London Business School

With the GMAT out of the way, its time to think about the Schools. Although the MBA application process is pretty daunting, I am (sadistically) looking forward to doing my essays. The MBA process is not for the half-hearted and I am fully committed to the process. Hopefully this positive mindset will help me!

I visited London Business School (LBS) in March of this year for an information session after work. LBS is ranked 2nd globally by the FT and 5th (non-US!) by Business Week. Some discrepancy there but I think it's widely acknowledged as a top 10 business school. Certainly in Europe you would think of LBS and INSEAD as the top two.

The information session began with a member of their faculty showing a list of companies (GM, Yahoo, RBS) against another list of companies (Honda, Google, HSBC) and asked the audience what differentiated the two lists. This developed into a discussion about the importance of management, innovation and ultimately strategy, which in part contributed to the differing fortunes of the companies in the two lists. It was a nice way of highlighting the value of an MBA, and was pretty thought provoking. Some mathematical and verbal "riddles" followed (which I won't spoil for those who are going to an information session). Very interactive so far, just as I imagine a class would be at LBS. Finally it ended with 5 LBS students, being brought to the front and talking about their experiences and answering questions. A nice mix of students, clearly very bright and very driven people! There were drinks afterwards, where people could ask further questions. All in all, a worthwhile session. LBS seems like a very international school with great diversity amongst its student population and strong networks in finance (GS).

I was also very impressed with the "after-care" service. I receive monthly MBA newsletters from LBS and was also given contact details of a current LBS student if I had any further questions. Naturally I called, and she was very helpful in answering my fairly basic questions at the time on the GMAT, references & the culture of the school (this was my first school visit after all!). In conclusion, thumbs up LBS. If you are looking for an "international" school, with good financial pedigree and want to experience life in London - LBS would be a good fit.