The London Business School 2010 thread

MiF == fantastic program, I know a lot of folks from there and have learnt a LOT from them about pure finance . I would highly recommend applying to MiF round 2 - seems like the ad-coms are highly supportive of that especially if you can convince them of "why now." Sorry if I sound abrupt. I have had a 12 hour midterm and the beers afterwards are really making themselves count in my head.

hey ankurb, my profile:

male, 27, from E Europe
decent undergrad from W Europe, x-change in Oz
5yrs WE:
2 yrs management training programme @ a global firm, 4 international projects
3 yrs in management consulting, based in London
some fast track promotions and good leadership experiences
lots of international experience (lived in 7 countries)
limited EC
gmat 760, awa 5.5

I think my international experiences help a lot as LBS seems to be keen on that. Plus, I must admit, I think it helps that I'm not from any over-represented pool...

Great profile mate, congrates.....My breif profile is as below:-

Age 26
Nationality:- New Zealand (India decent)
GMAT:- 720
4 year experience in Tax, liquidation and business advisory.
Post MBA:- Investment Banking

Chartered Accountant and member of Financial Institute of Australasia.

Decent EC and started own tax consultancy practice almost 1.5 years back and currently have client base of almost 100 clients.

How do you see my profile for LBS?

I got an interview invite as well... very happy!!!

how do you guys prepare the big day?? any thoughts?

hey ankurb - happy to tell you what I think, but please note I am certainly no expert in profile evaluations!

i saw you profile from your earlier posts already. i think you definitely have a very interesting profile. having set up your own firm is clearly a big USP. as others have said, it will all depend on your essays. if i were adcom, i would have three main questions about your profile:
- have you had much multi-cultural experiences? (i can see you moved to NZ from India, and you should really highlight any international business experiences you might have had)
- are you a good and experienced team worker, and have you got leadership experiences (lot of ppl have great WE, with quick promotions, but I think adcom will really look for evidence of working well in teams, and leading people. you need to crack that in your essays)
- also not sure what's your post-MBA goal, and how the school will help achieve that - this is key, obviously

just another note: why do you only want to apply in R3? again I'm no expert, but most people say your best chances are R1 and R2. Given you already have your GMAT, what's stopping you?

anyway good luck with the process!!

Hey lianbear -- LBS does send these supplemental emails to candidates, but they are infrequent and most certainly personalized to the individual situations. For example, in the past we've seen emails encouraging candidates with less work experience to re-apply in one to two years, or for candidates to retake the GMAT.

The MiF is indeed a prominent program here, so I wouldn't consider it less prestigious -- just more focused. Basically, if you were to undertake an MBA with a second-year concentration in finance, the classes and electives can be quite similar to the MiF program in nature -- although MiFs have the opportunity to study finance at a deeper level. Additionally, MiFs have access to the same career services resources, company presentations and clubs as the MBAs.

Because of this, I agree with the others -- it's going to depend on whether your post-career goals are still within the finance sector, although some MiFs do go into consulting or industry after the program as well. If you are set on finance after school, the MiF program would likely facilitate your career advancement just as well as (if not better than) the MBA. However, if you'd like to explore other career paths, the MBA could be a better environment to do so.

Hot off the press - LBS wins FIRST, SECOND and THIRD place in the Chicago IPO challenge 2009 !!!!! They beat out all the top teams from schools all around the world. This is a remarkable step up from last year when we only won third prize. I know several contestants personally and they all missed a mid-term and the diwali party to fly over to Chicago and compete.

I am so happy, I got my invitation for interview (R1 applicant obviously!). I have one question for all of you guys; what is the acceptance rate at the interview stage? Btw, my profile is 710GMAT / 2 yrs experience and age 25 at commencing date.

After interview, acceptance is generally 50/50; but again this depends on the number of applications per year.

I could have sworn that I read somewhere recently that approximately 70% of interviewees receive acceptances. Of course, that isnt written in stone, but it seemed to be a fairly decent indication that getting an invite was a really positive sign.

On that note, to prashok and bsd, howd you guys go about prepping for the interview, and the presentation component ??

I read about this too on the BW forum (65% receive invites): https://ow.ly/AjlD

But, this is a post from 2007, and it cites "last admissions season", so that was 05/06. I believe LBS has become way more competitive since then.

That's awesome! Congrats MBA2011!

This 50/50 number is not exact but there is logic behind it. Last year 550 (give or take 20) admits were given out (I was monitoring the portal constantly). I know from orientation that about 2700 apps were received. Interview rate has historically been about 40%. So about 1100 interviews and 550 admits works out to a nice 50/50 split. Of course this number could be even lower once you factor in deferred and waitlisted candidates.

Any one has already got set-up an interview?
I haven't received any detailed info yet...

bsd_lover, have you put down zibi1 as a ding on roll call by accident?

by the way, anyone knows whatever happened to pmenon, who started this thread?

3am is a bad time to update roll calls

I heard rumours that pmenon has renamed himself and appears as his new alter ego on gclub these days.

For the same reasons for which I have been invited to an interview, I would wait to put me as a ding

From reliable sources, I can tell you that pmenon is alive and well. Due to circumstances, he had to get a new ego, and is still active on the board.

Bsd, you may want to remove pmenon from the roll call list.

I have a question about the loans for US students attending LBS.

As I learnt,
US stafford loan offers an interest rate ~ 6.5%
And HSBC-LBS loan is ~3.5%
Why do most US students still prefer using stafford first?

Can someone address this?