2012 LBS MiF Applicants welcome!

The question is a good one ! I also read the news on internet that UK Govt has abolished the Tier-1 Post Study work visa. However the LBS website has posted some stuff that might be reassuring -

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1. While the government is aiming to reduce overall numbers settling in the UK from outside the EEA/Switzerland, its reforms are supportive of graduates of UK business schools and universities. It is committed to helping the 'brightest and the best'. London Business School has been working with the government to help them understand the value of our students.

2. People coming to study in the UK can apply for a tier 4 visa: https://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas ... /studying/

3. From April 2012, the government will remove unrestricted access to the labour market for those studying in the UK. However, they have made it easier for UK employers to sponsor international students they want to hire - employers just need to have a Tier 2 licence.

4. Almost 25,000 employers in the UK are Tier 2 sponsors - the full list is available on the UK Border Agency (UKBA) website and updated regularly. For those employers who do not yet have a Tier 2 visa, this is relatively easy and cheap to obtain and London Business School is proactively providing guidance to recruiters on how to do this.

5. Previously, an employer had to advertise the role even when they had a preferred candidate. Under Tier 2 legislation, if an employer has a preferred candidate in mind, for example a London Business School graduate, they will no longer have to advertise the role more widely (previously known as the Resident Labour Market Test). This makes the process more straightforward and cheaper for recruiters.

6. This more streamlined process is only applicable to graduates of UK universities and business schools. When recruiting from inside the UK, there is no cap on the number of UK-based graduates a company can hire. This includes graduates of London Business School. By contrast, recruiters will have restrictions on the number of graduates they can hire from outside the UK, including other European business schools.

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The points 2,3,4,5 imply that LBS graduates have a good chance of finding employment in UK. LBS claims that most of the recruiters at LBS have their-2 license. Secondly, the LBS graduates will have less competition from Non-UK based school graduates.

However this also means that one has to start searching for a job immediately after joining the program - no respite during term breaks.

Another option is trying for the Tier-1 Graduate Entrepreneur visa. Difficult option but an interesting one !

Hope this answers your question. Keep googling the internet, you might find more tips on getting the better of complicated UK visa rules. I think "life is already too complicated, Politicians and Governments never shy away from expedient policies to pander their masses"

Thanks. I looked at docs on UK govt website and it is not true that for Tier 2 you can hire without the Resident Labout Market Test...there is no way around it. Even in milkround employer need to retain docs that show locals were not available for that role...so seems like they have closed all loopholes. I think class of 2013 will really feel the impact.

I am also studying for the Level II CFA exam this June. Personally, I wouldn't reduce your CFA preparation to retake the GMAT. If you do this, you run the risk of not improving your GMAT score + failing the CFA exam. In my opinion, I think passing the CFA exam and being a Level III candidate will make you more attractive to employers than raising your GMAT. Good luck to you either way though and congrats on your acceptance.

I have had conversations with 4-5 students - non EU at LBS and all of them have said that the Visa is an issue for employment. I would advise that students should talk to current students to get a more wider perspective on whats on paper on whats the ground reality.

The reasons cited by non eu students says,

1. To move from tie 2 to work Visa there is a legal process involved with no guarantee of success, the consulate has his discretion to accept or reject the Visa. Most mid and small companies are shying away from this complication and uncertainty and of late also the big companies are looking to hire only EU students. Prior non eu students could stay for 2 years without any sponsorship so companies werent bothered about the Visa issue.

2. There is a large pool of Masters and unemployed EU students already available who are much easier to recruit.

3. While the quota is not affected most companies are worried that rapid hiring of non EU will lead to their Tier 2 status changed from A to B. Moreover Tie 2 B companies arent keen on pursuing this route to avoid any risk.

4. To the above point on Tier 1 graduate entrepreneur Visa I dont think its available for anyone doing research etc. work in business administration or finance. The only other route is to start your own company with the condition of being employed in it only which makes it highly impossible for someone to change from tie 1 graduate to tier 2 work.

Once again I dont know what the actual ground situation is as I havent been there, what I would recommend is to get more perspectives before deciding whats the ground situation.

LBS portal has finally been updated and i see names of all our newly admitted gmatclubbers.

a bit of statistics based on current portal data:
85 admits
14 from India
9 from China

our of 85 18 are females

thanks Laman for the update.
I have received the email informing me that I am shortlisted for an interview. However, the date is not set up yet.
In the email, it is said that they may also wish to investigate my technical ability, which I have no idea about. Could anyone give me some info about that? Any tips?

thanks Laman for the update.
I have received the email informing me that I am shortlisted for an interview. However, the date is not set up yet.
In the email, it is said that they may also wish to investigate my technical ability, which I have no idea about. Could anyone give me some info about that? Any tips?

congratulations to you! you know, that this shortlist email is one of the biggest milestones as they reject 70% of the applicants at this stage!
they usually try to find an interviewer from your sphere of work. one of the main purposes of the interview is to verify statements you made in your application - so usually interviewers ask detailed questions about your work, how you do things, etc. Read the topic from the beginning, lots of people described their interviews and questions they had, this might be very helpful while preparation. There are also some links with detailed interviews description. Largely interview depends on your interviewer, there were some pople whom they asked about overall understanding of finance, but these are very rare examples. In any case, it's better to be prepared as well as you can as this is the last thing which you'll have to prove! Good luck

I also got an invite on Tuesday. Any idea how long do they take to come back with interviewer details after sending out interview invite?

Thanks

It depends on your location/experience. LBS is trying to find alumni 1) in your preferred location 2) from your current sphere of work. Usually it takes around 10-15 days. In my example it took 2 months to find an interviewer, but i guess this is an exception good luck to you with your interview!

Hi everybody!
On April 12th I received the invitation to the interview! I guess it will not be easy for them to find an alumnus around since I live in C. Asia, but let's see.
I am very excited and look forward to good news from all you members as well.
Ciao

I also got an invite on Tuesday. Any idea how long do they take to come back with interviewer details after sending out interview invite?

Hi Dheeraj,
the time really depends on your location. In my case Peter promised to find an alumnus in Kiev. But I knew that there are no LBS alumni in Kiev and notified the adcom that i am fine to go to Moscow. As a result, Peter sent me details in 2 days.
So if you are sure that it is hard to find an interviewer in your location, just give the adcom the alternative. This could save your waiting time.

Good luck, Enri. Don't forget to read the information below about other's interview experiences. Also, you should review the electives offered because your interviewer will likely ask you what electives you want to take. Before my interview I assumed this was just to test that you are familiar with the program. Now that I've been accepted and am reading more, however, I bet they ask because it helps them to assign you to a study group for your project.

Ryan

congratulations to you! you know, that this shortlist email is one of the biggest milestones as they reject 70% of the applicants at this stage!
they usually try to find an interviewer from your sphere of work. one of the main purposes of the interview is to verify statements you made in your application - so usually interviewers ask detailed questions about your work, how you do things, etc. Read the topic from the beginning, lots of people described their interviews and questions they had, this might be very helpful while preparation. There are also some links with detailed interviews description. Largely interview depends on your interviewer, there were some pople whom they asked about overall understanding of finance, but these are very rare examples. In any case, it's better to be prepared as well as you can as this is the last thing which you'll have to prove! Good luck