Masters in Finance admissions consulting experience: How I got into London Business School

The Masters in Finance is a popular specialised masters degree referred to by several acronyms – MFin, MiF, MSc Finance. Compared to the MBA, it’s a more focused option for professionals who wish to advance or transition into the world of finance.

London Business School is among the top b-schools that offer it. Here’s a quick overview of the LBS MSc Finance degree.

Review of Masters in Finance at London Business School

LBS offers the MiF degree in 2 flavours – Full-time (MiFFT) and part-time (MiFPT). You can complete MiFFT in 10 or 16 months, with an option to spend the fourth term at another international b-school.

Ranking

The LBS MiF is ranked number 1 by the Financial Times. That says quite a bit about its quality and stature among its peers.

Class profile

In the last class, there were 121 students from 45 countries (96% international) with an average experience of 5.8 years. The age range was 23 to 42 years with an average of 29.

Almost half the number of students had worked in investment banking and investment management.

Fees

The tuition fee for the program is £58,700. In Indian Rupees, it’s a little over ₹61 lakhs at the time of writing this article.

Admission requirements

You’ll have to submit an online application form, 2 essays (career goals, and why LBS), 1-page CV, references, GMAT / GRE score (with the possibility of waiver), proof of English proficiency (conditional), university transcripts. Selected applicants will get an interview invite.

Work experience

Contrary to what many believe about specialised masters degrees, the LBS MiF program is not filled with fresh graduates. It is designed for mid-career professionals. The work experience in the class ranges from 3 to 8 years, with an average of 6 years.

Placements & average salaries

The previous class reported 93% placements within 3 months of graduation. 78% took up jobs in the financial services industry, which is isn’t very surprising. The remaining took up opportunities in consulting, technology and a wide range of other industries. 58% took up jobs in the UK, 18% in Asia, and the remaining were spread across other regions. The average salary for LBS MiF graduates was £80,494, while the range was quite significant £24,000 (minimum) to £155,405 (maximum).

Let’s look at what it takes to put in a successful application and get into the program.
 

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Masters in Finance admissions consulting review

How I got into London Business School MSc in Finance

by Joel Daniel

 

I am someone who gets along with most people I interact with. It’s within my nature to strike a conversation with a stranger and discuss any random topic of common interest. I consider myself someone who is good at listening. I like hearing and knowing about people, their culture, the activities they are inclined to and what motivates them to perform these activities.

I am also very calculated and focused. I go about with a well-planned structure to something. I generally dislike last minute deviations to a planned event.

One strength I believe I possess is that I am generally very adaptable, be it with different people, situations, places etc. I am quick to adjust to the situation.

One weakness is that I consider myself a people-pleaser. I am not opinionated. Many a time I would just say “Yes” to everything and it does come back to bite me. I am taking gradual steps to improve on this front and be more opinionated.

In terms of my leadership traits, I consider myself more of a coach-based leader. I like to sit down with my team and work together to find solutions to problems. I also like to educate them from a business perspective [many members of my team are development folks].

Extracurriculars

Right from my under–12s I have been playing football and represented my school in competitions. When I was in the U-18s I represented my state Maharashtra in the state- Level competition in New Delhi. I was representing Maharashtra in the Santosh Trophy (National Football League – Top Domestic Honour in India)

Currently I am based out of Gurgaon, and I do play professional club football in the Gurgaon District Football Association.

I am also heavily involved in my Community Church Youth Initiatives. I was the General Secretary for our church youth group in Maharashtra. We together took on initiatives to connect with restaurants, use their leftover food and package/distribute it to the poor.

I also conducted educational seminars and presentations for the 12th class students within our community, educating them on the opportunities within finance, how to start saving & investing at a young age.

My interests include travel (have travelled to 8 countries, try doing a new country every year), tracking geopolitical, macroeconomic events.

Also an avid sports enthusiast, especially football. A huge Chelsea fan (never miss watching the weekend, weekday game :p)

Work experience

I pursued BTech in Electronics as an undergrad, but I was always intrigued by geo-politics and the impact it possesses on the markets. Having a number of childhood friends pursue commerce, we would always have discussions on the markets and that was one of the topics I was keen to listen to and give my opinion.

I got recruited in a financial engineering firm and that’s where my transition to the finance domain took place. It was a start-up which gave me a lot of exposure early on and gave me a good flavour of the wealth management and capital markets space of finance. Through the job I got a global outlook and was stationed in Singapore and Malaysia which helped me broaden my outlook and helped sharpen my soft skills.

It was through work colleagues that I heard about the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams. And that’s when I decided to pursue it to solidify my theoretical foundation in finance.

I am currently in the Risk Management and Financial Regulatory Landscape subsector within finance. I work as a Senior Principal Consultant for Oracle where I consult financial institutions within the Indian and Middle Eastern jurisdictions on their Enterprise Performance and Enterprise Risk Solutions and also aid them in their regulatory submissions. These banks use Oracle’s flagship product suite for their risk, balance sheet management and regulatory reporting framework.

What I find challenging at my work is to navigate through the complex regulatory norms and to be able to quickly implement the same on our product and liaise with internal and external stakeholders to help with the timely execution.

My role also needs me to be sound technically (well-versed in Python and SQL) to be available to develop the prototype for the engineering team to help build on our product. There are also a lot of project management responsibilities and to be able to multi-task all of these duties and provide competent solutions make this job demanding.

There are definitely a lot of takeaways from this role. I am closely associated within the financial markets and the role helps develop on my stakeholder management skills as I communicate frequently with regulators, internal stakeholders, client business divisions, IT.

The opportunity to lead a team of 10 techno-functional resources helps develop my leadership skills. It helps me drive projects from initiation to completion which at a young age I find this challenging, but at the same time very rewarding.

Why I chose Masters in Finance (MSc Finance) over MBA

The major motivation to pursue an MiF and not an MBA was that I wanted to stick around within the finance domain. Having completed my FRM and on path to complete my CFA I feel I have a strong base within the finance domain and I was looking at the LBS MiF program for more of a career advancement.

Having worked with multiple trading divisions of the bank including Fixed Income, Treasury, I was wanting to use the program to pivot into a more front-office business role where I would be involved directly in helping banks manage liquidity, raise capital and drive the balance sheet management.

The opportunity of being closer to the financial products and how to use them practically to drive and hedge P&L was something I was drawn to, and aspired to get into. I believe pursuing a practical and intensive finance specialization would accelerate my journey towards my goals.

Also the global network it would provide would go a long way in shaping my career.

GMAT waiver at LBS MSc Finance

I was very particular that I wanted to continue within the finance domain. My entire work experience till date has been within some sub-sector within finance. I also decided to pursue my CFA and FRM along with work to give me a solid foundation on the theoretical aspects of finance.

I have been researching colleges where I could leverage these certifications to grant me a GMAT waiver. One college which stood out was London Business School (LBS), which had an automatic GMAT waiver if you have cleared the CFA L2.

I also reached out to current students and alumni who were also granted a waiver and they did mention that the MiF program was more focused on what financial background and knowledge you bring to the class.

I was really keen on the LBS MiF program and this was my dream college as:

1. It caters to experienced finance professionals.
2. I wanted to be part of a cohort where the learning would be advanced and It would also give me an opportunity to interact with like minded individuals and also broaden my horizon on other sub sectors within finance.
3. Global and diverse program. This was key as I would get an opportunity to interact with experienced finance professionals and get a feel on how banks, regulators operate in different regions and the flavour of financial products in these markets.

Concerns

One of the major concerns I had was that I did not have a GMAT score. I had pursued CFA, FRM to build my finance base and I never thought much of the GMAT. I knew there were only a select few colleges that provided an automatic GMAT waiver for the CFA and I had zeroed in my choices to those colleges.

One other concern, especially with LBS and the research I had done on it was that a lot of the students had some Investment Banking, Asset Management experience with them. My experience was very different in a way it was more to do with Risk and the Financial Regulatory Landscape.

But I had some belief that I would add diversity to the cohort with my experience and I would add a different flavour to the classroom discussions.

Why admission consultant for MiF applications

I had a story that I wanted to sell and I had the right motivations to pursue the program. I just wasn’t confident to structure it well. That was the main reason to work with a trustworthy and competent admission consultant for MiF applications.

Also there were some underlying stories which I was able to leverage better only because of the consultant. Speaking to Ravi (my mentor at MCB) helped me think differently and opened up my thought process on multiple things.

I have been following MCB since a while and I have been following their testimonials on successful candidates.

I definitely knew that they are a top consultant for management masters programs, and it was the only consultant I reached out too.

I had also read about the testimonial for MBA Crystal Ball from Aanshi Jain.

And the fact that MCB have experience in guiding a candidate get an admit without the GMAT and to leverage the FRM/CFA I knew I had to go with MCB.

I signed up for the 2 school package and the interview preparation.

Review of MBA Crystal Ball

I consulted with Ravi from MCB. Right from day one it was a very friendly relationship. He understood my motivations and reasoning well. The sessions with him were eye opening and he made me think differently and strategically.

His experience was vital in a sense it made me shape my essay in a way which was convincing to the admissions committee.

For me the biggest help was the interview preparation. The two mock interviews he conducted were very intense and at the same time covered the whole gambit of questions which could be addressed.

During the actual interview I was very confident. And I wouldn’t lie but the mock interviews with Ravi were more intimidating than the actual interview.

I think the biggest help he provided was his global outlook and his experience during his time at INSEAD. His situational examples and experiences were very insightful and gave me a clear picture on how I wanted to shape my essay and the same helped me immensely during the interview.

Interview experience

The MiF interview lasted for 1.5 hours. It was with an LBS MiF alumnus who had graduated in 2021. He was a Senior Manager in FP&A. The interview experience was great. It involved a lot of behavioural questions. My interviewer wanted to gauge my motivations for the program and what I would bring to the classroom.

He also asked me a series of situational questions regarding my work, my leadership traits, how I have resolve conflicts within my team.

There were also few technical questions on the current macro economic environment (high inflationary, high interest rate) and what my view going into 2024 was.

My interview was on the 18^th of December and I received the news of my selection on 23^rd of Dec. It was pretty quick!

Also I knew the college members was on Christmas leave from 24th Dec – 5th Jan, so it was rather surprising when I heard about the news, considering it was super quick.

Results

I was elated on seeing the email.

I was in Goa at that point of time at my mom’s house and I was super happy to share the news with my family.

It felt a dream come true and a day I was always wanting to experience.

I have received an admit for the LBS MiF program (intake of 2024). LBS was my dream college and it was the only college I wished I would be part of. I have applied for a scholarship and I am still to hear on the decision.

LBS would go a long way in helping me accelerate towards my career goals. The prospect of being associated with a top institute and having that in our CV would definitely add a lot of value.

It will not only broaden my horizon and help with my career advancement, it would give me the networking opportunities I do not think I would otherwise gotten.

Also the opportunity to network and work in London, a global financial hub is very attractive. The fact that London is so connected to Asia, Middle East and Europe throws up plethora of opportunities to engage and advance your career.

Takeaways

Having spoken to numerous LBS MiF alumni and current students I figured out that LBS has a strong inclination towards experienced finance professionals.

I have a strong background in finance through my work experience, certifications like CFA/FRM and that fact that I belong to a niche sub-sector within finance assisted me as I would bring diversity to the classroom discussions.

Having experience working with an Investment Bank and various global solution providers also helped me leverage my work experience.

My work experience also added a global outlook as I have exposure to the Europe, UK, South east Asia and Indian Markets.

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MBA Crystal Ball has some of the most experienced and best admissions consultants for the masters in finance programs. Drop us an email if you’d like to work with us and get your story featured on our blog: info [at] mbacrystalball [dot] com

Also read:
– Best Masters after BCom: MCom vs MBA vs Master in Finance
– Master in Finance vs MBA: Which is better?