A common perception in the international MBA applicant community, that we’ve seen often, is that European schools such as the London Business School and INSEAD have unwritten expectations about work experience – that candidates must have (physically) worked outside their home country.
Ishu was aware of it, but though he hadn’t worked abroad, he decided to go ahead with his application plans – starting with the GMAT.
Unfortunately, a loud phone ring at the worst moment (right in the middle of his exam) messed up his GMAT score (LBS with average GMAT and ordinary profile).
Despite this impediment, he decided to move ahead with his MBA applications to his two dream programs – London Business School and INSEAD.
He didn’t apply to any other program, and he now thinks that wasn’t such a good approach – for two reasons. Read on to find out why.
London Business School without international experience
LBS MBA admissions consulting review
by Ishu Ratna
I spent my entire childhood in a small Indian town called Ghazipur. I had a family of 5: my father who used to work in a dairy as a supervisor, my mother who is and was a homemaker, and my two elder sisters. I have had a typical lower-middle class childhood, where resources were limited but my parents always went over and above to provide us with a decent education.
Since my childhood, I have been extremely curious and fond of solving problems. I believe that was the reason I did well in studies throughout and eventually secured a 100% scholarship by Aakash Institute in Delhi for their 2-year IIT-JEE coaching program.
I then went on to secure a seat in the Electronics batch of IIT (ISM) Dhanbad. It was an inflection point of my life.
I changed as a person, and for the better. I became more extroverted and confident, and participated in many extracurriculars and sports. I love trekking and playing snooker.
I worked for over 4 years in Healthcare consulting at ZS India as a Strategy Consultant. I loved working on cases involving some of the rarest disease areas and their treatment drugs.
In fact, I was inspired by the global healthcare so much that I aspired to build healthcare solutions for India in the future.
I never found the job challenging per se because I really loved doing it, but of course there were some days that stretched into late nights – but looking back in retrospect, it’s all worth it.
Last year, I switched to Adobe to work with their Strategy & Ops team as an Internal Consultant. The main reason for my switch was to experience the other side of the table – how companies execute strategies – and to upskill myself from a tech and tools standpoint.
A few months into Adobe, I realized that though my expertise expanded in marketing, I really wanted to explore other functions in business. With the long-term focus on building healthcare in mind, I realized I should pursue an MBA.
I had two primary objectives to meet through my MBA –
- Understanding businesses holistically across a range of functions.
- Working in an international setting to leverage the learnings for my future venture.
Through some research, I discerned that the healthcare space in the Middle East is going through a huge transformation, especially with adoption of AI, another key area of my interest.
Therefore, to pursue a desired career in the Middle East, I realized that the top EU schools would be the best options.
I further researched and came down to just two options: London Business School & INSEAD, in that order of priority.
However, it was already October and I had just one option – to apply to LBS in R2 for Aug 2024 intake. If that was not to turn out in my favor, I had decided INSEAD R1 for its Jan’25 intake.
I reached out to Manish Gupta at MBA Crystal Ball in October to check their services. I liked how he contextualized me and provided suggestions on how to go about it.
I decided that I should write my application after my GMAT, even though I’d have just a month for my essays, which is strictly not advised.
My GMAT Prep experience
My GMAT story is quite funny overall. I attempted the exam three times in less than 2 months.
I started my preparation in October and scheduled the exam on 26th November 2023.
I had less than 2 months, and I had to get at least 730 (courtesy Indian Male Engineer ) to make sure my application is not weakened by my GMAT score.
With a full-time work during the day, I had 2-3 hours in the night to prepare for my GMAT for which I self-studied. Quant was a cakewalk (courtesy IIT-JEE), but Verbal was super tricky, especially for the “Hard” category.
In my first attempt, I got a 730 and was slightly disappointed because I knew I could do better basis my abilities. I thought I should re-take the exam with a bit of more preparation and took the exam again after 20 days.
It was a debacle because during the exam my phone started ringing loudly (I had not switched it off) and I was interrupted by the invigilator and lost 10-15 minutes.
My whole momentum got affected negatively and I kind of quit on the exam and secured a mere 710.
Though it was a bad idea because I had just 15 days to prepare for my essays, I reached out to Manish asking for help.
He promptly allocated a consultant, Ravi (INSEAD grad), to help me out with my application and I planned to apply with my 730 score.
My top concerns while applying
My background of an Indian Male Engineer put me into a serious disadvantage because I belonged to an overrepresented pool.
At the same time, I didn’t travel internationally, and programs such as the LBS or INSEAD MBA look for international exposure in their students given the sheer international diversity of the batch.
Aside from these shortcomings and a somewhat decent 730 GMAT, my application was solid from an objective lens: Tier-1 undergrad, consultant role, top international brands & global markets, and meaningful extracurriculars.
I was confident that I had a decent profile, but the limitations were significant as well.
My search for the best admission consultants for London Business School & INSEAD
I did not have many options because I was very specific about my MBA programs.
I wanted to leave no stone unturned, and so I decided I would get a good admissions consultant to help me in my journey.
I had a conversation with a senior who went to HEC and he recommended MBA Crystal Ball to me. I reached out Manish Gupta again and he promptly and transparently gave me all the details of their services which built conviction.
I also checked a couple of other admissions consulting companies, but I found them less promising. So I decided that I would go ahead with MCB.
I ideally wanted a consultant who had been in the same shoes as I was in. Therefore, I requested someone who was either an LBS or INSEAD graduate.
Thankfully, Manish tagged me with Ravi (INSEAD) as my consultant and my application journey started, with barely 15 days in hand.
The most important thing that my consultant did was showing me the perspective on what these programs look for while shortlisting candidates.
Moreover, he brought down my essays to realistic tones which was missing in my initial draft.
The best thing about Ravi was his prompt feedback; he understood that I was running short of time, so he made sure he replied with his feedback ASAP.
I had my application ready with 2 days remaining but to ensure that I get the best out of it, I made a few changes to the essay on my own.
I told Manish that I have updated the essay a bit to make it more solid and he asked me to send the updates to him.
He promptly sent me some meaningful feedback on the updates in the last minute and I realized that my updates came across a bit unrealistic, even if true, and could’ve led to rejection by the Admissions Committee.
I made changes along his feedback and submitted by application with confidence.
A few days later, I took the GMAT again to score a 760 (Q51/51) and sent the update to the Admissions Team based on Manish’s and Ravi’s recommendation. This instilled much more confidence in myself about getting an invite for interview.
My MBA application strategy
My application strategy was a bit rigid, and hence, not the best. I had boiled down my options to just two schools and it decreases one’s mathematical probability to get a seat in a top MBA program.
But as I already shared, attending either of INSEAD or LBS was conducive to my post-MBA “global” career aspiration.
Moreover, I had a preference for LBS because of its higher focus on Healthcare, and personally, I could anticipate that London would be more fun 😉
Also, my discussions with the current students and alumni reassured me that LBS would be the best option for me with regards to my career goals.
Fortunately, my application for LBS MBA was due before INSEAD’s, and that ensured more clarity.
In a month, I received an invite for interview – I was on cloud nine.
London Business School interview experience
My interview experience was very smooth and conversational. LBS MBA interviews are done by alumni and the admissions committee does a really good job finding interviewers who are walking or have walked the same career path as the candidates aspire to.
Since I aspired to build a health-tech venture in India, my interviewer was a recent alumna from LBS who co-founded her own healthcare venture in India and was the CEO.
I chose to fly into her city, Bangalore, for an in-person interview instead of having an online interaction (strongly recommend having an in-person interview).
My interview lasted for over an hour, and we went into great details about the program, the feasibility of achieving my goals through it, and my own personal and professional life till date.
I self-prepared for my interview for the most part, with guidance from my friend who was pursuing an MBA already.
Since my interview went well, I wasn’t expecting a rejection, but was dreadful of getting ‘Waitlisted’.
20 days post my interview, on 26th March, I received an email of acceptance and informed my mother.
Tears of happiness rolled out her eyes. And all my family and friends were elated with joy. I looked up in the sky and thanked my late father and God without whose blessings, I wouldn’t be there.
Results Time!
LBS doesn’t require dedicated scholarship essays, but one can write a short email to emphasize more on the need. Though it was a small task, Ravi was generous enough to help me provide feedback on my draft without any service charges.
I couldn’t receive a scholarship mostly because I didn’t apply anywhere else.
Lesson learned that one should apply to other schools and use their scholarship offers to negotiate with your desired schools.
However, I didn’t have time and though a scholarship helps, it’s not that critical in the grand scheme of your post-MBA career.
I am excited to join LBS in August and travel across Europe and the world in the subsequent years.
My advice to MBA applicants
I am thankful for my career path as a consultant because that helped me create a distinct profile from typical engineers who work primarily in tech.
MBA schools love diversity and schools such as LBS seriously consider that aspect for their batch, so much so, that it’s one of their selection criteria.
There have been a few lessons that I learned along my application journey.
The most important one is to start early because it really helps uncover the best version of your story to the committee.
Second, apply to multiple business schools even if you do not want to join them.
This is because you may face rejections from your desired schools and you’ll be left with no option but to drop your MBA plan for the whole year. That could be worse than pursuing an MBA at a relatively inferior but good school. And of course, the point about scholarship negotiation that I shared earlier.
Moreover, do not go overkill on the GMAT – it’s not worth it.
Finally, please do understand that a consultant doesn’t write the essay for you – he or she just guides you in the right direction and helps shape out the essay better.
Please be done with your groundwork before coming to the consultant.
My advice to the people coming from consulting and wish to pursue an MBA will be to GO FOR IT ASAP.
You are already under the favorite bucket for Admissions Committee, so leverage your strengths.
Life is a marathon, and the ‘MBA Horse’ might take you further than otherwise.
At MBA Crystal Ball, we’ve got some of the best admission consultants for London Business School, INSEAD and other elite MBA programs.
Drop us an email if you’d like to partner with us on your MBA applications: info@mbacrystalball.com
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