, but will become the basis of similar programs at Duke campuses in Brazil, China, India, Singapore, and the Middle East.

Other American business schools offer a MiM degree as well, including Case Western Reserve University, Rochester, and Thunderbird, but the Fuqua School’s adoption of the program “may be the tipping point for MiMs in the U.S.”

A new MiM was also launched at the London Business School last year, and according to its executive director Julia Marsh, the program recruits a clear prospect. “Recruiters are looking more for analytical skills than the big, strategic skills of an MBA,” she says.

Although these programs are pricy — $30,000+ for a one-year degree is high for anyone, but especially for students who have not yet entered the workforce — graduates from both the MiM programs at Duke and at LBS have not found post-degree employment an issue. In fact, at Fuqua, recruitment from the MiM program has been on par with the school’s regular MBA program.

When asked what the value of the masters in management degree is, both to students and to business schools, Ángel Cabrera, president of the Thunderbird School of Global Management, explains, “It is clear that there is great demand from companies for entry- and mid-level managers with solid business skills. The Thunderbird masters in management degree provides aspiring young professionals – who may not have significant work experience – the opportunity to launch their careers and to compete successfully in a rapidly changing and competitive marketplace.”

The FT article provides more views on the pre-experience MiM from administrators at business schools in France, Turkey, Russia, Canada, Sydney, and others.

Are you thinking about going global with your MBA? Download Internationalizing the MBA, a free special report, to explore the increasingly global canvas of leading MBA programs in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

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This year, Chicago Booth took the cake with the number 1 slot, at least in part, if not entirely, because of its top-ranked career service department. (The $300 million donation by David Booth in 2008 helped the school achieve this goal, something most schools haven’t been able to accomplish in this economy.)

Here are the top ten full-time international MBA programs:

(Click image to enlarge.)

And here are the top ten schools by category:

(Click image to enlarge.)

For more information on how these schools were chosen, check out the Methodology section of The Economist‘s report.

Meanwhile, a Poets & Quants article on The Economist rankings (“The Economist’s Roller Coaster MBA Ranking“) points to the fact that the this year’s rankings are slightly flawed, mainly in that the job/salary data was gathered from the class of 2009, not the latest graduating class of 2010. The 2010 data, which won’t be ready for a few weeks, would have presented a much more current and fair perspective on how b-school graduates are actually doing job/salary-wise, especially since the economy has improved in the last year.

The P&Q article refers to a number of “roller coaster-like” jumps and plummets, including:

• UVA Darden “leapfrogged” 13 spots from last year’s 24th spot to this year’s 11th.
• Columbia moved up 8 spots from 20th to 12th.
• CMU Tepper jumped 22 spots from 33rd to 21st.
• London Business School ranked the third best in the UK, a shock that came to most people, especially given its number 1 placement by The Financial Times. According to The Economist, LBS is ranked lower than the Cranfield School of Management and Henley Business School.

P&Q states that of the five major MBA rankings (U.S. News, Businessweek, Forbes, Financial Times, and The Economist), “the Economist‘s methodology is considered the least credible.”

Not sure what the rankings mean to you? How much should you take them into account when applying to b-school? Download Accepted’s special ranking report now to learn about how the rankings affect you.

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