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abhisheksahay
Joined: 17 Oct 2013
Last visit: 07 Oct 2016
Posts: 48
Given Kudos: 13
Schools: INSEAD Jan '15 (M) Wharton '16 (A$) Kellogg '16 (A) Booth '16 (WD) LBS '16 (WD) HBS '16 (D) Stanford '16 (D)
12 Sep 2014, 08:00
Kudos
Bookmarks
LBS aspirants,
The "sort of in the title is because I withdrew my application from LBS after interviewing.
I want to share my application journey and hopefully, this would be useful to other applicants.
Background: Indian male, 26 years, Delhi University, work exp of ~5 yrs at top 3 management consulting firm, a few months of social sector experience in Africa
Results: Admitted to Wharton (with $40K), Kellogg & INSEAD. Withdrew application after interview from London Business School and Chicago Booth. Decline from HBS/Stanford
Decision: Joining INSEAD in Jan 2015 (yes, it was difficult to decline Wharton but I believe INSEAD is a better fit for me)
Application strategy:
1. Highlighting differentiating factors among the competitive Indian male category: international work experience, social sector experience, non-IT background
2. Spent a solid time researching unique aspects of each school and relevance to my career goals. This "fit" is critical for LBS - more than other schools
3. Focused on keeping my profile "interesting": e.g not just focusing on work exp, career goals but also some hobbies, travel experience etc.
4. Provided very specific examples to highlight my skills, not high-level/generic comments
5. My academics and undergrad were not super impressive (and not from IIT), so I made it up with decent GMAT score (760)
Happy to answer any questions you may have.
Abhishek.
The "sort of in the title is because I withdrew my application from LBS after interviewing.
I want to share my application journey and hopefully, this would be useful to other applicants.
Background: Indian male, 26 years, Delhi University, work exp of ~5 yrs at top 3 management consulting firm, a few months of social sector experience in Africa
Results: Admitted to Wharton (with $40K), Kellogg & INSEAD. Withdrew application after interview from London Business School and Chicago Booth. Decline from HBS/Stanford
Decision: Joining INSEAD in Jan 2015 (yes, it was difficult to decline Wharton but I believe INSEAD is a better fit for me)
Application strategy:
1. Highlighting differentiating factors among the competitive Indian male category: international work experience, social sector experience, non-IT background
2. Spent a solid time researching unique aspects of each school and relevance to my career goals. This "fit" is critical for LBS - more than other schools
3. Focused on keeping my profile "interesting": e.g not just focusing on work exp, career goals but also some hobbies, travel experience etc.
4. Provided very specific examples to highlight my skills, not high-level/generic comments
5. My academics and undergrad were not super impressive (and not from IIT), so I made it up with decent GMAT score (760)
Happy to answer any questions you may have.
Abhishek.
Archived LBS Discussion
Hi there,
You've stumbled upon an old discussion from our LBS Forum
that's now outdated and has been archived. No more replies are possible here.
Interested in current discussions? Feel free to dive into our dedicated LBS Forum
for all fresh things related to the LBS MBA program.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
24 Sep 2014, 21:40
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Abhishek! Congratulations on all your admissions. I want to preface by saying thanks for offering any information!
Could you possibly go through the details of your interview process with LBS? Thanks!
Could you possibly go through the details of your interview process with LBS? Thanks!
abhisheksahay
Joined: 17 Oct 2013
Last visit: 07 Oct 2016
Posts: 48
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 13
Schools: INSEAD Jan '15 (M) Wharton '16 (A$) Kellogg '16 (A) Booth '16 (WD) LBS '16 (WD) HBS '16 (D) Stanford '16 (D)
Schools: INSEAD Jan '15 (M) Wharton '16 (A$) Kellogg '16 (A) Booth '16 (WD) LBS '16 (WD) HBS '16 (D) Stanford '16 (D)
Posts: 48
Kudos:
48
25 Sep 2014, 08:25
Kudos
Bookmarks
pprange
Hi,
Thanks for reaching out. Out of my 5 interviews, I think LBS was the least "conversational" (not that there's anything wrong with that!). I was interviewed by an alum who had graduated a couple of years back from LBS. He drilled deep into my projects, asking for very specific details. Of course, there were the usual "Why MBA", "Why LBS" questions and that went relatively smooth. I was dreading the "on the spot case" but it went alright. I don't think I provided a brilliant answer (he gave me 5 min to prepare!!!) but it wasn't too bad - we discussed my approach and he provided some alternative options.
In terms of preparation, I would suggest the following:
1. Be ready to discuss what's on your resume - not just at a high level but even the granular details
2. Understand that it will be a bit different from other b-school interviews: I guess LBS asks its interviews to probe the applicants and try to (moderately) stress them to check how they cope with it. All other school interviews felt like a discussion over coffee.
3. Be crystal clear on the "Why LBS" aspect. The interviewer went a step further and asked me Why not Harvard/Stanford/Wharton?
I must add a disclaimer here that this was my personal experience - others may have had a significantly different experience.
Hope this helps. Feel free to reach out again.
Abhishek
