E18 Everything You Need to Know About London Business School MBA w/ Kirsten Wells

When people are considering applying to business school and the reality of possibly applying to multiple schools, I think it can get really easy to bog yourself down with what does this school want to hear? What is this admissions committee wanting to know from me? And I think at LBs we want to know who people are as an individual. So we want to get to know you and who you are. So give us a chance to do that and yeah, just be, be authentic to you and let us know kind of why LBS in particular as.

Hi, everyone and welcome back. Today I'm joined by Kirsten Wells, Senior Global Recruitment Manager for the MBA and MIF at London Business School. She's going to give us a closer look at one of the world's most popular and dynamic global MBA experiences. LBS offers a unique one year format in the heart of London, drawing students from over 65 countries and placing them right in the middle of Europe's business and cultural capital. But what is it really like to study at LBs? Who thrives in this environment? And what does the admissions team look for in a standout application? If you're considering an MBA that's fast, global and career focused, or you just want to hear what makes the LBS experience so distinctive, this episode is for you. Kirsten, thank you so much for joining me. It's such a pleasure to have you today. For the people who might not know you, could you maybe introduce yourself?

Yeah, sure, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. I should say so. I'm Kirsten. I am the Senior Global Recruitment Manager for the MBA and the Masters of in Finance at London Business School. Been working with the school for eight years, which has absolutely flown by. So yeah, found my niche within that MBA space for sure. And yeah, just love, love talking about lvs. So hopefully that's a good thing for this episode.

I think we've got the expert on. So let's start at the top. What makes London Business School unique in today's global MBA landscape?

Yeah, that's a amazing question to get us started. So I really think it boils down to the combination of three things that kind of converge at London business schools. So first one is allocation and then it's our diverse community and also our teaching as well. So if we first think about our location, you've mentioned we're in the heart of London. We are right next to Regent's Park. We have absolutely stunning campus by Regent's park and close to Baker Street. So we're super well connected even within London itself. And what I really think that means is we can Use London as our classroom. We can connect with companies based in the city for things like our London CAP program. And students can really take advantage of recruitment opportunities in the city as well. So simply just hop on a tube, get to coffee chats, get to your interviews. It's brilliant. Kind of how connected we are. And then I think obviously it would be amiss to not say, to say that is an international business hub. It's really important in the global financial markets and also helps that it's full of history and culture as well. So, so that's definitely the first thing. And then I think, you know, we're really committed to building a diverse international class at LBs and I think that's really important for us. You know, now more than ever we want to give candidates that global perspective to really have that rich classroom discussion that's full of different viewpoints and opinions and you have that safe space in the classroom to really challenge different viewpoints and opinions. And I think that then pays dividends to our candidates going into international business environments in particular. I think what we see year on year is yes, we build these diverse classes, but they're also incredibly welcoming and incredibly inclusive, which I think is also really important. And then finally to kind of tie off my trifecta of different things is we have our teachings. So we have over 150 world class faculty members, they themselves coming from about 100 different countries. So we really practice what we preach at LBS when it comes to global diversity. We have global case studies in our classes and our faculty have a commitment to research publishing when they're on campus with us. So case studies are constantly getting updated. Many will also be practitioners or bring practitioners into classes. So there's lots of different kind of learning opportunities that come through the faculty. I also think it's worth pointing out the teaching comes in a lot of different methods as well. So yes, case studies, but we've also got some classes that are very much more workshop based and then we have our practical experiential learning opportunities like London CAP and the global experience as well. So yeah, really those three things kind of converge LBS and make it a really special place to be.

And I know our clients who have done London Cap have absolutely loved it. They've just raved about how fun it was, how it also was just such an important part of their education and is really unmatched. Right?

Yeah, just, I think it's the, the relationship you get to build with the client company that you work with and the relationship you build as, as a team working on that project and just really having that hands on consulting experience is great. Regardless of whether you think you're going into consulting or you want to work in a different industry. I think it's just really valuable.

And LBS now offers a one year mba which is really exciting. I know the demand for those programs has been skyrocketing over the past few years. So it's really cool to see LBS join the list of schools that offer those. What inspired this new path and how does it complement the existing program that you have?

Yeah, absolutely. I think for us at LBs we're continually looking to innovate our portfolio and the degree programmes we offer. I think we're really lucky that we can do that quite quickly. We're a smaller business school, we're not attached to an undergraduate institution. So it means we're quite agile and we can make changes quite quickly. It's something that we do in our programs that already exist anyway, year on year based on student feedback, faculty feedback. It might be the addition of electives, it might be some electives get changed a little bit. So I think it's really, you know, at the heart of LBS to be innovative and keep, keep being open to new ideas. So the one year MBA for us is we're maybe going to be a little bit different to some other schools. We'll have a prerequisite, so we'll have candidates who want to apply will already have a Master's in Management or equivalent from either an Equis AACSB or a Russell Group accredited institution institutions. So the idea here is really that we have a one year program and it's delivered in an accelerated timeline to really build on existing knowledge that candidates already have from their Masters in management. And I think for us that really opens up LBS to a new group of candidates. I'd say if you're a candidate who already has a mim, maybe looking at a two year MBA program like we've traditionally had is not really on your radar. You've already been to business school kind of if you're thinking about an MBA a little bit later on, you might be opting to do, to do that one year program. We're a bit different in terms of the prerequisite we have, but I think it will really open up the doors to new and exciting candidates to LBs and it won't be a direct competitor to our 15 to 21 month MBA that we have. It will be there to kind of complement it and there'll be this fun dynamic between the two classes because they'll actually start off at orientation together and get to do electives together. So it's a great chance to enhance, you know, the already existing MBA network we have and just slot a few more interesting people into it for sure.

Oh, that's cool. So if you're kind of early on in your career now, you can almost think of it as a two part degree. Let me do my MIM right now and then do part two a couple years down the road. Do my extra year once I've got a bit more experience.

Yeah, potentially. And it is something I think we've seen from some of the MIM candidates from LBS have gone on to do MBAs at other institutions. So, you know, we know that there's people interested in doing that and like I said, I just think it brings in this new group of people to consider LBS again.

And how does the one year experience differ beyond the timeline? Whether that's the structure, the class dynamics? I know the type of students in terms of the MIM is specific, but beyond that, in terms of their types of profiles or industries, what kinds of people do you guys tend to attract?

Yeah, sure. So I can maybe talk a little bit about kind of class dynamics and what we will hopefully see. So we're going to be a bit of a smaller class, so we'll be between about 30 to 50. It's our inaugural year this year, starting off a little bit smaller, but beyond that, beyond that, you know, obviously the prerequisite requirement and maybe I'll just touch on that just to expand a little bit more. So what we're saying is a Master's in Management or equivalent from those accredited institutions, as already mentioned, Equis, AACSB or MASL Group. I think I'm getting a lot more questions about what the equivalent means versus what Masters in Management is. And so if you are listening to this episode and you're thinking, well gosh, what do they mean by equivalent for us, what it has to cover is. So your previous Master must have covered at least five of the seven subject areas we have at LBs. So finance, accounting, economics, data analytics, strategy, marketing and organizational behaviour are the full seven. So if you've covered at least five of those, that is likely going to mean that you could be eligible. Ideally we want you to have covered the quant subjects in particular. So that's just something to consider. But I guess beyond the prerequisite and being eligible from that standpoint, we're still looking for things very similar to our 15 to 21 month duration program. So high quality Work experience. We are still a post experience one year mba. So ideally our range in the class we're thinking is going to be between about three to 10 years and we still look for things like GMAT, GRE. We are expecting scores to be broadly similar with our 15 to 21 month class. So average being around 645 in the new GMAT scoring scales.

And for GRE to have that new scale.

Right, right, right. With most people preparing for that new like new format of the test. Yes, we do have, have it all figured out which is it's useful and then I guess the equivalent for GRE will be about 163 to 164 in both sections of that test, the verbal and quad sections. I think the other difference to mainly to also pick out is when it comes to thinking about the one year MBA in particular, obviously it's shorter and that requires a little bit more consideration for career goals and career paths. We don't have an internship as part of the one year mba. So that will mean that candidates are going to need to have a pretty good focus on where they'd like to recruit into. Be aware that typical pathways that rely on internships as an entry point. So investment banking, that would be extremely difficult to end up in after, after the one year mba. So that just needs to be considered by anybody thinking about that.

And you mentioned you get a lot of questions about eligibility. If somebody is saying, you know, I'm not sure, maybe they're from a country that's not necessarily in the the typical kind of US UK Australia mix. Can they get in touch with you guys beforehand to check their eligibility?

Yeah, definitely. So we welcome sending a cv. You can also send your transcripts from your previous Masters as well. We're super happy to have a look at those. Our best email address. I'm sure we can pop it somewhere else in the podcast too but one year mbalondon Edu, that's our email address and we're, yeah, we're super happy. Myself and my colleague Tino managed that inbox and we're really happy to see CB's review transcripts.

Perfect. So no excuse not to know your eligibility in advance.

Exactly, exactly. And it's always, it's always worth the ask if you have kind of a business related Masters. I think it is really worth getting in touch with us.

Absolutely. And kind of going back to the fact that at LBS you do have that flexibility to do a 15 month program for somebody who maybe did an MIM and is considering should I do a 15 month program, should I do the one year MBA? What kind of advice would you give them?

Yeah, that's a great question. And we do have people who consider both if they're eligible for both. So I think if you are eligible for both, there's a few things to consider. Obviously it's time frame, but also things like the class size and the access to internships. I'd say if you're somebody that likes to be in a bigger classroom or part of that bigger class, then maybe our full time 15 to 21 month MBA might be better. If you don't mind being part of a smaller class. And actually being part of a smaller class has a lot of advantages. You get to know each other really, really well. I'm expecting to see some similarities between that and another programme I work for in the Myth Part Time, which is only about a class of 40. But they get to know each other really well. There's lots of great connections that they hold onto for years and years and years after that programme. So I'm expecting it to be a bit like that. When we think about internships, as I mentioned, our 15 month MBA program, if you opt to do that shorter duration of our full time program, you do get access to internships. So that's kind of built into that program. So if that is something that feeds into your career goals that you know you're going to need to do an internship to then get placed into full time recruitment, that's something to consider. There's also differences financially and the cost of the two programs. So again, worth going away and having a thought about that. Of course, considering the one year MBA, it's actually 11 months, it's, it's not quite a full one year. So it is an accelerated timeline. So it does mean that you can get kind of in and out and back in the, in the workforce a little bit quicker. So if that's something that you're, you're really conscious about, it's worth, worth thinking about there too.

That's great advice. So if you're thinking about both important to do a pros and cons list.

Yeah. And come and come and ask us questions like we're, we're happy to field that. And actually you're very lucky if you're eligible for both. So good for you.

Absolutely. A good position to be in. And LBS is known for having an incredibly international student body. I think that for our clients especially that look at LBs, that's one of the main draws. And what does that diversity actually look or feel like on a day to day basis.

Yeah, really great question. I think it's actually one of the things that is when I survey students, when they join, it's one of the things they say was most surprising about lbs because you can read all the facts and you can kind of feel that sense of diversity from the facts and figures. But it's only really when you arrive onto campus that very first day, it hits you in the face how diverse and international we are. So I think for us it kind of plays a part in a lot of different things in the classroom in particular, it's all about having diversity in classroom discussions. So some of the ways we kind of help engineer that, we have seating charts for a lot of our classes. So you'll be sat next to somebody with a completely different nationality, different upbringing, different life experience to you. So it could be that I touched on it earlier. Your viewpoints and your opinions might very well be challenged in those classroom discussions. And I think that's really some of the benefits that we get coming out of the class. To further on from that, both our one year and our 15 to 21 month MBA classes have study groups for any group work elements of the program. So study groups will be about five to six students, no, two same nationalities and a different array of professional experiences. Pretty much they're designed to be reflective of the diversity of the overall class, but also to simulate working in international environments, something that they'll need to do in their future careers. So, you know, there's a couple of different ways that maybe we engineer on our parts to make sure that diversity is happening. The other thing that maybe I'll speak to about the study groups is yes, we value diversity, but we're very aware that it can come with some challenges. So all study groups get coaching for any tough conversations that they might envision as well. So, and something that we really care about is, yes, having diversity, but making sure that everyone's on that same page and inclusive and welcoming.

I love that because whenever you're with a group at all, yeah, there's bound to be conflict that arises. But especially I think when you're dealing with a lot of people who think differently than you. I remember when I moved to Brazil and the first couple of days I was there, you know, we have this kind of culture in the U. S. If somebody's working, leave them alone. It's kind of rude to interrupt. So I would just walk to my desk every morning. And one day this guy stood, storms out, he says, you were so rude. Me? Oh, My gosh, I'm so sorry.

What do you mean?

Every day you walk by my desk and not one single day do you say good morning to me. I didn't even realize, like, you were working. I didn't want to interrupt you. I thought it would be so rude to interrupt you. I'm sorry. I'll start saying good morning. And so those kinds of things, I think when you're kind of working across cultures or communicating across cultures, those tensions arise, those conflicts arise that you never imagined. Even though you're trying your best, you just never realized that was going to be a problem.

Yeah. And there'll just be, like, different nuances in the way that cultures do things. I think it's why we've had such international study groups for years and years and years, because it does simulate, you know, what you might experience in the future in your career.

And you talked a little bit about how being in London is such a huge advantage, but kind of beyond London Cap, how does the city show up in the student experience? Whether that's academically, socially, there's benefit to.

Being based in the city itself. I think maybe some of the other ways that we see it is through speakers that come to class and, you know, having being in a city where there's a lot of headquarters based in London and the power of being in the city and bringing speakers in person onto campus is. Is really great. So. So there's that. And also I said, like being centrally located for coffee chats with certain companies, or maybe you have job interviews, just literally hop on a tube and you can get there. And of course we said London cat socially is a fun one. I think that might be a question for our student ambassadors. So if you're listening to this and you want to know what they're doing socially in London, check them out on the website. They will definitely be able to tell you a bit more about social goings on. It's funny because actually we're so well connected to Europe as well, being in London. So when I hear about what students are up to when they go on treks and travels, it tends to be a little bit further afield. But I do know we have had some treks based within London itself. We had an impact investing trek that happened last year where students go into companies as. As part of a club activity. So we do still try and make the most of London from that perspective.

Awesome. Yeah, it's a great place to be if you, you know, you can enjoy all of the career benefits. But also. Yeah, so many other Benefits as well.

Exactly, exactly.

And let's talk a little bit about the career support. I know for the two year program there's incredible career support both for getting the internship and getting the post MBA role. How does the career support differ, if at all for the one year MBA students?

Yeah, so the career center support at the core is the very same. So maybe just for context for everybody, we have about 40 people working for the career center. We broadly split into two main teams. So we have career coaching on one side and our employer engagement team on the other. So one year MBA students will still have access to all the career coaching we have. We offer it on an unlimited basis so you can see whatever career coach you'd like as many times as you want during the duration of the program. Career coaches run a lot of different sessions, whether it's individual sessions, group workshops, they also do CV reviews, cover letter reviews, also mock interview practice sessions as well. So one year MBA students will get access to all of that. They'll also get access to our recruitment events. So the LBS employer engagement team in our career centre run in excess of 200 recruitment events every single year. So whether that is, you know, specific companies coming onto campus to tell us about what they offer or sector networking nights that are run internally by LBs that will all be on offer, I'd say. Again, I'll put the caveat of investment banking, probably not that one, but everything else. Yes. I think the main thing that might be a little bit different when it comes to the career center offering is that compressed timeline of the one year mba. So students are really going to need to hit the ground running when that programme starts. Starts. Structured recruiting is very early. So what we've come up with is a little bit more of an offering before the programme starts. So at the minute our 15 to 21 month MBA students do get a little bit of touch points with career centre. One year MBA are going to get a lot more. So there's going to be a career boot camp before the programme starts. It will be very much a bespoke programme. Then a chance for incoming students to identify and prioritise any key areas or skills that they need to work on before they can apply for those full time roles come autumn. And there'll also be various workshops before the programme starts, run by our career center, getting CVs kind of ready to run with for any coaching sessions that start once the programme begins. So it'll be a little bit more of work in the summer before the programme starts. That, that's the really Big main difference. And obviously just, just getting people in line for that, those full time recruitment opportunities.

And let's talk admissions.

Okay.

When you're reading applications, what tends to make someone stand out to you?

I think the best answer I can give is just be yourself. And I think that's just really, really important is having that authenticity come through your application. I know when people are considering applying to business school and the reality of possibly applying to multiple schools, I think it can get really easy to bog yourself down with, what does this school want to hear? What is this admissions committee wanting to know from me? And I think at LBs, we want to know who people are as an individual. So we want to get to know you and who you are. So give us a chance to do that. And you know, don't be afraid to tell us your story through the essays and the short form answers that we have. So yes, make sure you're answering the questions, but don't be afraid to put a little bit of personality in those as well and give us some insights into who you are. Yeah, just be, be authentic to you. And let's let us know kind of why LBS in particular as well.

And is that one of the reasons why you guys added that question last year, the what makes you unique question?

Yes, a little bit. Yeah. I think we found that some people were using the optional essay to tell us that anyway. And we found actually maybe we could put that in and get a few more insights, an extra 200 words of what makes people unique. But yeah, that question has been a really interesting addition this year. It will be the same for one year MBA applicants as well. It's been great to read some of the answers for those. There's been a whole array of different ones and just, it's just a good insight to see how people tackle that question. In particular, we've been quite reluctant to give too much advice on what people should write about. I think it has to, it has to come. Exactly. It has to come from within and it has to be what, what you feel you want to write. Yeah, it's been, it's been a fun question though. I really enjoyed reading the responses.

And with that question, would you suggest that people then use that optional essay more as kind of a traditional optional essay just to cover strengths or, sorry, weaknesses, GMAT problems, things like that?

Yeah, it definitely could be. We have a question in our application form itself which covers a little bit of academics. Do you feel your academics are representative of you? So I'd say if there's any GMAT concerns or GPA concerns, load them in that question. There's plenty of space to kind of talk about that there. What we typically say with the optional question is see it as an opportunity to tell us anything that maybe you haven't had space to tell us already. I've seen people use it for all hosts of different things. So maybe a little bit about contributions that they want to make at LBs that's been quite popular this year to kind of tell us how they're going to get involved if there's any impacts in their upbringing that that was particularly pertinent for them or I've seen it written, you know, seen people write about volunteering experiences that were really impactful personal health care stories. I've seen all of it. Yeah. So it can be really broad.

So the sky is the limit but be smart.

Yes, exactly. Yeah. Don't revisit anything that you've, you've kind of already written about. But yeah, the, the world is your oyster in that question. It's very open ended for a reason.

And what are some common misconceptions that you see people having about applying to LBs?

Think typically I've seen it more, oh LBS is a finance school or that we only recruit people from finance and maybe that's you know, being in London, financial hub, we have excellent finance faculty and specialized finance programs. So I get it. But that's definitely not true for our MBA programs. You know we look at a variety of different profiles. My advice there, don't self select yourself out from a school just because you work in a, maybe a slightly different field or you do a role that's slightly different to what, you know, I think the word traditional MBA comes out, doesn't it? And I, I'm not a huge fan of traditional, of the words traditional MBA profile because for us at LBS there just, there just isn't one. So.

Right.

Yeah we look at, we look at profiles from all sorts. So don't self select it.

I think that's great advice. Yeah. I actually think, I mean of course we work with some finance applicants but I think the majority of our applicants aren't from finance and have incredible experiences there. The curriculum is so broad and so flexible and the community is so diverse. Of course if you want to do finance it's fantastic.

Yes.

But yeah, there's so many other opportunities.

Yeah. And I think even in the eight years that I've been at the school seeing growth in our entrepreneurial activity so you know, the introduction of the institution Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital plus We've got the incubator on campus, we've got the entrepreneurship summer school, there's the entrepreneurship club. There's so much going on in that space and now we're seeing some, some growth within AI and sustainability. We're seeing lots of, lots of different pockets of activity kind of, kind of grow within the academics at LBs. So that's, that's always really exciting, exciting as well.

And how important is it for you from an admissions perspective that candidates have a well defined post MBA goal versus showing kind of curiosity or interest in exploring multiple paths?

I think this question will really depend on which program you're thinking about. So I'd say for the one year MBA we've discussed, it's a shorter duration. It's going to be much more important to have a well defined goal. There's not too much time to do much exploring, it's much shorter. So you will need to be quite focused with what your career goal is and really be ready to make the most of the resources that we have on offer. I'd say for those thinking about the 15 to 21 months duration program there is a little bit more flexibility. You can kind of put in your essays about this is my plan A and maybe my alternative plan plan is this purely because it's a longer duration. You have the internship in the summer to explore a particular field and maybe if it works for you, fantastic. But maybe if it doesn't, you've got that second year to maybe do some extra off cycle internships and explore what could be good for you. So I think that's the main thing to consider. I would really stress that regardless of which program you're thinking about, really important to make sure you've got the balance of ambition in your career goals alongside the realistic nature of them. So when you're considering career paths, do your research, know what's going on in the sector, what are the, what are the trends that you know for recruiting into that sector right now? Is it quite tough at the minute? What will that look like in the future? Are you going to have to do lots of networking to get into the sector you want to or is it an internship and then that goes into full time recruiting? So lots to think about. And an MBA is it's not just going to hand you a job role post graduation.

Wouldn't that be nice?

It would be great. Trust me, we'd all love it if our employment reports could be 100%, let's be honest. So it doesn't just hand you the role, it's really about what you're putting into the programme as well as what you're getting out of it. So. So I just thought it was really pertinent for me to say that even at the application stage, make sure you know what you're aiming for. Understand those sector trends because that will pay you dividends in the future when you're working with career centred.

And what's your key insight for applicants that should shift if LBS is the right program for them?

I would say consider all the variables, you know, eligibility criteria, especially with the one year mba. Always have to do the, the shout out for the prerequisite. But when you're thinking about different schools, it's also about class sizes, duration, location of the school, teaching methods that the school offers. So, you know, I've hopefully given you some insights into LBS about all of those things today. So yeah, think, consider everything that you can and also speak to our current students because they're the ones going through the programme. They've got all the knowledge and advice that they can give about what's gone right for them and also maybe what they've learned along the way as well.

And for our final round, what's your favorite thing on the LBS campus that maybe nobody knows about?

Maybe that we're. It's not a super exciting answer. We're doing a lot of renovations at the minute, which is exciting. So we're actually about to open our new student hub that's. It'll be open in July. So there's been renovations going on for the last 12 months pretty much to get that ready. Our new career center will be in there. Our student wellbeing center will be in there. I've seen the plans, I've looked at the plans this week. It looks amazing. And they've given us an update video about just how great it's going to be. So really lovely campus outside Sussex. Place is going to be even better, so can't wait.

That's cool. That's really exciting. That's so cool. And you guys already have such a beautiful campus and such beautiful buildings, right? Not like you needed an update. Even better.

It's going to be even better. Awesome.

Well, Kirsten, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it. You've given us wonderful insights both into the one year program and the two year program. Before we end today, is there anything else that you'd like to share?

Not really. Just you can always reach out whenever. So our emails are mbalundon.edu. if you're thinking about the 15 to 21 month and then one year mbaondon.edu for our one year.

Well, thank you so much. Enjoy the new building and good luck with the the new cohorts.

Awesome.

It's been a real pleasure to talk to you, so hopefully we can have you back soon.

Absolutely. It's been my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

And thank you to everyone who's been listening. If you're looking to apply to LBS and you'd like to take advantage of our 98.9% success rate, visit ellenlaws.com or visit the link in the description. We'll see you all in the next episode.