The London Business School 2010 thread

Just came back from my interview. Brief as follows:

Interview was at 8:45 in downtown Mumbai (Nariman Point for those who know it). My alum is an AVP at a PE Fund in Mumbai. He's a Harvard Economics undergrad, and an LBS 2004 Alum - finance thru and thru.
So he had told me that if I arrived early, I should tell the guard and he'd make sure I was in a conference room. So as promised, the guard made sure I was well esconced in a conf room with coffee when he arrived. He was the picture of grace, and politeness, and made me feel very comfortable.

The interview itself was about 2 hours long, and it followed more of a conversational note rather than staccato questions thrown at me. He asked me to walk him through my background, education, career, roles I'd played. He asked me 3-4 questions about my leadership style, my teamwork experiences. When I explained my current role, he asked me what were the biggest impediments to growth in my business and what I would do to logically grow my company. We then discussed a few companies he'd worked on during his PE stint, and what their pros and cons were. We talked about the Retail and Export Apparel market, and he offered a lot of perspectives from his point of view (which was finance based). He then asked me a couple questions (probably questions he'd been told to ask, since he rolled his eyes, as he said "a couple of questions I Need to ask you"), like how would your teammates or friends describe you, why LBS, why Now, he asked me for a weakness, and he asked about the rationale for why I applied to only 3 colleges.

The presentation was based on the Aviation sector which was extremely coincidental, since a friend and I had been discussing this exact case over coffee about 2 weeks ago! So I told him this and he laughed, and said that I'd most probably be very prepared for this case. Anyhow, I outlined both sides of the case, and then made my point that sort of bridged the gap with a lot of detail. So then we discussed the aviation sector in India, and we
talked about how different it was abroad.

We then talked about the employment scenario in LBS, about his impression of Banks, MBA Leadership rotation programs, and opportunities. He said that you need to meet companies outside the Milk Rounds to make a better impact as well. He felt I was a good fit in LBS and it has great International diversity.

He spoke about his industry, and was very eloquent about it. He said that LBS is a great place to study as well. I asked him a couple of questions about electives and about the individual professor's performances since I'd heard something about it from a current student.

So that was it. It lasted about 2 hrs. I thanked him and he walked me out to the lobby.

I really liked the process. It felt like an adult conversation as opposed to an Indian B-School Interview I attended where I felt like a child being rebuked for stealing cookies.

So many interviews debriefs today.
Pranay looks like you had great one today. Let me see how I do now.

Hey,
All the best. Am sure you'll do well!

Had my interview last night - was very unusual - lasted only for an hour and had almost zero questions on teamwork/leadership or even "tell me about a time.." - mainly focused on goals - I think just like Dr. Manhattan

My profile - 28/M/Indian/700/3.5 (masters in engineering)/based in NYC - goals of joining family biz in media.

I think it went well - but scared about the fact that it lasted only an hour as opposed to all the posts on this forum - now just have to wait till 25th march to find out.

My best interviews tend to be the the shortest so don't worry. What was the topic for your presentation? Best of luck!

Posted from my mobile device

Had my interview yesterday. I’ll give now a quick debrief then maybe later I’ll discuss my whole take on the LBS application experience.
My interviewer had a long list of questions provided by the School. I can’t say it was a conversational experience as previously reported in other interview debriefs - the interview was actually on the formal side, with my interviewer sticking religiously to the list . Nevertheless I remained relaxed and structured.
The questions were a bit unconventional in comparison to other interviews I had for other schools. Not any of the why mba/lbs/now questions. Not a single question about my career goals or aspirations. We dwelled for more than 90 minutes on questions related to my past experiences (mainly post-undergrads) – now when I think about it, it felt more like a job interview.
I had tons of situational questions about leadership and teamwork. He kept focusing on my style and character under different conditions (advice: prepare in advance as many examples you can). I had also around 20 mins questions to check my business awareness involving a swot analysis on my business, discussion of the strategy of the firm I work for and my opinion about it. We then moved to more macro level questions related to my opinion on the current crisis, the next threats to the regional and global economy, the changes and lessons learned, my opinion about Greece’s sovereign crisis and other similar questions (I work in finance so I believe these were fair questions to assess how I structure my answers and again my business awareness. I doubt applicants with different backgrounds would face that many similar questions).
After 90 minutes, he said it’s time to move to the presentation, read some written generic introduction about that part of the interview (felt actually like these pre-flight security announcements).
After the presentation (no comments on this part, it went smoothly as all previous debriefs), he started again asking those situational questions (was a bit weird because this is the part where you would normally expect it’s finally your turn to ask the questions). After covering another 20 min about leadership and multi-cultural team experiences, he opened the space for my questions.
Overall I think the interview went fairly well. It lasted for about 140min, and I was the main speaker for most of the time (something I didn’t really enjoy and expect). I feel the questions asked didn’t give me enough room to show my excitement/research about LBS. At the end he said that my application is very strong but the final decision would come to the adcom and how my profile fits within the whole class mix. Finally, he asked me to keep him posted once the final decision is made.
Hope this helps. Good luck.

JoeMahmah - thanks for the wishes - my presentation was on a recent hot debate topic related to the financial crisis. Did well in that part.

I had my interview today. It was a very short one because the interviewer was busy only 55 minutes inclusive of everything. Will write a debrief tomorrow.

I thanked him for his time on my way out. Should I write a 'thank you email' again? If so, should I write something in addition? I am just not sure because I feel a 'one line thankyou' will look awkward and a 'longer one' will look like i am trying t obutter him. May be its a trivial thing.. But can someone suggest what people usually write in such emails?

undafry, thanks for the response. What part in the Media business are you looking to do post LBS?

I would suggest you to write a thank you mail for sure. Also add in the mail something unique that you both discussed in the interview or anything that you guys talked on and was interesting.

Had my interview today.

My biggest piece of advice is to be prepared to go into details about your long term vision, and how LBS gets you there.

Gluck to those still interviewing.

3 more weeks until the decision is released on March 25. I looked at the R1 thread, and it appears that the decisions were released very late into the London day -- just like the interview decisions were. So... 3 weeks + a few hours to wait.

Round 2 for me - completed my interview, waiting to hear back on the 26th.

Thanks.

I had my LBS interview yesterday evening.

The interviewer is 2006 passed out, working in the same area within Tech sector where I want to work post-MBA. Nice guy and made me feel relaxed.

We met at the LBS campus. He started with brief introduction of his background, his past work and current work. Tried to make me feel relaxed and mentioned that we would have conversations rather than formal interview.
Started with "Tell me about yourself". I spoke for couple of minutes and then he mentioned that he would throw some challenging questions. He started talking about why not entrepreneurship immediately after MBA rather than doing what I had mentioned as my short-term goal. I gave him explanations. He further added what if I become a successful entrepreneur and find that magic formula to succeed - what then. Explained him again why I think it makes sense for me to do MBA, work before going for entrepreneurship and various benefits of going through MBA and my short-term goals. He then started asking some challenging questions about my short-term roles and the first thing that I would do while working in that role (he is currently working in similar role) and I think he wanted to know if I have done enough research. Again answered him with specific points and things that I would start with in that role. He was very pleased with that answer and said that whatever I said was the first thing taught in MBA classses. Then he started asking about specific course and later asked about just one that I will take if I have only that option. I mentioned which one and why. I think he was fairly convinced and then I further elaborated on the role that I want to work in after MBA.

After almost 30-35 mins of above discussion, he said "Now relax, I would ask few typical questions". Started with "what's unique about me given that lot many from IT apply". I tried my best to bring my diverse background, entrepreneurial skills, team working experiences and how I would add value. He then poked about the cultural learnings and what do I think about it. I gave examples of various cross-cultural team experiences and talked about working in London. He further enquired about anything that I have picked from London culture. I gave him example from both professional and personal point of view. Then we spoke about cultural things for a while. He later asked what if I do not get admitted. Answered that as well.

I was surprised to find out that he never asked me about why now, why LBS, what are your long term goals - the typical whys. Neither were any questions about stories. Also no questions about other schools. Sensing that I won't get a chance to tell my stories, I infused examples of the best stories in whatever questions he asked. But still feel that I could tell him all that I wanted to as there was not much option to relate those. Then came the presentation - fairly easy topic (again about organisational culture). I think presentation was the easiest part of the interview. Had 3 succinct points and he took notes while I presented. He gave feedback and said that I did well and added a comment as well. That's it. There was no more discussion about the topic. It was 1 hr 15 minutes and he finally said that he is done and I could ask my questions if I have any.

I had specific questions about alumni involvement, classes, electives, clubs. I had 2-3 more but I realised that it was 10pm (we started at 8pm in evening) and thought to cut it short. Also tried to tell him more about my background, my research about LBS, the classes that I had attended and about the event that I had attended while visiting campus. I think I tried to speak wherever I can to show him that I have done enough research about the school and my goals.

We finished by 10:15pm and walked together to the tube station. Bid goodbye to each other, gave him my card and then boarded our trains. I came back home, sent him a thank you email and also mentioned one unique point about our discussion.

Overall I felt happy about the interview. Just felt that I could not tell him everything that I wanted to tell as there weren't enough typical questions for me. It's done for me and would wait till 25th to find out how it turns out for me.

Good luck to everyone.

Hi all,

Just had my interview. It was rather conversational and the interviewer was very nice. She is a recent graduate and, I suppose, remembers well being in my shoes. I did have to explain why MBA, why now, and why LBS, and then we moved to more specific questions about why I want to change careers and my accomplishments at work.

I thought the presentation was pretty challenging and my interviewer later said she was not supposed to give me any feedback.

In the end, it was my turn to ask why LBS and otherwise about life and studies there.

I would say that the interview reinforced my desire to attend LBS and I am looking forward to the decision day, however it falls.

Good luck to everybody!

Hi All - What do you wear to your interview? Is suit and tie too formal if meeting at someone's apartment? good luck to all and thanx!

my rule of thumb is based on venue. i went to the dude's apartment, so i knew right off the bat that it would be a less than formal situation. so i wore khakis, a casual dress shirt, and a blazer. i went to my kellogg one at a starbucks in khakis, shirt, tie, v neck sweater, no jacket. but if you are going to his office, i'd would do it up, head to toe. suit, tie, best dress shoes you got, nice watch, etc. you go to a professional place, be professional. you go to a relaxed place, show you can still be professional without the noose around your neck and that you're actual a fun and relaxed guy to hang out with.

Everything I've read said to approach interview in a formal way. I wore a suit. (no tie though - I'm female )