Admissions Director Q&A: London Business School’s David Simpson

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Were you working feverishly to complete your application to the London Business School (LBS) in time for last week’s round one deadline? If so, you’re probably wondering just what happened after you hit the submit button. In the interview that follows, David Simpson, LBS associate director for marketing and admissions, takes the mystery out of the process, walking us through each and every step.

As the most recent participant in our continuing Admissions Director Q&A Series, Simpson shares information about a new one-year management masters program at LBS geared toward people without work experience in the business world. In discussing the school’s full-time MBA program, he highlights the remarkable diversity of the LBS class. And in closing, he provides some concrete pointers on how to write strong application essays, as well as how to prepare for the admissions interview.

So whether your application is already in or you’re preparing to submit in a later round, you won’t want to miss what Simpson has to say.

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Clear Admit: What’s the single most exciting development, change, or event happening at LBS this coming year?

David Simpson: In August 2009, London Business School will be launching a new Masters in Management program. The new 11-month, full-time program is designed for people without work experience who want to lay the foundations for a successful career in business.

This launch is an exciting move for the school. It builds upon our reputation as a dynamic and entrepreneurial organization, adept at taking advantage of emerging opportunities. (Click here to read more about the launch.)

We will continue to focus on recruiting talented experienced individuals for our full-time MBA program. We want people from all walks of life, who can bring a wealth of personal and professional experience to the class. Work experience is necessary for our full-time MBA, as we expect high levels of contributions and collaboration from individuals during this life-changing program. In the class of MBA 2010, the average length of work experience is 5.6 years, with the range being between two and 12 years

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CA: What is the one area of your program that you wish applicants knew more about?

DS: We strive to highlight exactly how much the international and professional diversity of our MBA class adds to our participants’ learning experience. It is easy for any business school to talk about ‘being global,’ but making diversity work and maximizing value for students is less straightforward. At London Business School, an MBA class can represent over 60 nationalities with students bringing diverse professional backgrounds. We create a collaborative learning environment that includes study groups, classroom discussion and practical projects and provides a unique and challenging experience. The first-year study groups, for example, offer a challenging and yet supportive learning environment due to the outstanding caliber of each participant and the depth of personal and professional and experience each brings (an average of 5.5 years work experience).

For example, one of our current study groups includes the following members, who will work together on every core course for the first year of the MBA, before each of the students personalize their second year MBA studies through the flexible nature of our 15-21 MBA curriculum:

A management consultant from the United States; a Canadian project manager in the construction sector; a Polish financial analyst with the World Bank; an Indian strategic research manager in the confectionary industry; an Israeli entrepreneur with experience in the healthcare/tech sectors and a German professional with private equity and banking experience.

Many student groups go one step further to include individuals from even more diverse backgrounds. This year we have a concert pianist and a plastic surgeon. As with every year, we also have many other doctors, lawyers, military personnel and people from other ‘non-business backgrounds.’ Often our many incoming students from corporate business backgrounds will underestimate how much they will learn from their more ‘non-traditional’ peers…and then the MBA starts and they find out exactly why each individual was recruited.

We work hard to ensure that every single student will have something special to offer to his or her classmates. Our thorough and competitive admissions process helps us to recruit such talented individuals.

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CA: Walk us through the life of an application in your office from an operational standpoint. What happens between the time an applicant clicks ‘submit’ and the time the committee offers a final decision (e.g. how many “reads” does it get, how long is each “read,” who reads it, does the committee convene to discuss it as a group, etc.).

DS: Like many schools we have a stage admissions process, but we run ours over a fairly long season. Our first deadline is in October, with offers made in December. Our final deadline is at the end of April, with offers made in July. Although we expect applicants to carry out a lot of research, which takes time and effort (often including a campus visit at some point in the process), we are aware that candidates’ personal and professional circumstances can change rapidly, affecting their application submission.

Online applications are downloaded after the admission deadline, printed out and additional documentation added. Admissions team members will then read the application and decide if the candidate is to be granted an interview or not. Nobody joins the London Business School MBA without having been through a face-to-face alumni interview. We find that alumni interviews offer us a consistently high standard of detailed feedback from the perspective of someone who has gone through the program themselves. Interviews offer candidates we considered to be ‘borderline’ for some reason a chance to shine. After all, when it comes to gaining post-MBA employment it is the all-round package of knowledge, experience, intellect, personality and charisma that will get you a job. Because interviews are carried out in locations all around the world, usually wherever candidates are based, they add the benefit of local market/cultural knowledge.

Senior admissions staff may follow up with a secondary interview in certain cases where we require further information in order to make a final decision.

Once the alumni interview results are added to an application, our Admissions Committee makes its final decision. The committee makes decisions on applications from each of our four admissions stages, managing a waitlist throughout. This enables us to select the highest caliber individuals to create the best possible culturally and professionally diverse class. It is a very long and involved process and we utilize all stages of the admissions schedule to add individuals from different backgrounds and craft the best all-round ‘perfect class.’

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CA: How does your team approach the essay portion of the application specifically? What are you looking for as you read the essays? Are there common mistakes that applicants should try to avoid? One key thing they should keep in mind as they sit down to write them?

DS: We read everything we ask for very carefully. Essays are an applicant’s chance to tell their story, describing why they wish to study for an MBA at this stage of their career. Essays add color and depth to the basic core facts and timelines given in a resume and application. Candidates should make sure they research each school they apply to in detail, using all the resources offered by schools and organizations like Clear Admit before sitting down to write their essays. Each school has its own identity and personality, and candidates need to exhibit an understanding of that. Remember that the full application, including the essays, is passed on to the alumni interviewer, who will focus in on certain areas. So be prepared to talk in depth on any topic you wrote about. When submitting any business school application – be honest, be thorough, be self-aware and be excited about your chosen school.

That’s all the detail I am prepared to give you on how to answer our essays…it is for you to interpret what you think London Business School Admissions Committee wants to read in your essays. Good luck!

wendy~

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