London Business School, an internationally focused program in one of the most exciting cultural centers of Europe, has a diverse student body, with 92% of its students coming from 69 countries of the world.
Application deadlines are as under:
| Round | Application Due | Decision Date |
| Round 1 | September 11, 2020 | November 19, 2020 |
| Round 2 | January 5, 2021 | March 31, 2021 |
| Round 3 | March 4, 2021 | May 25, 2021 |
| Round 4 | April 27, 2021 | June 22, 2021 |
Essays:
The essay questions remain unchanged from last year. The MBA applicants for the 2020-21 application season are required to write only one essay of 500 words. They also have an option to submit an optional essay of 500 words.
Let’s take a closer look at the essays:
Required Essay 1: What are your post-MBA goals and how will your prior experience and the London Business School program contribute towards these? (500 words)
This is a straightforward Goals Essay question. You begin this essay with a statement about your post MBA career objectives. Explain what you plan to do after your MBA. Make sure your career objectives are both ambitious and realistic. Be as specific as you can about your goals and specify the industry, your role, and the companies that interest you.
To demonstrate how your professional experiences are aligned with these goals, provide a brief career history focusing on your career progression and the skills and knowledge you acquired at each job position. Also, discuss your rationale behind each career move and explain how your career so far has prepared you for your goals.
Then describe where you stand now, what skills you lack to fulfill your career aspirations, and how an MBA from LBS is aligned with your goals. This means that you must provide a logical connection between your previous experience, your current need for an MBA degree from the LBS, and your future career goals. For this, you will need to do thorough research of the program to draw out a link between specific resources/ offerings of the LBS and your career goals and interests. Write about what specific classes, professors, clubs, or other clubs and student organizations will contribute to your success. In addition, reach out to current students and alumni to learn more about the program and attend admission events to learn more about the school.
You may organize the essay in the following manner:
- Your Short-Term Goals (approximately 100-150 words)
- Career history & accomplishments (approximately 100-150)
- How LBS can help you fulfill your post MBA goals (approximately 200 words)
Even though the essay prompt doesn’t require you to discuss your contribution to the school, it still makes sense (if space permits) to wrap up your essay by briefly stating what value you will bring to the school.
Essay 2: Is there any other information you believe the Admissions Committee should know about you and your application to London Business School? (500 words) (This question is optional)
The optional essay is an excellent opportunity to touch upon other key aspects of your candidacy that you didn’t get a chance to discuss in any other parts of the application, i.e., essay, résumé, and application form. Since you are provided fields in the online application to address any academic weaknesses, e.g., academic probation, class withdrawal, etc., you can use this essay to address other weaknesses in your application such as low GPA, low GMAT, employment gap, choice of recommenders or any other extenuating personal circumstances.
Even if you do not have any weakness in your profile, I would highly recommend you write this essay to provide more information about your accomplishments, leadership experiences, interests, or significant voluntary experience since the required single essay doesn’t leave you much space to discuss your past accomplishments. Please note the word ‘should’ in the essay prompt and use this essay to highlight that personal story that you could not fit in any other part of the application. For example, if you have done a whole lot of community work and you could only touch upon it in the resume, you can elaborate on it in your optional essay. Perhaps you have a stellar leadership story or entrepreneurial experience that you did not get a chance to share elsewhere; you can use this space for that. The 500 limit of this essay allows you to throw a spotlight on these key aspects of your background or experience (professional or personal) that make you a perfect fit with the culture of LBS.
Free Resources:
10 Key Essay Tips with Examples
Essay Analysis of Other Top Programs-2020-21
MER Students Share their success Stories
Since 2011, MER (myEssayReview) has helped many applicants get accepted into the top MBA programs, including LBS (Poonam is one of the top 5 most reviewed consultants on the GMAT Club.)
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This article was first published in myEssayReview blog.
