LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL MASTERS IN MANAGEMENT 2011

Hello everyone,

I've been following this thread for a while, but haven’t had time to reply as I work full-time, and the LBS took up a lot of my free time.

I applied in r4 and got an email today confirming I have been short listed for an interview.

My Profile:
22/m/Pakistani (living primarily in Pakistan, but in UK for the last 3 years)
BSc Financial Economics (graduated with high 2.1)
GMAT 700 Q 47 V 38 AWA 5.5
W/E: VP Education for Students Union, and Trustee for the same charity (10 months so far, 2 months to go)
Entrepreneurial background, with 2 past businesses, president of uni social enterprise and entrepreneurship societies, 2005 internship in ABN Amro.

Could anyone tell me of what I might my interviewer be targeting me on? I understand that questions such as Why LBS/MIM etc are regular, but what else do interviewers tend to focus on (academics/experience)? Also, are we paired up with interviewers who have a similar background?

Congrats to all of those who have already been admitted, and good luck to those being interviewed.

Best,

Saad

You should be paired up with someone with a similar background, but I wasn't. I'd say the biggest thing they focus on is your ability to work in a team. They'll definitely ask you for examples of when you had a conflict at work/school to see how you were able to deal with it and work with your team members to solve the problem. Teamwork seems to be a huge focus at LBS across all programs. They even ask about it on the app, in the form of the study group question!

Yes I think that Consulting & IB offers sum up to > 50% of all offers. I guess this is due the economic focus here in London. The biggest/tier-1 firms start recruiting in October and a lot of people got dings from them and had to apply to the next batch of firms (tier-2 so to say). People are still applying and interviewing with these and getting offers as well. Some MiMs started applying back in their countries of origin to gather top jobs there - this process is still active as well. So, no, not getting an offer in autumn does not mean you have lost you chances - even top firms hire later as well.

WOW! I'm soooo sorry for those rejected! I guess the R4 applicants were not as lucky as the R3 (8/8 got interviews!). If it's true that now there are offering 150 places for next year, there are a lot of places available still...

A person with 610 got to the interview stage... from the same nationality / background as another one with 690 who got rejected straight away... this means they are looking for something in particular in the essays... otherwise, I do not understand...

I got the interview email for round 4 today

Has anyone been matched up with their "buddy" yet? I got an e-mail from mine today. Also, I've been asked by almost every person involved in the MiM about if I think my math skills will be up to par. I assume it's because I have a media background, but I've taken two years of calculus. Could I do any of it now, four years later? Probably not. But I've always been pretty good at math and anything I may have forgotten that's necessary for this course was refreshed when I studied for the GMAT lol. Does anyone else keep getting these questions from people associated with the program, or is it just because I don't have an undergraduate degree in a subject with a strong quantitative focus?

Yes! Mine is Spanish!

About your maths skills... you got 750 in the GMAT! You know your Maths! Plus I reckon the max maths skills we'll need are + - x % for accounting! lol!!!

No one has asked me about my Maths skills... I guess it's because you come from a non-quantitive backgound, but still! I've done A LOT of calculus and algebra, but that was also 3-4years ago for me... I remember almost nothing! Anyway, I don't think we'll need to use weird Laplace transforms for differential equations or to use the Gauss's theorem... (ohh... sweet first two years at uni... all this Maths for NOTHING!). I think we will just need basic differentiation/integration...

hi guys,

I am wondering if any of you from Europe has heard back from them about the interview details? I reckon we will receive the details this week?

GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE R4 APPLICANTS!

I was so excited to have paid my commitment fee and feeling like being a true member of the LBS community
and then I got an offer from LSE's MSc in Management, Organisations and Governance...
decision, decision, decision...

From what I've heard, LSE seems to be a lot more theoretical than LBS. It's a much bigger school and (arguably) more widely recognized worldwide (or maybe just in the US?)
Does anyone have any insights? Any input would be appreciated, thank you!

LSE is a quite large and very well known institution offering both undergraduate and graduate programmes. In contrast, LBS is rather small and has, in the past, only offered graduate programmes for persons with work experience (MBA, EMBA, MiF). Hence, LBS in widely unknown to the "mass" of undergraduate students and the general public. The MiM programme is LBS' first programme targeted at recent graduates and therefore the first one to "compete" with MSc programmes at other institutions (LSE, Oxbridge, ...)
You can be assured that LBS is very well known in the business world - every HR person in a bigger company will know about the school - in Europe, in Asia and the US.

I too had an offer from LSE (MSc in Management and Strategy), but chose LBS because of the more applied, vocational approach. I spoke to several LSE students and they pointed out the theoretical approach at LSE quite clearly. Since my first degree was quite theoretical I went for LBS - and it turned out to be a good choice.

Both universities are great, but have pros and cons (courses, campus community, class, applied/theoretical, network, ...).

Thank you so much for the insightful comparison! Would you like to go more in depth about the pros and cons of both school? I greatly appreciate it, thank you!

I think I won't be able to do a fair comparison as I have no experience with LSE.

Has anyone in Round 4 received their interview details/had their interview yet? This forum seems to have died after Round 3. Any lurkers come out of the woodwork and introduce yourselves! I need some sort of LBS-related news to hold me over until September!

hihi

I did ask them a week ago but no one has answered me. Strangely for me who is in London, they have arranged an alumnus to interview me and we have arranged for it to take place next monday and back in LBS -.-

I did read through all the posts but can anyone please tell me again what specific leadership/teamwork questions they asked you?

thanks so much

Hi Zevot! A MBA alumni interviewed me in Toronto so I drove over from Waterloo. I think they're all given really rough guidelines to follow for the interviews. He went into a lot of depth regarding one leadership experience I had, namely, how I started up my school's tennis club. He asked about the challenges I faced as the co-founder and whether any conflicts arose. The interesting point he brought up regarding a conflict was whether or not I thought the conflict would have positive impacts on the club. I think that during the interviews, just be open to these sort of things because I'm sure they will teach us all about it in the classes and case studies. I kind of just gave him a couple of nods and murmured 'interesting...' Hahahaha.

Bottom line is expect some questions about leadership, strengths and weaknesses and conflict management.

Gluck!

@Yogotiger

Thanks so much for your helpful reply. I am also wondering how they will ask what my planned contribution is , because in the previous posts I haven't seen anyone saying they got asked about that except in the app form.

thanks again


can someone please explain this buddy thing to me as well?

@zevot
I was asked what my contribution to the class and the school would be during my interview. I felt like they were really concerned with the class atmosphere and my ability to fit in the class, and help create bonds between classmates. Just be yourself, think about which clubs you would like to join, what they do and why you'd like it. My interview was on campus. Maybe an alumni won't ask you these questions.

The buddy programme means the MiM adcom will give you the contact info of one 2010 MiM, who will be your buddy. This allows you to ask questions, get some advice and eventually meet a current student.