16 things every London Business School MBA student should know

The London Business School (LBS) is among the crème de la crème of the world’s top b-schools.

Founded in 1964, it has striven, in its own words, “to have a profound impact on the way the world does business.”

A constituent college of the federal University of London, the LBS welcomes over 2,200 degree students from 109 countries each year.

Here’s an MBA aspirant’s digest of 16 things about LBS.
 

16 things every London Business School applicant should know about

 

Location

London is lively and dynamic, and LBS, situated in the heart of UK’s capital city, is not different. Global business energy and cultural richness synergize at LBS, giving students the spirit of exploration and inspiration.

The LBS main campus is located next to Regent’s Park in Marylebone, and overlooks a lake, giving students breath-taking views of London.

Within an easy commute from the city and West End, the main campus forms a triangle between Sussex Place, Taunton Centre, and Samy Ofer Centre.
 

Campus

LBS’s main building, designed by the famous British architect John Nash (1752-1835) along with the entire Regents Park locality, was originally constructed as 26 terraced houses.

The roofline of the building features ten pointed cupolas with a façade adorned by Corinthian columns. The campus includes a library, a sports center, three cafés, a restaurant, a privately run pub, a fitness studio, and a swimming pool.

Most of the MBA classrooms are amphitheaters that can seat 100 students. No accommodation is provided for full-time students, although rooms are available on the campus for visiting faculty and executive education students.

Most students live in private residential buildings or in student lodgings. The school has a secondary campus in Dubai, which runs EMBA and executive education programs.
 

Ranking

LBS was ranked sixth in the Financial Times’s Global MBA Ranking 2019 (fourth in 2018) and fourth in the QS Global MBA Rankings 2019. It topped FT’s 2018 European business school rankings.

In 2017, Forbes ranked the two-year international MBA the best, with the highest return on investment for any two-year MBA in the world. In 2016, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked LBS the best international school.
 

Faculty, research

The 100-plus LBS faculty members are global leaders of business research and teaching, and facilitate the work of business leaders, policy-makers, government representatives, media people, and other professionals with their ideas on business theory and practice.

Their research guides tomorrow’s leaders through master’s, doctoral, and executive education programs and courses in accounting, economics, finance, management science and operations, marketing, organizational behavior, and strategy and entrepreneurship.

LBS’s faculty members, in the age range of 29-73, come from 30 nations.

The school runs six research centers for asset management, corporate governance, leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship, private equity, and business and development, and has launched research initiatives including the Energy Markets Group to improve corporate competency and research.
 

Programs

LBS offers a full-time MBA, Masters in Management, Global Masters in Management, and Masters in Analytics and Management, Finance (full-time and part-time), and Financial Analysis, besides an Executive MBA, EMBA-Global, and the LBS Sloan Masters in Leadership and Strategy.

Executive education courses cover, among other areas, general management, leadership, strategy, and digital transformation and innovation, which are organized in London and Dubai and at various organizations worldwide and online.

PhD programs, to prepare scholars for outstanding institutions of learning, are available in accounting, economics, finance, marketing, and other areas of business studies.
 

Curriculum (MBA)

The full-time MBA program aims at instilling in the participants an international mindset, developing for them a global network, teaching them global business skills, and sharpening their decision-making capabilities.

The program is for those looking to make a vertical shift in their career path, change industry or job function, or acquire entrepreneurial skills.

Its duration is flexible: 15, 18, or 21 months. The program includes about 70 diverse electives, besides the core courses, integrated project work, business projects with companies, internships, and entrepreneurship summer school.

Under an exchange program, about one-third of MBA students attend a term at a partner school abroad, including NYU Stern, IESE, Booth, Wharton, UCLA Anderson, MIT Sloan, Tuck, Columbia Business School, Kellogg, and Haas.
 

Application requirements

Applicants should have an undergraduate degree and at least two years’ work experience.

Other requirements include a completed online application form, essays on the applicant’s MBA goals and how his or her work experience will help achieve them, one-page CV, names and details of two referees (current employer/colleague and someone who knows the applicant in a work context), GMAT / GRE score, proof of English language ability, application fee of £200, and copies of transcripts of grades.

If an application is cleared by the admissions committee, a member of the LBS alumni will be identified in the applicant’s region to conduct an interview.
 

Fee, expenses

The annual tuition fee for the 2019 intake was £82,000 and an additional £240 as Student Association subscription. The monthly rent for a student’s accommodation in London is between £180 and £360, depending on the facilities.

The average monthly living expenses, including transport, utilities, groceries, books and library fees, insurance, and leisure and entertainment, may come to a minimum of £1,000 (however, UK visa rules specify that a student should have a monthly budget of £1,265 for nine months, or £11,385, plus £150 health insurance).

Annual living expenses will, therefore, be £12,000-£15,000.
 

Scholarships, aid

• Scholarships (for all students) include the following:
• LBS Fund Scholarship (multiple awards, varying amounts up to full fee)
• BK Birla Scholarship Programme for ten students, including five from India
• Bell Cohen MBA31 Scholarship (£20,000, one student)
• LBS MBA Scholarships for Women (ten awards, £20,000 to full fee)
• 30% Club Scholarship (first-year fee, one woman applicant);
• Monica and Navin Valrani Scholarship (one award of £29,000 to one Indian woman student);

And various scholarships by industrial sectors such as entrepreneurship, engineering, and consulting, nationalities (LBS India Scholarship of up to £35,000) and external scholarships from organizations (Inlaks Foundation and Aga Khan Foundation).
Loan options that are funded by private investors and the UK government are also available.
 

Admission statistics

Here’s the class profile of the MBA Class of 2020:
Total students – 485 (40% women);
Students from 64 nations; 22% from North America; 16% from Europe excluding the UK, 9% from UK, 15% from South/East Asia, 15% from Central/South America, 12% from South Asia;
Average work experience – 5.5 years;
Pre-MBA industry – consulting 28%, finance/accounts 25%, IT&T, electronics 7%, FMCG/retail 7%; healthcare/pharma/biotech 6%, manufacturing/engineering 5%; energy/power 4%; public sector/non-profit 4%.
 

Career development

LBS’s Career Centre team, equipped with knowledge about a broad range of industries, helps students get in touch with the biggest names of the corporate world.

It organizes interactive programs, CV workshops, and coaching sessions, and assists students in developing careers in about 60 countries, including the UK.

Companies use the Careers Central system to post their company profile, look through CVs, email graduates directly, and recruit.
 

Jobs after MBA, employers

Of the MBA Class of 2018, 95% received job offers and 94% accepted an offer within three months of graduation. Twenty-eight graduates launched their own business.

The class of 415 students (24% from Europe excluding the UK, 22% from Asia, 18% from US/Canada, 11% from the UK) had an average work experience of five years and average age 29 years, and comprised 35% women; 26% each came from finance or consulting pre-MBA background, 5% from technology, and 43% from diverse sectors.

The post-MBA destinations were consulting 37%, finance 23%, technology 23%, and diverse sectors 17%.

The top employers were McKinsey, BCG, and Bain from consulting; Bank of America Merrill Lynch, CDC Group, and Credit Suisse from finance; Amazon, Expedia, and Uber from technology; and Kraft Heinz, ZX Ventures, and AB InBev from diverse sectors.

53% found jobs in the UK, 14% in the rest of Europe, 7% each in US/Canada and Latin America, and 11% in Asia.
 

Salary

The mean annual salary overall was £79,885 (other compensation £37,584): consulting £86,214 (£37,870), finance £79,986 (£53,326), technology £75,497 (£32,332), and diverse sectors £72,699 (£27,764).

The salary by country was the highest in the US/Canada (£99,401, other compensation £45,916), followed by the Middle East (£94,239, £32,936), Oceania (£90,363, £40,600), the UK (£78,415, £38,557), and rest of Europe (£77,630, £29,216).
 

Alumni network

The LBS global alumni community consists of 44,000 business professionals in 155 countries.

They stay in touch with their alma mater by helping it with admissions, mentoring students, assisting students in expanding their network, and participating in events such as the international alumni celebrations and club activities.

Alumni have access to lifelong learning, career center, library, and the platform LBS Hub & Portal.
 

Notable alumni

LBS’s famous alumni include, to name a few, Kumar Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group; Evelyn Bourke, CEO, Bupa; Maria Kiwanuka, Senior Advisor to the President of Uganda; Tim Kopra, US astronaut; Cyrus Mistry, former Chairman, Tata Group; Ramji Raghavan, founder, Agastya International Foundation; and Tony Wheeler, founder, Lonely Planet.
 

USP

“We are Minds alive,” is how the LBS brands itself, as it renews its commitment to “challenge the status quo, question industry norms, and free up people to define their own success.”

The school draws inspiration from London’s business and cultural spirit, as it creates and nurtures a globally diverse community of leading business professionals.

The LBS has been described as the “number 1” school particularly for finance students, thanks to what one writer calls its “well-oiled finance alumni base and recruiting machine.”

Its other high points are the quality of international experience for students, its exchange program, the flexible duration of its MBA program, and of course, its diversity and location.

Also read:
– London Business School MBA after 30: Sloan Fellows Program
– What London Business School looks for in MBA applicants
– London Business School MBA after MS in USA
– Executive MBA from London Business School
– INSEAD vs London Business School (LBS) MBA
 
References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 | Logo source: LBS