Ask Me Anything: Admission Consultant w/ 90% Successful Placement

Question

Expert Guidance on LBS MBA Applications with 90% Success Record

Hello GMAT Clubers,

My name is Hadi Hussaini and I am one of the Co-founders and Lead Admission Consultants at A1 MBA Consultant. We specialize in admission into and scholarship awards from European MBA and Master's programs as well as those of some of the US schools. We were started by LBS and INSEAD MBA admits who have all received scholarships.

We know that there isn't as much detailed and insider information about the application process and keys to a successful admission and scholarship into the European programs as there are for the US ones. Feel free to ask us anything about any of the top 20 European programs as well as US ones on this forum. Whether you're wondering if your profile is competitive or you would like to know what some of these top programs look for, we're here to answer any of your questions.

At your service,

Hadi and the A1 Team

amag1234 · Answer

Probability and tips to get off waitlist from MFA at LBS?

Posted from my mobile device

Dragongirl24 · Answer

I am planning to apply for MBA for Fall 2023.
London business school is my dream school. Please review my profile and help me know my chances at LBS.

Demographic: Indian, Female, Age 27
Education: Bachelor of Engineering, Instrumentation (Mumbai University, 2016)
CGPA: 8.14/10
GMAT attempt1: 540, Attempt 2 is in July

Work Ex: Started as graduate engineer trainee in a process automation Swiss MNC and moved upwards to work in Sales as Sr. proposal engineer with 5 years work ex.
Worked with oil and gas public sector companies ( IOCL, ONGC, HRRL) and won huge project orders of up to 50 million INR
Worked with various chemical industry giants (Grasim, NFASL, GACL) and grabbed the biggest orders even won in company history
Won an international award for "Best Sales progress" which was also the first win for the Indian office.

ECs: Mentored kids in Mentor me India for 2 years
Part of Feeding India team for Mumbai
Part of Emergency Rescue team of office
Led to 2 student led organizations in college

Post MBA goal: Short term MBB Consulting (Operations), Long term: COO of a fortune 500 company

Motivation: Since I have worked in sales and worked with numerous clients, I am aware of how processes work. I would like to work in helping and consulting firms in improving their processes and improve their profitability and efficiency.

Posted from my mobile device

A1MBAconsultant · Answer

It obviously depends on your specific candidate characteristics. But in general, you should have had some contact with the admission committee (If not, then DM and I'm happy to share some emails of key members of that team), you need to draft an email with a letter addressed to the admission committee which incorporates the following three sections (These are also similar to the sections for a scholarship appeal). Rather than the narrative you have painted in your admission essays, the way you want to write this email/letter is direct and to the point

1. Why do I Stand Out?
* Restate your strengths as well as the unique accomplishments that you provide. You obviously want to touch upon academic ability, and extra prep you have done (ideally formal) to allow you to come in ahead of your class in finance courses as well as in recruiting efforts. Also touch upon any extracurriculars, whether related or unrelated to finance, that put you ahead and make you a truly diverse and international candidate

2. Why You Want the MFA from LBS
*This is obvious and you should have good ammo for it already. restate why the MFA is what you need to achieve your career goals and why you want to be at LBs (High ranking, diverse and international crowd, London location)

3. What Will You Contribute to LBS.
* State how you will be an active and vibrant member of the LBS community. State the specific initiatives and clubs/associations that you will participate in and exactly how. Also, remember to mention how you want to give back to LBS (with your time obviously) when you become an alumnus and how.

This is a solid start for fighting your way off of the waitlist. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Rooting for you!

Hadi
*

A1MBAconsultant · Answer

Dragongirl24

You're GPA is solid and I'm glad to hear that you will be taking the GMAT again this July because you will definitely need to bring that as close to or above 700 to make yourself as competitive as possible given your geographic demographic.

LBS is going to love that you started in a technical field and then switch to a purely business function at a Swiss (International company). Your oil and gas experience (I'm assuming in a similar function given the details you provided) will only boost your diverse profile. I can't stress how solid your work experience is, combining a technical understanding with sales and marketing experience is a strong narrative and trajectory for an international school such as LBS.

Strong extracurriculars assuming you have been involved with those same initiatives for a long time.

I like your targetting of an MBB consulting firm, however, are you looking at strategy or something else such as pricing? That needs to be clarified. it will also be incredibly important how you state your desire to want to move into MBB consulting, make sure you lean on your diverse expertise in such a wide range of com[panies. Also, do you want to do consulting in a traditional oil and gas region such as the GCC? Perhaps in some sort of an energy transformation role. The more detailed the better so be as specific as possible as well as sensible with what you state because a coherent story will be essential. That goes for your motivation as well, you need to make that solid.

Overall, crush the GMAT (Make sure your study strategy is different and comprehensive) and perfect the fine details of your story and reason for the MBA, LBS, and the specific (and it needs to be more specific) post-MBA career choice.

If you have any other questions do let me know. Also, one of our consultants Mitali Jalan (Here's her LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitali-jalan/) is an Indian MBA candidate at LBS and is ex-Deloitte, she's definitely worth having a conversation with, let me know if you would like me to connect you two.

Cheers,

Hadi

bb · Answer

Ask Me Anything: Admission Consultant w/ 90% Successful Placement

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