LBS vs Kellogg for General Management, Canada/Asia Business

Question

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is not much discussion out there comparing Kellogg and LBS. As far as top 10 schools go, they are very different. However, my profile and focus areas are quite uncommon and these schools are both pretty good fits. I am admitted to LBS and am cautiously optimistic about being admitted to Kellogg.

Background: I am a 28 y/o lawyer in upper management (Chief Legal Officer) at a small Nasdaq listed company in the entertainment industry (~80 full time employees, ~200 part time employees/contractors). We are based in Canada, operate across 6 continents, but our main focus is Canada, Southeast Asia (+China) and the USA. My role is broad: legal management, legal/business advisor in executive and board meetings, contract negotiation, internal controls and protocols including SEC compliance and acting corporate secretary, etc.

Prior to this I was a legal and business consultant in predominantly the real estate and alternative energy sectors. Most of my practice involved a Canada/Southeast Asia connection, with a lot of foreign financial placement in Canada in highly regulated (ie. legal services heavy) sectors.

There are  no  top business schools with a natural, obvious strength in Canada/China/Asia except for maybe INSEAD, but I am unilingual and do not qualify. My plan for business school is as follows:
1. Focus on learning business mandarin (exchange to Beijing, internship in Beijing/Shanghai). This is my top priority, but I can do this at either LBS or Kellogg.
2. Gain a strong general management foundation
3. Build a stronger network, with emphasis on Asia

Upon graduation, the goal would be either MBB, or returning to industry in a similar role as I have now.

It is worth noting that I visited both campuses. Kellogg gave a much better impression for effective administration, great class spirit and camaraderie, etc. In both cases, they are upgrading to a new campus part way through the program:
- LBS looks like they are fixing a space problem. (Thank god, it looks packed around there)
- Kellogg looks like they are creating a dream utopian center of higher business learning - I spent 20 minutes walking around the future building taking pictures.
In fairness to LBS, London is an amazing city that creates greater obstacles in this area.

So the question is, which school do you recommend, and why? Thanks for your insight.

Gnial

Mo2men · Answer

Hi, 
congrats for acceptance in both schools. I believe you should weigh the strength in each school in light of your goals. my 2 cents is that Kellogg is better than LBS.

Kellogg offers wider courses in management, something you need to care about. You can find the data in both websites Also, The job market in the US is full of opportunity compared to UK. Kellogg is known for pump of consultants. I believe the career service in American schools are much effective and energetic that in British schools. I experienced that ,firstly, on the way they detail the info and secondly, the intensive immersion in career planning and support they gave to you. 
Although I agree that LBS is known in Asia, I believe you can declare your desire t to the co work in Asia to the career service in Kellogg and they will work aggressively through their network.

Actually there are other factors that can make you go to LBS, especially if you have a generous scholarship or ending up working in London if your first desire does not come true.

Wish you success

Gnial · Answer

Thank you for your comment, I appreciate the insight. I had not previously considered Kellogg as having stronger career services in Asia than LBS.

On the alumni network front I am interested in learning about which network is stronger once I am in business, rather than just in the job-hunt phase. Does LBS or Kellogg have a stronger network in Asia to tap into for introductions, strategic partnerships, etc? Of course, it is not just about numbers - it is about the strength of the connection that is fostered by the school.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Mo2men · Answer

I will give you another insights. Go deeply in LinkedIn and you will discover more. Another insight is to directly contact the career service now and start to gather info. They will be happy to help you when you mention that you were accepted in Kellogg not just applicant. They will be happy to prove that they can help you. Also, do the same with LBS. I urge you to be notice how both respond to you questions.

Gnial · Answer

Again, thanks for all of your insight. You made this a harder decision than I was hoping for.

I am 90% leaning towards LBS at this point in time for the following reasons:
1. Higher % of class is from Asia, lower % of class is from the U.S. (I value deeper international/Asia network over deeper U.S. network)
2. Greater language learning focus.
3. Prestige (particularly in Asia) - while these forums tend to favour Kellogg, my real life interaction with various business communities has revealed the opposite bias. Most professionals that I speak to put LBS up with Stanford/Harvard, and put Kellogg below.
4. Prefer to live in London.

In Kellogg's defense - people in my network state that Canadian/U.S. schools, particularly top U.S. schools such as Kellogg, are far better than European schools for developing soft skills, and if soft-skills are a weakness then that is reason alone to choose Kellogg over LBS. Many non-North Americans do not realize just how big the soft-skill gap is until they come here. However, this is less of a priority for me as I have already studied, and practiced, law and business here for a number of years.

Thanks again.

Mo2men · Answer

I'm happy that you reached a solid decision

Congratulations and I wish success in your career.

NYC471 · Answer

Hey man,

Congrats on getting into LBS. I just got in as well and am Asian American with experience in Asia so I can speak a little about this.

In terms of network, when I went to the Kellogg admission event in Shanghai this past summer, one of the alums told me there are over 300 active alums in the Shanghai Wechat group. The network definitely seemed pretty strong. Unfortunately, I didn't attend an admission event for LBS in Shanghai. If I had to guess, I would say Kellogg's network in Shanghai/Asia in general is probably stronger, and I do feel this is probably true for most American schools.

According to Linkedin, there are 500+ alums in China for both schools
https://www.linkedin.com/edu/alumni?com ... m-CN-title
https://www.linkedin.com/edu/alumni?id= ... chg-school

Despite the numbers, I would probably still give Kellogg a slight advantage in terms of long term network in Asia.

In terms of experience, I definitely think going to LBS will give you a more global education (class demographics, language requirement, London location). This is probably very clear to you, so I won't go much into it.

In terms of MBB placement, LBS stacks up equally with Kellogg despite the finance reputation. For Kellogg, class of 2015 has 34, 26, 28 (88) going to Mckinsey, BCG, and Bain respective in a class of 635. This does include one year MBA's and I've heard a lot of these are sponsored? Not too sure. LBS has 31,21, 12 (64) for a class of 394 in 2014. The story here is clear - both schools are top tier for aspiring MBB consultants.

I'll also add that I found LBS's culture to be really close knit as well. I visited Insead and LBS back to back and found LBS's culture to be on par with Insead despite the commuter school/finance reputation. Not sure how it compares with Kellogg though.

Best of luck making your decision and maybe see you at LBS next year. Feel free to PM me if you're interested in talking more about Asia/China!

Gnial · Answer

Thanks for the great commentary.

I visited Kellogg and they have the most close knit school community I have ever seen. It was quite inspiring, and initially bumped Kellogg up above LBS in my view. (I visited both schools during the 2nd month of classes) Everyone seemed ecstatic to be there, and was very friendly.

LBS vs Kellogg for General Management, Canada/Asia Business

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