Q&A with London Business School MBA Class of 2011 Student

My former client Ryuhei, London Business School MBA Class of 2011, was kind enough to email me his answers to some questions I had about the program. After studying international political science at KEIO University, Ryuhei worked for NTT DOCOMO in the telecommunications sector in a number of roles. These included brand marketing, intellectual property management, and business development in Amsterdam, Athens, Bucharest, Sofia and Tokyo.

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Adam: So what did you learn during your first year at LBS?

Ryuhei: Obviously I learned a lot of things! But here let me summarize them in the following three points;

First of all, I learned a lot about myself. Paying an expensive fee to an MBA program, and learning about yourself? I know it sounds like a joke, but what happens every day is that I always rediscover my own capability. In a business school, you interact with people from different countries with different backgrounds. They will give a fresh insight into your personality, and accordingly you will learn “ The New You.” In my case, I realize that I am good at organizing a big group and therefore I joined the Student Association to manage many student events.

You cannot experience this in the monotonous environment where the students’ profile is similar. In other words; you can only do this in such a highly diverse business school as London Business School, where 403 students came from 58 countries speaking 45 languages: non-UK represent approximately 90%. At London Business School, I daily enjoy my own voyage of discovery.

Secondly, I relearned teamwork. It is not that simple to read dynamics and quickly find one's place in the team. One could easily do so in the group of same nationality, but under multinational circumstance, that's a different story.

A skill to find a delicate balance in a diverse environment and change one’s role flexibly is necessarily required to manage the international business, and London Business School gives you great opportunities to develop your multinational teamwork skill.

I have been learning this daily in a study group, classes, clubs, and teams for business competitions: in some cases, I play a role in leading the team, while assuming a role as a specialist in other cases.

Finally, I well learned an importance of networking. Surprisingly “business is business” does not work, but rather “who knows whom” really matters in business. This does not mean that network is all you need to develop, but the personal connection, especially global connection if you pursue international business, is obviously a key success factor.

Given the school’s diverse student body and highly active interactions in the student community as in MBAT, Summer Ball, Treasure Hunt, Santa Claus Pub Crawl and etc., London Business School is one of the best places to build one's international network of contacts. Personally I benefited from the school’s network when finding a summer internship!!


Adam: What part of the program have you liked the most?

Ryuhei: I liked my entrepreneurship class the most.

London Business School is famous for finance. This is absolutely right. The school has many world-famous finance professors. London Business School, however, is also strong in other business areas, especially entrepreneurship.

Most of the entrepreneurship faculty are/were entrepreneurs or venture capitalists, and accordingly they have very strong network in the area. In the classes, the professors actually give us opportunities to pitch our business idea to real angels (investors). Furthermore if the idea is attractive, then the angels seriously consider investment to the students. This is very exciting! The school also prepares a special entrepreneurship summer school for those who seriously pursue building business during two years MBA. This course is very popular and there's often a waiting list.

Should you have preconceptions that London Business School is designed for only those who are into finance, please throw off the prejudices and check the website (English: http://www.london.edu/programmes/mba.html and Japanese: http://lbs-mba.jimdo.com/mba/). You will see that London Business School asserts its strong presence in many business areas including but not limited to finance!

Adam: What has surprised you the most about your LBS experience so far?

Ryuhei: I was surprised that London Business School is a powerhouse of talent. There is no wonder that the students have multinational business experiences. Also does the school have an army commander, Olympic athlete, doctor, lawyer, entrepreneur…you name it. This is just amazing! For Japanese students, please see http://lbs-mba.jimdo.com/japanese-students-profile/mba-students/.

Adam: How would you describe the culture of LBS?

Ryuhei: In a word, it is “initiative.” The school will give you tools and opportunities, but will not help you grab at those chances. You are the one who must initiate actions to seize the moment and deliver!!

Adam: Do you actually have any time for clubs? If so, which ones are you active in?

Ryuhei: Yes I do! I am extremely active in extracurricular activities.

I am a treasurer of the Student Association, and a vice president of Japan Interests Club. Also, I was a committee member of MBA Sports Tournament, MBAT. I strongly believe that half of the learning comes from the extracurricular activities and this is a great opportunity to try one’s leadership and teamwork skills,

Adam: I know you were one of the organizers of the Japan Trip 2010. How did it go? Why do non-Japanese want to come to Japan?

Ryuhei: It was great success!! For a while, people only talked about the Japan Trip on campus. I strongly believe that we could step up presence of Japanese students in London Business School. I would really like to thank the trip sponsors including Adam!!

Admittedly most participants are mainly interested in Japanese culture, but not in Japanese business. Given that Japan has achieved the status of a great nation with economic power and has a lot of world-class companies, I would like the fellow students to have more interest in Japanese business. I will do my best to further boost Japan’s presence in the school community through the class participation and the school events in my second year.

To see more details of the Japan Trip, please visit http://lbs-japan.jimdo.com.

Adam: You mentioned to me that you were running for election as officer for the Student Association. What does the Student Association do? Why do you want to be involved in running it?

Ryuhei: Student Association provides the students with a vehicle to voice their interests and concerns and to work with the faculty, administration and alumni to improve the experience of every student life at the school. Obviously this is singularly unique opportunity to prepare for taking influential leadership at multinational organization in my future career.

Before coming to the school, I have some international business experience, “but not in such a diverse setting.” At the very beginning of the school life, I was definitely not in a position where I could stand in front of hundreds of multinational students. However thanks to the study group fellows, classmates, and many friends I have worked with at the school, I gained a little bit of confidence, and decided to run for the election.

I would like to thank my fellow students who voted for me, and will do my very best to make student life even better.

Adam: Are there any common characteristics you find amongst your classmates?

Ryuhei: Honestly I cannot really find any. But if I have to, I would say that the students are hungry for change in a good sense.

Adam: How has the financial crisis impacted life at LBS?

Ryuhei: Given that one third of the students still applied for exchange programs, I do not think that the crisis is having so much impact on students’ lives.

Adam: Do you have any specific advice for those considering application to LBS?

Ryuhei: I have three pieces of advice:

1. 
   
   
   Strong commitment: it seems that London Business School very much emphasizes applicants’ commitment. You should really, really, really show your strong will to study at London Business School in the essays and the interview.
2. 
   
   
   Fit: I recommend that you directly talk to the students and/or alumni and analyze whether you really fit to the school culture. If you think you fit, then sprinkle your essay with the “unofficial” information you collect for the appeal!! The more people you talked to, the better you will understand the school. I actually talked to four current students.
3. 
   
   
   Not too much focus on GMAT/TOEFL: the school equally emphasizes your business experience. Actually the GMAT score rages from 600 to 780 in MBA2011. To see Japanese student average/range score of GMAT/TOEFL, please see http://lbs-mba.jimdo.com/japanese-students-profile/mba-students/.

Adam: What are your favorite MBA related blogs (English or Japanese sites)?

Ryuhei: Please check the following three website to get more information of London Business School:

English: http://mbablog.london.edu/mbablog/

Japanese: http://lbs-mba.jimdo.com (London Business School Unofficial Site for Japanese Applicants and Recruiters) and http://london-twk.blogspot.com/ (経営コンサルタントのLondon留学)

Adam: Anything else you would like to tell us?

Ryuhei: Read my testimonial [See client admitted to LBS and Oxford at http://adammarkus.com/results.html#FALL_2009_Client_Results_and_Testimonials] about Adam! Good luck!!

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I want to thank Ryuhei for taking the time to provide me with a very candid set of answers to my questions.

-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
カウンセリング コンサルティング MBA留学 ビジネススクール

Should an Entrepreneur pursue an MBA?

 The following is my response to Chad Troutwine's editorial, "Why You Should Pursue an M.B.A." that appeared in the Wall Street Journal on July 27th.  It is a slightly modified version of my comment attached to that editorial.

As an MBA (I don't follow the Wall Street style manual)  admissions consultant since 2001,  I am personally embarrassed by  Chad Troutwine's editorial.  Given Troutwine's business interests,  It is transparently self serving.  There are both pros and cons to any entrepreneur pursuing an MBA.  Anyone who begins with the statement "Why You Should Pursue an M.B.A." has already made a critical error by not asking, "Should you pursue an MBA?"

Two years, the typical length of an American full-time MBA program, of time away from an income and full-time focus on one's entrepreneurial activities can be a real risk. Troutwine suggests an MBA "is a low-risk, high-reward proposition." Certainly for some people, that is the case, but for others the two years (plus much of an additional year spent applying to top programs) might result in a someone making a very bad decision. Timing is, often enough,  everything and if one actually has a great entrepreneurial idea, getting an MBA might not be the best decision.  I think a serious admissions consultant is not someone who begins with the assumption that an MBA is actually necessary for a particular person, but rather that it is that person's responsibility to think critically about why they need an MBA.   Going into significant debt for degree is a huge decision for many people.  I suppose if you have gone to the right undergraduate school, come from a comfortable background, and  don't view the prospects of lost income and/or time as serious, very little risk is involved.

In my experience, I have worked with clients who certainly were making a very low risk choice by pursuing an MBA, but I have worked with many who making a huge life decision by doing so.    I need my clients to know why they need an MBA so that they can make the best possible argument both in their admissions essays and interviews. To do so, they can't merely assume the necessity of MBA, they must be able to demonstrate it.

To his credit, Troutwine does point out a number of great entrepreneurial options that MBA programs have available.  MBA programs are certainly catering to and trying to cultivate entrepreneurs.  I have seen how my former clients have successfully launched businesses both during and immediately after attending HBS and Stanford.  In addition, I have worked with  a number of clients with substantial entrepreneurial experience who pursued an MBA because they realized that their approach to entrepreneurship was not sufficient.  In the last year alone, I worked with two clients who have successful companies, but saw a gap between their own skill sets and the need to grow their businesses.  They view the MBA as way to address this gap.  On the other hand, every year I work with a couple of clients who go through a process of seriously reflecting on their professional goals and the ROI of MBA and make the decision that the ROI is not there. From my viewpoint, if I help someone reach the right decision for themselves,  I have acted professionally responsible.

Finally, MBA programs don't need admissions consultants, test prep entrepreneurs, or the editors of The Wall Street Journal, to advocate for them.  Good MBA programs are having no difficulty finding highly qualified applicants, especially in the present economy.

-Adam Markus

アダム マーカス

Questions? Contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. If you are looking for a highly experienced admissions consultant who is passionate about helping his clients succeed, please feel free to contact me at adammarkus@gmail.com to arrange an initial consultation. To learn more about my services, see here. Initial consultations are conducted by Skype or telephone. For clients in Tokyo, a free face-to-face consultation is possible after an initial Skype or telephone consultation. I only work with a limited number of clients per year and believe that an initial consultation is the best way to determine whether there is a good fit. Whether you use my service or another, I suggest making certain that the fit feels right to you.

MBA留学 ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング 

Guest Blogger: 河野太一のGMAT OG12解説 SC15

This is another post from Taichi Kono, author of two textbooks on TOEFL and one on TOEIC and a highly experienced TOEFL, TOEIC, and GMAT instructor. Most of his posts will be in Japanese. This post is on GMAT sentence correction. His other posts can be found here.
-Adam


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河野塾代表の河野太一です。年来の友人であるAdam Markusさんのご厚意で、"The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition"の解説ブログの内容の一部をこちらにアップさせていただくことになりました。オリジナルは河野太一のGMAT OG12解説でご覧いただけます。なお、オリジナルのほうは予告なく内容を変更することがあり、ここに上げたものと相違があることがありますのでご了承ください。私のこれまでの記事やGMAT以外の話題についてはこちらをご覧ください。


SC15
文全体の構造を把握してから取りかかるのが筋（というか、速くて正確な手法）だが、キレイに揃った選択肢の頭が否が応でも目に入る。一見してdoing副詞（分詞構文）か＜and ＋動詞＞かという選択の問題であることが見て取れる。

それを見た上で文構造の把握に取りかかる。 Warning ...はdoing副詞であろうと仮説を立て、カンマまで目を飛ばしてその後ろを見ると、主節のSVらしきもの（the National Academy of Sciences has urged）がある。文頭と文末の両方にdoing副詞を配置する形になるのかもしれないと思いつつ下線部に目を飛ばす途中で、, instituteが目に入る。この瞬間、動詞の原形がA, B, and Cの並列になっているのだと判断し、(A)(B)(C)はサヨウナラ。もし下線部をcreating ...とし、直前のカンマを「主節とdoing副詞を隔てるためのカンマ」と解釈してしまったら、真ん中にある, institute（カンマ＋動詞原形）の説明が付かなくなる。

for doingとto doの戦いならto doに軍配で、(E)が正解。このto takeは後置のto do形容詞で、「〜するための」という基本的な意味で使われている。カンマに注目するといかにラクに解けるかという見本のような問題。

ちなみに、ライティングの添削をしていると、to do形容詞、またはto do副詞を用いるべきところを、ことごとくfor doingとする人をたまに見かける。日本語に訳せばたしかに「〜するための/に」となるが、英語では不自然。<前置詞＋ doing>という組み合わせ自体に問題はないので、「なぜダメなのか？」と問われても困る。for doingとする実例もまれにあるため、「通常はto doを使います」としか言いようがない。このあたりが、理屈だけでなく、大量の英語を読むことで「自然な英語」の感覚を身につけてほしいところ。

-河野太一


河野塾ではTOEFL/IELTS/GMATの個人授業を提供しております。なかなかスコアが上がらずにお悩みの方、きめの細かい効果的な個人指導をお求めの方は、ぜひinfo@konojuku.comまでお気軽にお問い合わせください。

When you join the HBS Class of 2013, how will you introduce yourself to your new classmates?

This post is on the forth of four of the "pick two" questions for the Harvard Business School MBA Application for Fall 2011 Admission.
All the posts in this series: Overall Strategy, Accomplishments, Mistake, Option 1, Option 2, Option 3, and Option 4.  My post on HBS interviews can be found here. My post on HBS recommendation questions can be found here.

4. When you join the HBS Class of 2013, how will you introduce yourself to your new classmates?

As I discussed in my analysis of Columbia Business School’s Essay 2, first impressions matter. The purpose of this new question is to give the HBS Admissions insight into your personality. Specifically, what parts of you would you want your fellow students to initially know about you? Think about the section of 90 students you will be a part of as well as the Class of 2013 as a whole. You can think about this in terms of contribution and/or in terms of fit:  Explain why the HBS Class of 2013 is the right community for you to be a part of.  

You have already discussed your most substantial achievements in Essay 1 and clearly a career vision is not really what your classmates need to first know about you. If you think people want to hear about your career goals when you initially meet them, you are (a) suffering from delusions of grandeur, (2) impossibly socially retarded, and/or (3) not taking the question seriously. Perhaps your goals will be interesting to some people in the Class of 2013 but certainly not all.  And is that what they first need to know about you?  When you meet first someone, do you first tell them your career vision?  I bet not.


For those who don't write a career vision essay for HBS, this essay can certainly explain why you not to attend HBS, but very careful about how you do that. Make sure you are communicating that explanation in way that would actually make a strong first impression on a fellow student.  Make sure you don't end up writing a goals essay, instead try to write a fit essay.  For those also applying to MIT, it is possible that this HBS essay would be a great choice because both the MIT cover letter and this essay question are focused on fit.  


Think about why someone would want to be your friend, your colleague, and/or your teammate.  Without making this into a contribution essay so directly, you need to imagine that you are trying to make your fellow students like you and what to work with you.  What special qualities and a talents will bring to enhance the experience of the Class of 2013?


Identify a few, likely two to four, aspects of yourself that would make a strong positive impression on your classmates. provide stories, perhaps only anecdotes, to introduce yourself.


Obviously you don't want to unnecessarily repeat content presented in other essays, but it is certainly possible that the same characteristic about yourself that makes an accomplishment possible is also something you elaborate on, with a different story, in this essay. 


Keep in mind that you don't want this to a purely chronological life story.  There is really not enough word count for such a chronological exercise, but you can certainly interpret your life if doing so will make for an effective way of introducing yourself to your classmates.  


Bottom Line: Make your reader want to meet you!

-Adam Markus

アダム マーカス

Questions? Contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQregarding the types of questions I will respond to. If you are looking for a highly experienced admissions consultant who is passionate about helping his clients succeed, please feel free to contact me at adammarkus@gmail.com to arrange an initial consultation. To learn more about my services, see here. Initial consultations are conducted by Skype or telephone. For clients in Tokyo, a free face-to-face consultation is possible after an initial Skype or telephone consultation. I only work with a limited number of clients per year and believe that an initial consultation is the best way to determine whether there is a good fit. Whether you use my service or another, I suggest making certain that the fit feels right to you.

MBA留学 ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング  ハーバード MBA

HBS: Tell us about a time in your professional experience when you were frustrated or disappointed.

This post is on the third of four of the "pick two" questions for the Harvard Business School MBA Application for Fall 2011 Admission.
All the posts in this series: Overall Strategy, Accomplishments, Mistake, Option 1, Option 2, Option 3, and Option 4.  My post on HBS interviews can be found here.

3. Tell us about a time in your professional experience when you were frustrated or disappointed.

If Essay Option 1 was written especially for the benefit of those without professional experience, Option 3 is written for those with professional experience.

DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN THIS  QUESTION AND REQUIRED ESSAY QUESTION 2
Keeping in mind that you have already covered the topic of a mistake and what you learned it from it,  you certainly want to make sure that the content between the two.  I think that differentiation, at its most basic means NOT WRITING ABOUT FAILURE IN BOTH ESSAYS.  Too much failure would probably make it difficult to fully focus on accomplishments and/or lock you into "the whole learning from failure model," potentially resulting in essays that are structurally telling the same story.  The mistake question requires a discussion of learning from failure, but this one does not.

LIFE SUCKS AT LEAST SOME OF THE TIME
I have yet to meet a person who has not experienced frustration or disappointment.  The world of work is filled with things that produce frustration or disappointment.  I would suggest you think about people and projects.

PEOPLE: Difficult people, mean people, stupid people, lazy people, rude people, psychologically disturbed people, etc.  are all part of the world of work.  How do you effectively handle such encounters?  What techniques of working through interpersonal problems have you developed?  This really is about your emotional intelligence.  People can frequently disappointment each other:  How do you overcome a situation when there is a huge gulf between your expectations and the actual output/behavior of someone else in a professional situation?

PROJECTS can certainly be a huge source of both frustration or disappointment.  Projects can be frustrating because of problems on a team, organizational resistance,  insufficient resources (time, money, people, and/or ideas), lack of clarity of objectives, bad strategy and/or tactics, etc.  Dealing with such problems can highlight ones leadership, teamwork, creativity and/or problem solving skills in a tight situation.

BOOKS TO HELP YOU BRAINSTORM
One book that I think might really be worth your consideration is Patrick Lencioni's THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM (MANGA EDITION).  Lencioni's brings an understanding of frustration builds up and is expressed in teamwork, how and why leaders fail to build teams that work, and numerous other ways that the team, as the core unit of an organization can frustrate, disappoint, and fail.   I have never bothered reading the book version, but the comic book is great!  The scenario that is built in the comic book really lays out a series of team stories that might help you develop your own team-based frustration or disappointment story.

As far as difficult personalities in professional settings go, Professor Robert Sutton at Stanford GSB has written one of the best books on the subject, THE NO ASSHOLE RULE.  While I don't necessarily suggest that you tell HBS that you were "frustrated by an asshole," Professor Sutton's provides a deep understanding of both how to handle such people, how to avoid them, and how not to become one.

THE BOTTOM LINE:  “When life hands you lemons – you make lemonade.”
HBS is a place for doers not complainers, so whatever you write about make sure that you come across as someone who overcomes frustration and disappointment.
 

-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス



Questions? Contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. If you are looking for a highly experienced admissions consultant who is passionate about helping his clients succeed, please feel free to contact me at adammarkus@gmail.com to arrange an initial consultation. To learn more about my services, see here. Initial consultations are conducted by Skype or telephone. For clients in Tokyo, a free face-to-face consultation is possible after an initial Skype or telephone consultation. I only work with a limited number of clients per year and believe that an initial consultation is the best way to determine whether there is a good fit. Whether you use my service or another, I suggest making certain that the fit feels right to you.

MBA留学 ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング  ハーバード MBA