London Business School

"Hi – I had my interview a few weeks ago and would like to share my experience. First, I got the interview invitation from LBS, and they told me that within the following days, they would match me with an interviewer. After a week, my regional manager shared his contact information with me. The following week was really stressful because my interviewer didn’t answer my emails, so I ended up sending him a phone message. The next day (Saturday), he called me and explained that he had had a terrible week, he was really sorry and asked me about my agenda, and we arranged an in-person interview on Monday (2 days after the call). I prepared for the interview and had my story clear and structured before the meeting. We met for breakfast, and it lasted around 2 hours. The experience was incredible, we had a fantastic chat, and he shared many valuable tips with me. To start, the interview was nothing as I was expecting. He never asked the classic MBA question explicitly. Otherwise, he asked many behavioural questions to get to know the real me. He started asking me about my personal life, my family and how I got to where I´m right now. Second, he asked me about my post-MBA and long-term goals, and we discussed how LBS would help me get there. Third, after one hour of chat, he gave me a paper with five questions and asked me to talk about the second topic, he left for 5 minutes, then came back and I gave my presentation. Finally, I asked him questions about his experience at LBS and we went over his amazing life experiences as an LBS student. My advice: - Prepare early: As soon as you get your interview invitation, you need to start preparing for the interview because you can’t anticipate when exactly it will be. I studied for more than two weeks after finally getting his call. - Be natural: Prepare well enough for the interview, structure your answers, and know your story, but more importantly, be natural. The interviewer is not looking for a robot that memorises all the answers, his goal is to determine if he would like to have you in class and see your LBS fit. -In-person interview: It´s another experience and story meeting online or in-person. He will only get to know you better through an in-person interview. -Be prepared: Do not be close to classic MBA questions; questions range from personal to behavioural to leadership. I even was asked a technical question about my sector. The interviewer will know the weaker areas of your application, so you need to know them too. -Length of answer: Try to answer in not more than 2-3 minutes for each question; your goal should be to turn the interview into a chat instead of a job interview. -Have fun: This is my biggest piece of advice. Have fun and enjoy the moment; LBS really does excellent work doing an alumni lead interview. The interviewer went through the same process, and he is not looking for reasons to reject you; he is only looking to get to know you better. I had an amazing time with my interviewer and will remember it for the rest of my life. I hope this debrief was useful. Good luck!"

"Had a 2 hour interview with an LBS 2019 alumni who was also a doctor. I guess my long term goal to build a healthtech startup was a consideration while choosing the interviewer We started with background and overview of my cv Why MBA, why now and why LBS This part took 20-25 mins. Lots of followup questions. Deeply questioning every assumption on 'why LBS and not any other school'. Followed by questions from my application (20-25 mins) US is a better place for healthcare. Why UK then? Tell me about previous startup How do I plan to manage my areas of improvement during LBS? How will I prioritise activities in LBS How does your father’s business struggles affect your future plans to start your own business Followed by some behavioural questions (20 mins) Am I assertive? Would scholarship make or break your application? Have you ever setup a team? How did it go? What does your team think about you? How would you contribute to LBS peers? How is it different? A case presentation (15 mins) Finally, questions for the interviewer (10 mins) Hope this helps. Goodluck!"

"Questions asked in the alumni recommendation form Of course, these are the questions that are asked: 1. How long have you known the applicant and in what connection? 2. Why do you think the applicant would be a good fit for the MBA programme at London Business School? 3. How do you think the applicant would contribute to: a. The study group and classroom environment b. Student clubs and the wider School community c. The Alumni community 4. Please include any further comments you would like the Admissions Committee to consider"

"Kira Interview: The video interview consists of 2 questions, 1 of which you will be told in advance (within your interview invite email) and the 2nd question is supposed to be random (from a repository of behavioral / leadership-traits based questions) which you'll only know on the spot. You are sent your Kira login credentials a few days after the interview invite, and you can instantly log in and start practicing and getting used to the portal. Whenever you start a question, you get 45 seconds to prepare and 90 seconds to answer - that's how its going to be when you execute the real thing as well. You will be given a deadline by which you should have submitted the Kira interview so watch out for that. It is advised to finish it a day in advance to avoid any technical misfortunes on the deadline date. The 1st question was about what you think is unique about the LBS MBA program. Since I had enough time to prepare I was ready and confident about my answer. I ensured my background was clean and uncluttered, my appearance was formal and pleasant. I was suited up for the recording but you may choose to be comfortable in business casuals. The 2nd question shot at me was about what I would be doing if I wasn't in the career I'm already in - to be honest, I wasn't really prepared for a question in this domain, but since my post-MBA goals talk about what I really want to do, I stuck to that theme. To summarize: - Practice Practice Practice - Ensure you are presentable - Maintain a clean, uncluttered & pleasant video feed - Breathe! You are given 45 seconds to think about your answer, structure it wisely before you start. Main Interview: I was connected with my interviewer just 10 days before the interview deadline, so I quickly reached out and set a time. It was with a senior partner at Mckinsey (Alumn from 2002), in the same city and I insisted on meeting in-person, which my interviewer gladly agreed to. The interview was scheduled in his office and I reached 10 minutes in advance. The interview began with the expected question where I was asked to talk about myself - so it's important that you are prepared. I'm a reapplicant so I addressed that element myself and spoke about why I was passionate about LBS and how my profile and experiences have evolved over my previous application to make me a better fit. My interviewer had my CV, my entire application and a feedback form printed out and he was taking notes throughout. We connected over a trip I had taken recently and he was genuinely interested in my experience, we ended up talking about that for around 10 minutes. Next we moved on to my career goals and why I wanted to do, what I had written about in my application. He probed into my international experiences and whether I had any relevant knowledge about my future career goals, which I honestly feel I could have answered better. Next we talked about why LBS and which other schools I've applied to. I hadn't applied any school when giving the interview, but I did tell him about my plans to apply to a few other schools if LBS did not work out. He was keen on understanding why I had chosen the other schools that I mentioned. 45 minutes in, and the interviewer brought out the case - It was something that the school had sent him for the interview. I was carrying blank papers and pens so he was impressed that I was prepared. The case was fairly simple - a situation-based branding strategy problem with 3 possible solutions, I was asked to provide my suggestion with reasons. I was given 10 minutes to prepare and my interviewer walked out of the room. In this time I structured my answer and made notes about my presentation (you are not supposed to make a PowerPoint presentation, you are only expected to gather your thoughts and talk about what your suggestion to the case question is). My interviewer walked in after 10 minutes and gave me 5 minutes to talk about my opinion. He heard me intently and after I was done, there were no questions. He seemed impressed and mentioned "very good" at the end of my presentation. Then I was asked if I had any questions - we spoke about how LBS helped in his career path after the MBA, and also about London's culture and overall environment. Overall the interview lasted a little over an hour and I walked out very relieved (that the process was finally over)! I was confident about the whole conversation and walked into the closest Starbucks for a coffee to relax. Funny story - my interviewer walked in to the Starbucks just 10 minutes later. We shook hands, said goodbye, he grabbed his lunch to-go and left. To summarize: - Suit up - Be punctual - Try and do the interview in-person (I personally believe it creates a better impact and allows the interviewer to get to know you better) - Don't lose confidence if you don't answer a question as well as you thought you could, pick yourself up and focus on the next one. - The interviewer is not looking for reasons to reject you. The interviewer is only looking for reasons to cement the admissions committee's confidence in your application."

"Hi I see its been a while and as I received my acceptance offer two days ago, I wanted to recall my interview experience. LBS interview is different from most others in the sense that they have a Case Study question as part of the interview process. I was interviewed by an alum (She graduated this year) and shared my geography- beside that she had little knowledge about my industry or my application and as she highlighted to me she hadn't received even my resume. The conversation began formally although she emphasised time and again it was a conversation. She introduced herself first and as an obvious response- I introduced myself with a quick walk through the resume which became the basis of our first few questions. There were the expected behavioural questions and many on why LBS. Which other schools have you applied to (in my case I mentioned the US Schools) and the why not there why LBS. I had to not only discuss specific advantages of LBS but also demonstrate my knowledge of my short term goal industry (health care) in UK, Europe and USA and how UK offered me the advantage. We also discussed the application question- One international experience and how it shaped me in great lengths. Finally towards the end I was given the Case Study based on the principles put forward by a Professor of Marketing I was reminded twice by her to stick to time limit and keep my points clear and concise- something I had practiced so was able to deliver on. The final question was about funding my MBA and how if scholarships were not offered- would it be my make or break situation. We later talked for another 15 minutes about her life post MBA and her MBA experience. It was a very pleasant interview and I must confess, given her expressions I could tell she wasn't satisfied with one or two of my answers but the interview was more about building a rapport and demonstrating passion. I thoroughly enjoyed and I'm very glad to get accepted :)"

"I don’t see a lot of recent debriefs so thought I will add a fresh one for future interviewees' benefit. I had my interview just a few days before the deadline for interviewers to submit their feedback. Which was both good and bad; good because lots of time to prepare, bad because more time to be nervous about it. My advice – don’t be nervous because in my view LBS interview is something you can’t fully prepare for. First, some information for people who don’t know about the interview process – Once you get an invitation to interview, a regional manager matches you up with an LBS alum. The process can take up to two weeks so be patient and use this time to prepare. Once you are matched, you reach out to the interviewer and set up a date. You have approximately 2-3 weeks to complete the interview before LBS's deadline for feedback from the interviewer. So, everything considered, you have almost 1 month to finish the interview after you get the invite. You also have to complete two video questions and you will get about three weeks after the invite to complete those. I suggest completing it as soon as possible to have more time to prepare for the interview. Again, one of the video questions is something that you can’t prepare for. Don’t wing it but don’t overprepare either. Now, for my interview experience – It went on for two hours and was full of random questions. I have a relatively unique professional background and her pre-MBA career was similar, if not as niche. Her curiosity regarding my career drove many (40%) of the questions and how, depending on my background, I will fit into the LBS environment. Almost 40% of the questions involved the interviewer sharing her own experience at LBS and with her post-MBA career, and then asking me questions about what I would do in those situations. There were no straightforward “why LBS?” or “why MBA?” questions but the extent to which I answered other indirect questions would have answered those anyway. I would recommend knowing what you wish to do at LBS (including GBE, Exchange, courses, clubs, etc.) at least one layer deep with solid reasons for why/why not? The interview also had a presentation/case, something I was concerned about because of no prior consulting experience and the general notion that you can’t prepare for it. The question in my view was straightforward. It was only a test of common business sense and verbal communication skills. I tried familiarizing myself with cases from LBS’s casebook and it was a nice warm-up. Overall, the interview was not meant to be a “trick” setup and was pretty chatty. My interviewer had a straight, almost disinterested face with occasional nods so I don’t know whether she was impressed or I am doomed as unworthy for the mighty LBS. Hoping for a good outcome. If anyone had any specific questions/concerns, feel free to comment."

"Just finished my interview for LBS. It was very conversational. I knew she would have my application but I didn’t realize she would have the admissions committee notes. Because of this the interview was much more focus on areas where the admissions had clear concerns or questions. I did not have a chance to cohesively walk through my resume which I was a bit disappointed by. Questions I remember: Why LBS? How do you use analytics in your work? What are your short term goals and how they fit with my long term goals? How do you deal with bad employees who don’t try? What’s your management/leadership style?"

"Interviewed for the full time MBA program with LBS with an alumni interviewer. Overall the interview lasted about 75 minutes. The interviewer upfront told me the format of the interview, and left a good amount of time 15-20 minutes at the end for questions. I would say questions were overall standard -- we talked through my background, each of my roles and I was asked to go into detail on a few specific projects. The interviewer wanted to understand my leadership style and how I deal with challenges and team environments, and asked several questions on personality related to that. Further they really want to understand career goals and why LBS will be the right program for you, asking specifically Why LBS and what other activities you would plan to get involved in during your time in the program. Mid-way through, we had the case project. This is a short business related question, that is more meant to get a sense of your critical thinking and communication. I was given 5 minutes to prepare the case and then 5 minutes to present. I think if you've worked in consulting or interviewed for consulting this won't be too difficult. However if you have not, I would recommend preparing a bit on how to structure the case, as that is much more important vs the actual answer. After the case we jumped back into the interview with a few more questions on my career goals / interests. It was clear that the interviewer had seen my application beforehand including my career goals and resume, and we talked about it in some detail. As mentioned, at the end it was left open for questions. I had about 6 questions I asked about the interviewer's experience at LBS which were talked through in detail. Overall, the interview is fairly standard, most of the questions are ones you can expect, and the interviewer has the chance to ask follow ups on motivations and things like that. The case, which takes about 10-15 minutes in total (preparation, instructions, and presentation) means that the interview is a bit longer than other MBA interviews, going as long as 2 hours for some people. But know your story, know about the school and know why the MBA program will help you get to where you want to be, and I'm sure you will be fine."

"Location and time : At the interviewer’s office and lasted about 2 hours ( 1.30 hours for the questions and case from interviewer’s side and the rest for my questions) The interview : It was quite like a conversation; The interviewer told me that he was in my shoes before, so he tried to make me relax before he started the interview by allowing me to ask questions about his job and past experience. The question : Here are the list of the questions i can remember. 1. Tell me about your self. 2. Follow up question about my favorite achievements. 3. Which courses or classes would i lead the study group, if i got into the LBS? 4. Tell me about your international working experience and between European and Asian with whom do you prefer to work? 5. How to deal with people who do not contribute to your team? 5. Three weaknesses and strengths 6. Any treats for my business? 7. Some questions about my interests in my application documents. (About AI) The case : the interviewer picked the question that is related to my background and my post MBA career. I really appreciated what he did. But i was asked not to share the question with anyone. I would say that the school wants to test how you logically deliver your answer. The video assessment : Everyone get 2 questions. The first question will always be informed in advance but the second will be random. Mine was the question about study group. For the best delivery, you should know your speaking speed and then prepare the answer with appropriate word count according to your speed. My two cents : For both the interview and the video assessment, you should prepare answers of as many as expected questions in advance and then practice them as much as you could. More importantly, if possible, your answers should be applied to more than one question because it will save a lot your time of preparation, for example the answer of the question “ Tell me about your rewarding experience” may also be the answer of the question “ Tell me about the time you contribute to the team” Lastly, as far as i can tell, you should be relax, confident, energetic, and positive during the interview. By the way, i’m sorry about my English. This is my first time of posting. I hope my debrief could be helpful."

"Time and location: Saturday morning at the office of the interviewer. Interviewer background: pretty similar to mine; both from a family business background with entrepreneurial ventures of our own. I will agree with other debriefs here in saying that the interview was conversational, but honestly - it was exceptionally so. If the interviewer weren't taking notes, I would probably not have realized that the interview had started. Anyway, I will try to reproduce it in order, as it happened: 1. Started with asking me to tell him something not on my resume. Some questions followed from my answer. 2. How did you go about starting your business? 3. What do you like about LBS? I think this question led to a general goals question. 4. Do you have any experience working in a diverse environment? (he explained that LBS is a place that values diversity) 5. Any occasion when you faced a conflict in your business? 6. How did you build your team at your company? I think this led to another question on the kind of leader I'd like to be. 7. A lot of questions on my resume. He had obviously spent time reading through my application and asked some incisive questions. These questions formed the bulk of the interview. 8. Some behavioural questions: what would you do if you had a million dollars? If you had the chance to spend a day with any person, who would it be? 9. Some questions on my extra-curricular interests, which he seemed to like. CASE STUDY: he chose a topic for me, relating to effective communication between a leader and his organization. This was a little generic and a bit tricky to speak about. I tried to speak with examples to overcome the generic nature of the question. POST-INTERVIEW: What followed was a free wheeling conversation about life at LBS which lasted longer than the interview itself. Mostly talked about how the MBA can be a life-changing experience. We talked candidly about enjoying the LBS experience. He told me about his GBE experience and generally about what what to do while at LBS. This is the part where you can try and ask questions too. I've read debriefs where the interviewer was eager to get done with the conversation, but mine was luckily happy to answer in detail. Probably learnt more from the interviewer than the alums I spoke to. I would say that the overall purpose of the LBS interview is to gauge your fit with the school, gauge your interest in the programme, and to confirm that the application matches the individual. My interviewer did not pose any inane questions on supposed strengths, weaknesses, etc., but I'd say, know them all the same. Most of all, be confident, friendly, and relaxed. Good luck."

"Conducted in alum's office. Interview was very detailed which is why I felt I had a good idea at the end that it went well. At the same time, it was very conversational and my interviewer was very friendly. Typical questions: tell me about yourself, why MBA, why now, why LBS, career goals Behavioral questions, but very contextualized: pick one project you did and in that context tell me about your strengths and weaknesses; apart from that, other behaviorals: tell me about a time when you contributed in a team, resolved a conflict, etc; leadership style All behaviorals went in depth - so he asked me follow up questions on my answers so you can't fake it till you make it. One odd ball question: Is there something in the world of business which you think is an issue/problem but people aren't talking about it much right now? At the end there was a case question: interviewer gave me the option to choose between 2 questions, gave me 5 minutes to think of an answer (he left the room for this), returned and ask me my answer and then asked me to elaborate on one of the points I had made. It was a business situation like this company wants to achieve XYZ goal, how should they do this? It's very easy if you have experience in consulting/other business background - you can't really prepare for this, just be structured and articulate - that's what they care about, there's no right or wrong answer. I'd also say be creative. I have heard some case questions be not really business cases but a current affairs question. I'd say the LBS interview is unique in the sense that it is actually a pressure test - know current affairs, read about business problems, common topics (like ethics, corporate taxes, globalization, wage equality etc), brush up on consulting frameworks. On a similar note, I encourage all candidates to read about the program in detail and know everything even if you are not interested in some aspects, e.g., know which classes and professors you want to take, which GBE you want to do, clubs you want to join / start etc. Video Questions: This was super straightforward but I know some people get some oddball questions. They give you the first question in advance - why MBA, why now, why LBS The second is random - mine was behavioral - tell me about a time when..... Don't think you should stress about this component but again know current affairs, everything about the LBS program, practice some behaviorals"

"This will be a hard one to write in an organized manner, because this was a truly conversational interview. I will try to summarize what we touched upon: 1. Began with the interviewer telling me about herself 2. Asked me to give an overview of my resume, why I want an MBA and why LBS? 3. Asked me how I will manage at LBS, given that I will be moving to London with my family 4. Asked me about my partner and whether he would find it difficult to relocate 5. What other schools did I apply to and why? I was honest about this - let's see if that comes back to bite me :) 6. Case was fairly simple, she stepped out of the room for 5 minutes and when she came back in, she asked me to discuss what I think. I tried to be organized and coherent but I missed mentioning a key point and she asked me what I think of that aspect. So, that was kind of embarrassing. C'est la vie! 7. After the case, she let me ask her any questions. Even though I had a couple of questions prepared, I ended up asking a couple more based on what I heard about her experience at LBS. She was taking notes throughout the process. Overall, this was my best interview experience. Yes, I didn't give a stellar performance, specially during the case, but I truly felt that she paid attention to every single thing I said. She was genuinely interested in my motivations and she followed up with questions on almost every statement I made. This did make it kind of difficult to have a structure to the interview, but I just made sure to inquire at the end if I answered all her questions to her satisfaction. 5 stars to LBS for the interview process!"

"It took a while to schedule my interview with the alumnus I was assigned to as she was a busy lady. We finally managed to meet for an hour on a Saturday and the interview itself was quite informal and relaxed. There were a set of questions that were provided to the interviewer by the school and she was expected to submit her notes against each of those questions. The questions themselves were to make sure that I myself have written my application and a sort of confirmation on the contents of my application essay and other information that I had included as part of the answers to the application questions. Some of the questions were: - Why do you want to go to LBS? Why MIF and not MBA? - Do you have a contingency plan if your plan A for the program doesn't work? - Do you know of the clubs and student associations that you would like to be a part of? How will they benefit you? - Do you know which subjects are taught? What electives will you likely choose? In general, I got the feeling that the interviewer was expected to make sure that the candidate is genuine, knows enough details about the program to make an informed decision and has realistic expectations from the school and the program. The interviewer also shared her experience of the program and shared some advice on how to make the most of the program. We did not have more than an hour for the interaction and hence we could only manage to go through the set of standard questions set by the school for the interviewer. In general, I would say that the interview would really depend on the alumnus who is chosen to interview you and knowing a bit about them before the interaction should help one prepare better for it."

"I received a proposal to join 2020 class 2 weeks after the interview. The interview had 3 parts not in order. I am just trying to tell you broad topics covered in the interview 1. Discussion about the interviewer expirience in LBS and his career. 2. My track record and personal achievements, also chat about why LBS and why London, why MFin and not the MBA. I mean you have to show that you really want this. 3. Kind of think he checked some stuff about me LBS asked him to. Finally we chat a little bit, he was super cool. Expect to meet you all next year!"

"The interviewer was quite friendly. He was a 2nd generation family business owner. The interview lasted for over 1 hour, 15 minutes. This is how it went : 1. He made me feel comfortable and told me that it will be an informal interview but he will be taking notes for the school, so I shouldn't mind it. He had two copies of my resume and a blank sheet in which he was constantly jotting some points. 2. He started by introducing himself and told me about his background, career and gave a glimpse of his life @ LBS. He mentioned that he will chat more about it towards the end. From what I understood, LBS has a set procedure for interviews and the interview needs to follow it and capture specific feedback on those particular aspects. 3. Then, I introduced myself and he asked me to talk about my leadership style - pros and cons (since I mentioned leading teams). 4. Why MBA? Why LBS? 5. He asked me that since I have spent all of my professional life so far at Microsoft - how have I grown there as an individual? 6. Then, he asked me to talk about my career plan post-MBA and why that plan? I mentioned consulting and spoke about how it is in line with my skill set, experience and interest. Then, he asked me what my plan B is in case is I don't grab a consulting job. 7. "Does it not bother you that consultants don't develop anything on their own and they are just advising others?" 8. "What is your long-term goal?" 9. "How will you handle a non-contributing team member in LBS study group?" 10. "What will you contribute to LBS community?" 11. "How do you handle conflict?" 12. "First year at LBS is extremely hectic, how do you typically handle stress?" 13. “What are your hobbies?” When I told him I like to write, he mentioned that I should consider looking at the LBS newsletter group – It might interest me. The interview was quite interactive throughout. He kept sharing his experiences and insights in between. 14. Then he gave me a topic for a case presentation. He had already selected one for me and he gave me 5 minutes to think of some strategies to help that client. I jotted down some points that I could immediately think through and spoke about them. He didn’t ask me any counter questions and seemed fairly convinced with my points. 15. The interview concluded with him giving me time to ask some questions and him sharing his experiences. I asked him for any advice that he would have for me to prepare myself for an MBA in the ten months that I have at hand. He told me that he wouldn’t recommend me to do any preparation, I should take life as it comes and not be too stressed out about the MBA. He then concluded with sharing some his MBA highlights and how he grew from that experience. Overall, it was a pleasant experience and I think it went well. Eagerly waiting for the results!"

"Originally scheduled with an alumn working in a sector I've never worked in, (and I've worked in most sectors during my consulting career). Unfortunately my interviewer had to cancel last minute due to work commitments so I was reassigned an alumn working in another sector I wasn't too familiar with (not a "perfect fit" like some people seem to have experienced, but a really great person nonetheless). In fairness to LBS they handled this reschedule well and rescheduled quickly. The interview lasted about an hour, went through the "why LBS" questions, a few questions about why I would want to stay in the UK to study, how I will contribute to LBS life, what I was looking forward to the most. There were definitely some questions the interviewer had to ask but overall it was more like a coffee with a new work colleague vibe and felt more about personality fit than anything else. Interviewer claimed not to have read my application so I did a quick 5 min whistle-stop tour of my CV in the beginning. Case study was quick and easy, not something you could prepare for other than basic presentation skills - making a number of points, highlighting pros and cons, rounding off your argument with an overall recommendation etc. Just common sense really. Spent the last half hour asking my interviewer questions about their experience at LBS."

"The interviewer was really friendly and LBS adcom did a great job of matching me with the right interviewer, who had similar experience as I. Started with introduce yourself and why I took the decisions that I did. Was really invested in finding out why MBA and why LBS - so work hard on that. Ask some questions to test my vision - like what problems do I see in the consumer tech industry 15 years down the line. Overall pretty smooth, fingers crossed, hoping for the best."

"My interview was with an alumni and it lasted for almost 3 hours. I think the length of the interview really depends on the interviewer so be prepared. But generally your interview will let you know in advance. Mine texted me a day in advance and asked me to prepare my timing accordingly. The interview was really informal and conversational. He let me ask questions along our conversation so it didn't feel like an intense interview. At first I was asked several basic why questions (why LBS, why London, why MBA). Then it was more about my post-MBA goal and my current job. I could tell that he really gauged my interest in LBS since he knew I applied to another school. Additionally, he seemed genuinely interested in my current job and asked a lot of follow-up questions about projects that I have done and how I interacted with my co-workers. The conversation flew by and I was asked to do the presentation part. The interview was in one of his company offices so I had access to a white board and post-it notes. Therefore, I was quite comfortable using all of those to demonstrate my answer. He did not ask any follow-up questions after I presented. At the end, he was really honest and told me that I performed well and promised that he would report back to the school exactly what happened and put in his recommendation. I still keep in touch with him now and plan to ask his advice when I start preparing for my move to London :) The Video Interview: I was super nervous about this as I don't generally feel comfortable looking into a camera. I believe the school does understand that some people feel like me so they won't judge you too harshly on your video performance. I rehearsed my answer to the first question (known in advance) so I think I did ok. The second question was somewhat not a surprise but I think I did terribly. I did not say what I should have said. I think my nerve got the best of me but I at least I did not run over time. My recommendation would be to "Really be yourself". I know it sounds cliche but if you can feel comfortable, believe me, it makes a whole lot difference. For the in-person interview, remember to keep your answers very structured and concise. Imagine that you're trying to help the interviewer to take notes! The more detailed his/her notes on you are, the better chance you have :) Good luck!!!"

"Okay, interviews have kind of been a disaster for me. I'll tell all details, hopefully it helps someone prepare in areas I wasn't prepared. In person interview: Had my interview back in mid October - and I have NEVER been so nervous in my life. I had to have a surgery this month, so I was down for at least 2 weeks of the interview period. The morning I was assigned an alumni to do the interview, I emailed him to set it up the interview. With my schedule limitations, the only time to do the interview was THAT DAY in 4 hours. I had two hours of meetings left at my full time job, had enough time to go home and throw on a suit, and then drive the hour to his office. No. Preparation. Time. Not in a good place mentally Felt really strong the first hour. LBS is the only school I applied to in this round, I have a very clear reason I want to go there, my resume and essays told a clear story, and I know the school. He seemed very interested in press events I used to manage in Hawaii, which was one of my favorite projects, so it was very easy to talk about In hour two, we did an impromptu a case study where I had to do quite a bit of estimation math in my head, which I was totally unprepared for. Talked about it for about 10 minutes, and by the end I was so nervous I'm sure I was pale as a ghost, because he said that we should take a little break if I needed it. Then I was worried that I was looking like I couldn't handle pressure, which of course meant I was then stuck inside my head for the rest of the interview I feel like I did fine on the Case Presentation portion, the scenarios presented were simple enough. I could have done better, but it was okay. I walked out a feeling like my chances of getting had all but died. My interviewer called me about 30 minutes later and told me that he didn't want me to feel like I had bombed the interview, and that he gives very hard interviews. I thanked him for the call, and told him what a great learning experience it was! I have never been nervous in an interview before, but I'd never had an interview like this. I learned about an area I can definitely improve. So. Feels like I bombed, but maybe he was sincere when he said that I didn't? Video Interview: I work in entertainment, so I have access to sets and photography studios. I set up my laptop in a photo studio, set up 3 point lighting, white background, the whole shebang. Tried to give any extra effort I could :) Obviously, we knew the first question, so I felt fine about my answer there (I tripped over a few words, and wasn't as elegant as I was in my rehearsal, oh well). The second question was related to the single area of the program I knew the LEAST about. I know the program, I know which professors I'm most excited about meeting, I knew which courses I am looking forward to taking the most, the electives I will do, which clubs I'd like to join, the businesses based in London I'm most interested in connecting with, etc. There is ONE area of the program I really never thought much about, and that's the question I got. and I BLEW it. Terrible terrible response. As soon as it stopped recording, I knew EXACTLY what I should have said. My Biggest Take Aways: - No matter what you've heard about an LBS interview, be prepared for something off book - During the interview window, make sure you look interview ready every day until you're interview is officially scheduled - you never know when schedules will suck enough you have to do an interview immediatley - Know the WHOLE PROGRAM. Even the parts that you aren't particularly interested in or don't plan on participating."

"Had my interview few days ago at LBS campus. Overall, the interview was more of a conversation than one-way communication. The interviewer was experienced and she interviews many candidates every year (at least that's the impression I got from her conversations). She had a questionnaire and followed a structured approach to cover as many aspects as possible about my profile: 1. About myself : She asked me to talk her through my resume and specifically asked me to focus more on "why I did" what I did. This was followed by some detailed questions wherever she was interested in my profile such as How did you find this experience etc. 2. Why MBA/Why LBS/Why now 3. How will I contribute to the school/clubs/class/study group 4. Life experience questions : Tell me a time when you worked in a multi-cultural team, what is my biggest achievement , what is my biggest challenge in my current role, what are your biggest strengths, Tell me a time when you led a project, My international experience etc. 5. My opinion : What is wrong with the world that businesses are ignoring? What should they do? 6. Presentation: She already chose the topic for me from a list and gave 5 mins to prepare. It was easy and she was focusing more on my approach and perspective than the final answer. I read in this blog that students were asked not to share the topic of the presentation. Surprisingly, she didn't ask me - may be she forgot :) 7. Finally, the conversation ended with her experience at LBS, what they look for in a candidate at this stage and her current role in the firm and why she chose it.. My advice to everyone will be keep your answers short, concise and structured. Moreover, be honest and enjoy the conversation. Now waiting impatiently for the result - fingers crossed. Best wishes to everyone!"