LBS Fall 2009 MBA Application Essay Questions

Attending the LBS Event that was held in Tokyo on October 7th (you can see my full twittering of the event, if you go to this page and start with "02:57 AM October 07, 2008 from mobile web"), I was again reminded of the strength of the LBS alumni network, the quality of its academic research (something LBS prides itself on), its core competencies in finance and international business, and unfortunately, the admissions offices' unwillingness to provide applicants with any information on acceptance rates. As someone who believes applicants should be able to make informed choices based on transparent admissions processes, I was disappointed to hear that LBS admissions did not feel such information was necessary to provide. I asked the admissions officer, but did not debate her. I never debate with admissions as there is no point in doing so. Now that my rant is out of the way, I will proceed to analyze the essay questions for a school that in all other aspects, I consider to be one of the best. I have worked with a number of clients admitted to LBS. You can find a testimonial from one of them here.

QUESTIONS 1 & 2

Q1. In what role do you see yourself working immediately after graduation? Why? How will your past and present experiences help you achieve this? How will the London Business School MBA Programme contribute to this goal? Why is this the right time for you to pursue an MBA? (600 words)

Q2. Where do you see your career progressing five years after graduation and what is your longer term career vision? (200 words)

I think it is helpful to look at these two questions together. Many schools (INSEAD and Wharton for example) would put these two questions together, but LBS does not. If you need to do initial brainstorming on your goals, please see my analysis of Wharton Essay 1 as it will help you on conceptual level with these two questions. Assuming your goals are clear and you know why you need an MBA, you can proceed to writing Questions 1 and 2.

WHY DOES LBS SEPARATE THE SHORT AND MEDIUM/LONGER TERM GOALS?
I don't think this is just an administrative decision, but rather an indication that they are looking for applicants who can put together a very clear post-MBA plan. They want applicants who are focused on their immediate post-MBA career from the outset. In this respect, LBS is the total opposite from a school like MIT that believes that an MBA is transformative and that ones post-MBA plans will come out of the educational experience. By clearly separating the immediate post-MBA plan from the rest of your goals, LBS requires you to be specific. Make them believe in the reality of what you want to do. Make it real, not a "dream." The LBS approach seems to have little room for the medium/longer term, specifically 200 words.

QUESTION 1:
As stated above, give them a plan. Show how specific parts of your past experience support that plan. State clearly what parts of the LBS program will make that plan possible. Explain very clearly why now is the right to time to execute this plan. You should not be writing about goals, only about your post-MBA plan, that first job once you graduate from LBS.

The order you answer this question is really up to you, but I think it is very important that your answer not become overburdened by discussing your past experience at the expense of discussing your plans and why LBS is right for you. Keep in mind that you should be using your past experience as evidence to support your plan. Therefore, make sure that anything you say about your past experience is included for the sole purpose of showing its value to your plan and to the necessity for obtaining an MBA now.

Regarding LBS, for Questions 1,3, and 4, you need to know quite a bit about LBS. The more you know the better. Fully explore the LBS website, get in touch with alums, and even contact students. Do whatever it takes to become sufficiently informed about the school. Attend events if you can and even better, go visit if that is possible. The school has strengths beyond finance and international business, so explore them. Figure out specifically what parts of the program will most effectively assist you succeeding at your post-MBA plan.

QUESTION 2
Have a very clear five-year post-MBA goal. While it might be the case that you will change jobs within that initial five years, I suggest for this purpose that is best that you don't, but rather show how you will grow and develop in your career. Assume continuious realistic growth over those five years. As to the longer term career vision, give them a full indication that your goals are consistent with the idea that you will be a leader and influencer of the future.

Q3. Please describe your experience of working in and leading teams, either in your professional or personal life. Include any specific challenges you have faced. Given this experience, what role do you think you will play in your first year study group? (500 words)
In 500 words, you should try to cover two to three different aspects of your team experiences. I think there are two options for doing this: One is to focus on a single situation and the other is to focus on multiple situations. While I have had clients admitted using both forms, most choose the second option. Even if you focus on single situation, you had better clearly show how different aspects of your teamwork and team leadership will enable you to contribute to your study group.
If you chose to focus on multiple experiences, make sure each experience represents something different. One possible mix might be one recent professional team experience, one experience during your university years, and one relating to a current extracurricular activity. In addition to wanting to know about your team experiences and how they will add value to other students, London Business School wants to know how you will contribute to the school as a whole. I look at this question as quite similar to a specialized form of the very standard contribution question. Please refer to my analysis of Kellogg Question 2 for how to structure your answer.

Q4. Student involvement is an extremely important part of the London MBA experience and this is reflected in the character of students on campus. What type of student club or campus community events will you be involved with and why? How will you contribute? (400 words)

This is also a contribution question, but quite different in both theme and structure from Q3. This question is certainly not like the more standard contribution questions above because it is completely future focused, whereas the typical contribution question is about showing how the past will be utilized for the future. Here you should certainly explain why you would want to lead a particular club or event and while this may relate to the past, you should really use this essay to show what you want to gain from LBS. In fact, this question is both about what you will contribute and what you will learn/experience at LBS. Effective answers to this question require solid knowledge about LBS, so that you can think really practically about your answer to this question. Keep in mind that this question is not really very hypothetical because students are expected to get leadership experience through clubs and events.

Q5. Describe any significant experiences outside of your home country. What did you gain from these? (150 words)

This question is not optional.
Actually, I am at a loss to know how someone should answer this if they have never left their home country. That probably means LBS is not a good option for them. To be honest, even my clients with limited international experience have at least had some and always been able to answer this. If you have no international experience, go take a trip to another country before you apply. I am serious.
The usual problem my clients encounter is how to even minimally account for their international experience in 150 words. My advice is to focus on 1-3 key experiences which had a significant impact on you. Clearly some people with large amounts of international experience will find themselves providing a pretty macro-level answer, but even so, try to be specific about what you gained.

Q6. (This question is optional) Is there any other information that you believe would help the MBA Admissions Committee when considering your application? (300 words)
This question is completely open-ended. I highly recommend using it discuss something positive as well as any concerns you may have (bad GPA, low GMAT, no recommendation from your supervisor, etc.). What is that one additional story that LBS really needs to know about you? Use this answer to provide admissions with another reason to invite you to an LBS interview.
Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my recent post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my graduate admission consulting services, please click here.-Adam Markus
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AGE AT HBS: THE CLASS OF 2010 CHART

On October 1st, Harvard Business School's Admissions Director posted the following "Class of 2010 Graduation Years" chart:

As you can see, the 11 members of the Class of 2010 who received their undergraduate degrees in 1999 (approximately age 31 or older) or earlier represented 1.2% of the Class of 2010. Combine that with the Class of 2000 and 2001, and you get 5.3% of the total attending HBS. Which is to say, sure you can get if you are over 30, but the chances are clearly not very good, so plan your application strategy accordingly. For more on the age issue, please see this post. For more on school selection, please see this post.

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
-Adam Markus
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CitiAssist Program News Update

I suspect we will learn fairly soon how many schools have been impacted by the end of unsecured CitiAssist loans for international students. The story is starting to appear widely. In addition to the New York Times piece on MIT Sloan and information on the Ross site, Clear Admit has just reported that program ended at Cornell's Johnson and that it would also impact other schools (HBS and Wharton were mentioned) that offer CitiAssist loans to international students without a co-signer.

Actually, Sloanie Ted Chan's "2BL.org" blog reported on the 6th about MIT Sloan's program ending and mentioned on the 10th that this would impact HBS. Ted presents an interesting analysis of the impact of the ending of CitiAssist that I would recommend reading.

-Adam Markus
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MIT'S CITI ASSIST LOAN PROGRAM CANCELED

As with any news story, please see more recent posts as well comments on this post for updates.

This is not good. I have not yet determined whether this only applies to MIT or covers other schools that used Citibank.

NY TIMES:

Credit Crisis Is Bad News for M.B.A. Students

By Catherine Rampell

… and not just because they will have trouble finding jobs on Wall Street. Some have also just had their student loan options yanked. An e-mail message sent to students Monday at MIT Sloan School of Management:

Dear Sloan M.B.A. student,

As a result of the nationwide credit crisis we regret that we must now notify all Sloan Master’s students that late last week MIT was notified that Citibank has exercised its 30-day option to cancel the CitiAssist custom student loan program with MIT Sloan, effective Nov. 2, 2008.

Students who have already had their loans processed and approved by Citibank appear to be safe, but those who were still securing financing may be in trouble. The school is now helping students scramble to find alternate financing.

If anyone has more information on this, especially as it applies to other schools, please let me know by leaving comments or emailing me at adammarkus@gmail.com.

-Adam Markus
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MBA Application Interview Strategy

This is greatly expanded and altered post from one I did in 2007. In this post I will provide some general advice for preparing for MBA interviews. The methods I outline are the ones I use with my clients.

Some will no doubt think it is odd that my first substantive post for October 2008 is on preparing for MBA interviews, but as I hope to show you, I am merely being proactive.

A REACTIVE VS PROACTIVE APPROACH TO INTERVIEW PREPARATION
First, I think it useful to contrast two different of ways of preparing interviews. As I will argue, a proactive approach to interviews is a more effective way to prepare for an MBA interview.

1. REACTIVE INTERVIEW PREPARATION
Just as the name implies, reactive interview preparation is based on reacting to actions taken by others. It has the following characteristics:

A. Timing: Reactive interview preparation does not begin until all other parts of the application process are completed and in the worst case not until the applicant is actually invited. Interviews are not approached as inherent part of the application process, but something that occurs independently from the rest of the process. For example, the applicant does not think about their resume as an agenda setting device (see below) for an interview, but simply as part of the application. Reactive interview preparation is invariably a scramble for time and often comes too late to have sufficient impact on improving the applicant's performance (An interview is a performance).

B. Approach to answering questions: Reactive interview preparation is always based on reacting to the questions. At its core, reactive interview preparation is based on responding to specific answers to set questions. As result, even those who use this method extensively have to prepare many answers to many questions because that is the only way they can be prepared. The problem, of course, is that when encountering a new question (If you put in charge of the world economy right now, what you do?) in actual interview, the interviewee is often at a loss about how to answer.

1. PROACTIVE INTERVIEW PREPARATION
Just as the name implies, active interview preparation is based on taking a proactive approach to interview preparation. It has the following characteristics:

A. Timing: Proactive interview preparation begins with making a resume. Consider that for all US MBA program alumni interviews, all US MBA program student interviews, and many US program admissions interviews, the only thing from your application that your interviewer will have is your resume. Hence, it is important that your resume contain only information you are comfortable discussing in an interview. It is, to some extent, an agenda setting document. Hence, you should view interview preparation to begin with the composition of your resume. Proactive interview preparation also involves begin interview preparation sufficiently early to have impact. For some applicants with weak English and/or interview skills, such preparation may require a month or more to have real effect. For some applicants, it might just require a day or two of highly concentrated preparation. Much will depend on your skills as well who is interviewing and from what school.

B. Approach to answering questions: Proactive interview preparation is always based on knowing what you want to say about yourself before you interview. At its core, proactive interview preparation is based on thinking about your message. You must also be aware of potential questions, but the focus should be on knowing what you want to say about yourself, no matter what the question. Proactive interview preparation is based on the idea that you don't know what you will be asked, but you do know your message. You should have keywords and stories that can be used to answer a variety of questions.

Interview Strategy Formulation
It is absolutely critical that you have an overall strategy for determining what you want to say about yourself. Just as with your essays, you need to formulate your self-marketing strategy for your interviews. Obviously what you put in your application should be consistent with and supported by your interview. However writing essays and talking for 30 minutes or more are simply not the same.

Don't worry about the questions, worry about your message!
While you should use the Accepted and Clear Admit sites to learn about the questions, an overemphasis on simply preparing answers to the questions that other applicants were asked is not the main thing you should be doing. Instead, decide what you want to say about yourself.

One way of being proactive is prepare a table like the following:

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

This table can be used for doing an inventory of your keywords and stories that you will use for interviews. Next, I will consider some specific types of keywords you need to develop.

Strengths/Contributions/Future Potential/Personality
1. One of my key strengths is X. A story that demonstrates this strength is... Another story that does is... This strength will be a contribution at your school because... This strength will contribute to my future goals because...
2. Another of my key strengths is Y. A story that demonstrates this strength is... Another story that does is... This strength will be a contribution at your school because... This strength will contribute to my future goals because...
3. Another of my key strengths is Z. A story that demonstrates this strength is... Another story that does is.. This strength will be a contribution at your school because... This strength will contribute to my future goals because...

For each X, Y, Z insert a keyword describing your strength. Connect keywords to specific stories. If possible, find more than one story that demonstrates the keyword. Next think how this strength could be a contribution when you are student. Next think how this strength will contribute to your goals. By using this method, you will have prepared answers to such common questions as "What are your strengths" and "How will you contribute to our school." Additionally you will be ready to show how your past experience will help you achieve your goals. Additionally when asked questions which are less direct about your strengths, you will already have keywords and stories ready for those questions you can't predict. Keep in mind that your strengths might include particular skills as well as personality characteristics. You should think about strengths in the widest sense. Try to develop about 6-12(or more) keywords and 12-20 (or more) stories that relate to your strengths, contributions, personality, and future potential.

Weaknesses/Failures
1. One of my weaknesses is X. A story that demonstrates this is... Another story that does is... I want to overcome this weakness by... This weakness resulted in failure when...
2. Another of my weaknesses is Y. A story that demonstrates this is... Another story that does is... I want to overcome this weakness by... This weakness resulted in failure when...
3. Another of my weaknesses is Z. A story that demonstrates this is... Another story that does is... I want to overcome this weakness by... This weakness resulted in failure when...

HAVE AS MANY WEAKNESSES AS POSSIBLE, NOT JUST ONE OR TWO. TRY FOR THREE TO FIVE. Here you be preparing answers to the very common questions that are asked about weakness, but in addition you will need to think about how the MBA program and/or some other aspect of yourself will make it possible for you to overcome this weakness. Weaknesses should be real and not abstract. You should have clear stories that demonstrate your weaknesses, something many applicants initially have a problem with. Additionally knowing how a program will help you overcome your weakness will explain why you want to attend that school. Finally, SOME, BUT NOT All weaknesses make for great failure stories, another very common topic for interviews.

Leadership and Teamwork Skills/Potential
All applicants should have keywords and supporting stories describing their leadership and teamwork skills and potential. Given the very common nature of questions related to both leadership and teamwork, you should also be prepared for the following:
1. My definition of leadership/teamwork is... because... I demonstrated this kind of leadership by...
2. One leader I really admire is... because... I am similar/want to be like this person because...
3. I think I am a good team member because...

Have enough keywords and stories
If you have enough keyword and stories you will have a solid basis for answering the great range of questions that you are likely to be asked about yourself. Don't develop more than you can master, but don't skimp either.

Questions you should be ready to answer
In addition to having keywords and stories, there are certain questions that you should be ready to answer because they are commonly asked in interviews.
Goals/Why MBA?/ Why this school?
You should have outlined answers to the following:
1. I want an MBA now because...
2. I want an MBA from your school because...
3. Your school is my first choice because...
4. After my MBA, I will...
5. My goals are...
6. If I was not able to attend an MBA program next year, I would...

Ethical Dilemma Questions
Another very common question relates to ethical dilemmas. Be ready. Have a story or two ready. If you are having a difficulty formulating ethical dilemma questions, please take a look at the Institute for Global Ethics. Also see Business Ethics Research - Knowledge@Wharton.

Questions for the interviewer
You should be ready to ask questions to your interviewer. What you ask should be governed by the following considerations:
1. Is the answer to the question obvious? If so, don't ask the question.
2. Is the answer to the question really relevant to you? If not, don't ask it. General questions that have no specific connection to you are probably not worth asking.
3. Will the interviewer be able to answer the question? In general avoid asking interviewers questions that they are not really able to answer. Asking an alum who graduated five years ago about what is new at the school would be one such bad question.

When formulating questions it is obviously important to consider who you will be interviewing with because what you ask an alum is not the same as what you ask an admissions officer or current student.

Prepare intensively for any category of question that you are especially uncomfortable with.
Many applicants hate answering questions about weakness or failure. Other don't like ethical dilemma. Whatever it is you don't like, master it.

Tell stories that show the range of your experience
Keep in mind that you should use stories from different parts of your life. Don't overemphasize one specific situation. Instead tell stories that showcase the range of your experience. To do so effectively, means preparing a sufficient amount of keywords and stories ahead of time. Many applicants wait until days before an interview to prepare, but actually your interview preparations should ideally begin at least a month before you start interviewing. Why so long? Because you have a lot to do:

Over-preparation
I have a very simple and effective method for interview preparation: Over-preparation. The best way to do well in any interview is be prepared for an interview that will be harder than the actual interview. I write this based on my experience. Since 2001, I have been told by grateful clients that my practice interviews were harder than the real thing and as a result they could confidently handle the real thing. I think any highly experienced graduate admissions consultant should be able to provide this kind of practice to their clients. If you don't use an admissions consultant to help you prepare, find someone, a mentor perhaps, who can help you. Whoever you seek advice from, getting actual critical feedback from person who understands the MBA admissions process is critical.

Just as critical is your own preparation. The amount of practice (with someone else and alone) you require will really depend on three variables:

1. Your English ability. For international applicants with low intermediate to high intermediate level ability, expect to focus a significant amount of your time on practicing to speak.

2. Your comfort with interviews. Some people are just really good at interviewing and others are not. If you know that you are weak in the this area, you will really need to practice with another person who can judge your performance.

3. The difficulty of the interview. Some schools simply have difficult interviews (HBS for example), while others do not (Duke for example), so take that into account. A great way to determine the difficulty of a particular school's interviews is to read reports written by applicants (See my earlier post regarding where to find interview reports).

Keep it simple and don't recite from memory
Regardless of how complex the topic might be, when you tell a story, keep it simple enough for your listener to follow. The human brain can only absorb a limited amount of information, so when you tell a story make sure that it is something that can be easily followed and delivered very briefly.

For that reason (and others), memorizing long stories and reciting them should be avoided because it will likely result in your interviewer being unable to absorb your story. If the story takes too long to recite, the may also become bored or annoyed. Additionally memorized answers from a non-native speaker of English are a sign that the interviewee's English skills might be weak.

Don't write a script, just a very brief outline
Unless your English speaking ability is very weak, I would strongly recommend that you don't write scripts of your answers, instead prepare a very brief outline and practice telling the story. Tell your stories repeatedly so that you are comfortable doing so, but since you want to come across as polished, but natural, don't memorize it.

Use an audio and/or video recorder
For many people, except for watching yourself on video, nothing is worse than listening to your own voice. However as painful as it maybe, doing so will help you identify weakness in your answers and overall performance. Therefore record and analyze yourself.

Relax and be confident
I know this part can be hard, but the more relaxed and confident you are, the more likely you are to have a good interview. Creating the right impression is as critical as what you actually say. Make your interviewer feel your enthusiasm.

Practice for specific interviews
Finally, don't just practice for any interview, practice for specific interviews. While you may initially need to think about overall strategy and need to prepare your stories, you should focus some of your practice on specific interviews. If you have mock interviews, make sure they are school specific because a very important aspect of the interview really is about you showing your connection and fit to the school.

f you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.

Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my recent post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
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