2011 MIT Sloan Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) thread

Hey everyone. My name is Amil and (as Paul said) I'm a first-year with the LGO program as well.

My background:
Graduated with a degree in Operations Research and Econ at Columbia in 2005
Worked for 5 years in finance at Goldman Sachs

We've been in Boston for a month and a half so far, and it's been great. We're trying to help spread the word about LGO as an option for those looking at business school and are interested in manufacturing or operations.

If you have any questions, post them here or check out some of the links that Paul posted..

-Amil

Hello Paul and Amil - welcome to GMAT Club!
_________________

You all are in good hands with Paul and Amil. They're both top-notch guys and will do a great job answering your questions about LGO or Sloan. I've been very happy with my decision to join the LGO program and it represents a unique opportunity for anyone with a technical background who is interested operations and/or manufacturing. If you're interested though I would recommend checking out the links that were posted above and asking your specific questions here. LGO is different from a regular MBA program in many ways and it's important to be fully aware of those differences before starting the application process.

Hi there,
I really thank you for your effort.
MIT will be one of the my top choices. The LGO is also a great program, at a first glance I did consider it and then, I realize that it is totally different from MBA.
Because my early and up to date career is product engineering and design which also covers sometimes supply management, production also, I get a perception that I won't get the most benefit of it.
I want to get more business related degree.
So my 1st question is that, if I get into LGO, would it be more supply,operations and manufacturing oriented preventing me from gaining business skills in marketing, finance, HR or more right to say, I won't get a general management education ? I guess the answer, but an answer from the inside would be a relief, because I loved the program but it does not match with my career goals, I think.
Also my 2nd question, say if I admitted to LGO, would it be also possible for me to follow the Enterprenuership&Innovation track ? My first guess no.
Thank you for your answers, I really appreciate your effort

Thanks for the questions. I think the simple answer to both of your questions is that as an LGO, you are part of the full-time MBA class at Sloan and so have access to all of the courses offered at Sloan. You can focus on marketing, finance, etc. with your Sloan electives.

You'll have to choose one of the LGO tracks to follow. One thing to keep in mind is that the program is pretty flexible. Despite the fact that you have to satisfy requirements for both an MBA and MS, you get most of the required classes out of the way early on. After that you should be able to customize your course load to match your specific interests.

Hope that helps!

hi guys,

great post. just what i was looking for.

couple of ques:

1) on the lgo site i saw that the candidate has to have an undergrad degree in science, physics..? if i dont have that but am part of manufacturing domain right now, would I be eligible.??
2) do you have an idea about the Sloan Fellows program in Innovation & Leadership..? i am not getting a clear understanding of the program. One blog said that its an Exec MBA program but its part time. though the fellows site does not say that. it min of requires 10 yrs exp which I have.
3) follow up to the above ques, the fellows program seems to be more of a employer funded program. in such a case what happens to the placements of the people who join this program and are self funding..?

thanks and all the best for the LGO...as per my research its one of the best programs out there..
va

I'll preface this by saying that I'm not at all part of the admissions process or committee. But I'll try my best to answer your questions.

For LGO, I think an undergraduate degree in engineering or an applied science is strongly preferred, but maybe not a strict requirement if you can demonstrate that you have enough of a technical background through your work experience or other courses you've taken.

I don't know much about the Sloan Fellows program. I'd suggest reaching out to the Sloan admissions office for additional information.

Amil, I thank you.
But my concern is that, as an LGO student, would I be able to concentrate on management strategy, general managemet or enterprenuership&innovation tracks.
I think, bacause LGO is more concetrated on operations related issues, my goals will not be realizable, at least in reality but in theory maybe yes.

Anyone on the forum attending this program.? Need some urgent info.

1) Are the career services same for this program as they are for the MBA/LGO program.?

Thx.

Being part of the LGO program, you do spend a fair amount of time on operations focused classes. Whether you prefer to focus on supply chain, manufacturing, service or product development, there is definitely some flexibility. You will not be able to join any of the MBA tracks, but you can definitely take any of the classes Sloan offers. You are gone for one semester because of the internship and you are completing the requirements of two degrees, so the flexibility is not unlimited. There definitely are people in the program who have in the past and are currently focusing on topics such as finance, entrepreneuship etc. At the end of the day, in my opinion, its how you want to sell yourself to an employer right?

Dear Amil and Paul,

I have previously felt in love with the LFM, now LGO program, because it seemed to fit my future plans like a glove.

However, I have received the old LFM brochure and in one of the last pages there is a "discrete" statement that says something like "... applicants who can legally work for one of our partner companies may have preference....". From this statement I concluded that my chances of admission on the LGO program would be very slim if compared to my chances on the "pure" Sloan MBA since I do not have now a US work permit. That being said, I have the following questions:

1 - How many LGO admitted applicants do not have work permits upon the start of the program (let's consider the 2012 Class) ?

2 - If a candidate has highly desirable skills from a LGO partner company perspective, how the admissions office is prepared to recognize that ?

3 - Is it mandatory to do the summer internship in one of the LGO partners ?

4 - What happens if an admitted candidate changes his mind (life is not always predictable) and in the middle of the program decides to pursue a traditional MBA field (eg: consulting) ? Can he or she uses the "regular" Sloan career services ?

Thanks in advance.

MBA Uncle,

The program does look for people that have eligibility to work in the US as many of the partner companies, who are all core to the mission of LGO, want people to work for them after graduation. Thus there are definitely less international students than in the normal MBA class, but we do have some. This year we have five but I am unsure of their work eligibility. In terms of sloan recruiting, you are a member of the MBA community and MIT community in addition to the engineering school you choose. You have access to all resources just as any other student would.

You may want to email the program staff directly at lgo@mit.edu to find out about some of the more technical questions you asked.

hope this helps

-Paul

LGOstudent,

Would you plz confirm LGO tuition fees for 2 years? I can't believe that it's just 30k!!! check below:
https://lgo.mit.edu/program_costs.html

Thanks,

It should be somewhat close to that figure. I know for our class it will be about $34k, but it is always changing depending on what actual MIT tuition is. For example, we have no way of knowing the exact tuition for the 2011-2012 school year yet.

We receive a lot of financial support from partner companies and you can even get some of that tuition back if you end up working for one of those partners.

So why would someone pay 100k for Sloan MBA if he can get dual degree (MBA + MS) with 34k? Am I missing something here!!

Thanks,

I would agree that it is quite a good deal. However:
1. The program is very specialized. They are looking for people that are truly passionate about operations. The partner companies who invest in the program want to hire people to lead their organization in operations. Thus, the program looks exclusively for people that want to go into that space.
2. You need an engineering undergrad background or similar technical background that will enable you to take some of the more advanced engineering focused courses. For example, this summer we are taking a prob/stat and systems optimization class specifically designed for people with a strong engineering/technical background. This means on day one you need to have a pretty strong grasp of differentials, integrals etc...
3. Some people would rather go deeper into the other "tracks" that Sloan offers such as finance, entrepreneurship, marketing etc... Although you can explore these courses as an LGO, your options are not as flexible.

If this sounds up your alley, I hope you apply and good luck!

I would recommend doing a fair amount of research here. I would say that LGO is definitely not for some people that are classic MBA applicants (or rather, I would say it's not for the majority of classic MBA applicants). In my understanding, LGO is for a very specific subset of MBA students. Just my thoughts - but I defer to any of the current students that, of course, know more about the program.

Agree with smkrn too. Thanks!

mark.