LBS (London) Essays analysis Deadlines 2010-2011

AthenaS

Important Dates Application dates for the programme commencing in August 2011 are:
Stage Application deadline Interview decision sent on Admission decision sent on
1 06 October 2010  05 November 2010  15 December 2010  
2 05 January 2011  08 February 2011  24 March 2011  
3 02 March 2011  08 April 2011  20 May 2011  
4 20 April 2011  27 May 2011  01 July 2011  
All application deadlines are 17.00 UK time.
The application stage in which your application will be considered is determined by when your application is complete (including supporting documentaton, except references), not by when the application form is initially submitted.

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Full-time MBA Programme
Application Questions
Programme:MBA 2013 (Class beginning August 2011)

Please provide your full name and email address for identification.

Instructions:
The Admissions Committee will consider carefully your answers to the following questions.Please complete all of the essay questions beginning your answer below each question and giving word counts for each answer.Once complete, please attach this document to your online application following the instructions given on the web form.
Please do not write more than the specified word limit for each essay. Any extra words or essays may be disregarded.
You should complete just one essay for Question 5, choosing option 5a or 5b.
If you experience technical difficulties or have a question about the application process, please email apply.mba@london.eduIf your matter is urgent and you require immediate assistance please telephone our Recruitment and Admissions Office on +44 (0)20 7000 7525 between 09.00 and17.00, Monday to Friday.

AthenaS

说在最前面的：
“as per our School branding, you should never write LBS - always write London Business School or The School”这个东西让人感觉很英国，哈哈。同志们千万记住了，LBS这个英文缩略词千万必要在面试或者essay中出现！

Elite-essays’s General Analysis:
Please note that essays 1-4 and choice essay 5a all require you to
connect to LBS in some fashion. Your “give-and-get fit” with the program is clearly a high priority, so do your homework and outreach!

Question 1 (750 words)
Give us a brief assessment of your career progress to date.In what role do you see yourself working in immediately after graduation and what is your longer term career vision?How will your past and present experiences help you to achieve this?How will the London Business School MBA Programme contribute to this goal?Why is this the right time for you to pursue an MBA?
评论：问题写得如此详细，难得呀。需要关注的是，这个题目的第一个小部分是新增的，后面的等于是把去年的ESSAY1和ESSAY2给结合进来了，这样的提问方式和美国的学校相似，与去年想比增加了50个字，同志们自己综合平衡一下吧。想比之下，Kellogg2009-2010赛季的题目就显得隐晦得多“Briefly assess your career progress to date. Elaborate on your future career plans and your motivation for pursuing a graduate degree at the Kellogg School.”。今年，Kellogg甚至微调了第一个题目，变为“Briefly assess your career progress to date. Elaborate on your future career plans and your motivation for pursuing an MBA.”也许，以后LBS也会继续精简的。

AthenaS

Elite-essays’s Analysis:
Please see: The MBA Goals Essay & Why MBA School X?
Clearadmit’s Analysis:
Here, the typical career goals essay is broken down into two discrete inquiries. This format clearly underlines the importance of having both a short- and long-term career plan in the MBA admissions process. Though the compartmentalization of the short and long term discussions might make it a bit more difficult to adapt content written for applications to other schools, it does signal the extent to which the adcom wants to hear about each of the topics raised. Developing one’s long-term goal discussion over 200 words, with a stopping point at the five-year mark, could be a great opportunity for applicants who often cover this topic in a single sentence to meet the word limit in their essays for other schools. The question also incorporates a “why now?” query, prompting candidates to explicitly justify the timing of their applications given the current stage of their careers.
MBAmission’s Analysis:
LBS wants you to assess and evaluate your career progress in the context of your MBA application. This essay should also address the relevance of a LBS MBA to your future career goals. As usual in an MBA "goals essay", if you can establish a logical and credible link between your past, present and future, this LBS essay almost writes itself. If you can add a dash of passion as well, you have the recipe for a great essay. Blending key non-career aspects that are relevant to your story will only add to the strength of your application. "Why LBS?" and not any other business school needs to be explicitly addressed here.

AthenaS

Question 2 (300 words)
Give a specific example of when you have had to test your leadership and team working skills. Given this experience what role will you play in a first year study group?
评论：这是去年的第三个题目的变体，去年的原题是“Please describe your experience of working in and leading teams, either in your professional or personal life. Include any specific challenges you have faced. Given this experience, what role do you think you will play in your first year study group?”形变神似，今年的题目描述更加简洁。
Clearadmit’s Analysis:
While this question seems to invite a broad commentary on the history of the applicant’s leadership and teamwork experiences at or outside of the workplace, keep in mind that the most effective essays are those that provide specific details and vivid anecdotes. A general comment about the various leadership roles you’ve held is certainly in order, but it would be wise to use this as an introduction to an example that exemplifies your leadership/teamwork skills and style. Because LBS specifically asks applicants to address specific challenges that they’ve faced in their interpersonal interactions, it would be beneficial for candidates to reflect on strategies they’ve developed to overcome and navigate any obstacles. You should also include information about how you can apply these processes to future work at LBS. Note that the question about LBS study groups offers applicants a great chance to showcase their familiarity with the program and prove that they’ve done their homework, as well as demonstrate that they’ve thought through the contribution they would make and the strengths they could bring to the program.
Elite-essays’s Analysis:
LBS has shortened this mainstay question and asked you to focus on just one example, instead of the broader “experience of working in and leading teams” from previous years. However, they still ask you to extract and inject the essence of your leadership and teamwork skills into your future imagined study team, which requires 1) enough details in your example to illustrate the core component strengths of your leadership and teamwork approach, and 2) the imagination of what a study team entails and understanding of team dynamics (including what goes wrong on a team) to express your future contribution.

AthenaS

Question 3 (300 words)
Student involvement is an extremely important part of the London Business School MBA experience and this is reflected in the character of students on campus. Please describe how you will contribute to student clubs and the community and why?
评论：这是去年的第四个题目的变体，去年的原题是“Student involvement is an extremely important part of the London MBA experience and this is reflected in the character of students on campus. What type of student club or campus community events will you be involved with and why? How will you contribute?”题目后面部分的描述略有变化。
Clearadmit’s Analysis:
This question asks candidates to broadly discuss the clubs and events in which they would like to participate. Because it’s easier to be an active member in multiple clubs than it would be to lead more than one organization, this framing gives candidates a wide berth to discuss how their interests and experiences to date would translate to contributions on several fronts. As with any essay of this sort, it would be ideal to link the clubs and events you cite to established interests or elements of your career goals, as these will help the admissions committee readily see how you are poised to make a contribution. Taking the time to learn about the school’s special programs and extracurricular activities – whether through a visit to campus, conversation with alumni or reading.
MBAmission’s Analysis:
It’s generally good practice for an applicantto name one or two on-campus clubs in which he or she would like toparticipate, but LBS goes the extra mile by asking candidates toimagine themselves in a leadership role and consider how they mightadvance an organization’s mission.Naturally, prospective studentswill want to think strategically about identifying the club that willbest highlight their potential impact or underscore an interest evidentin their files. Even though the school gives applicants license todiscuss an extant club or recurring event, it would be ideal forapplicants to comment on a new contribution or perspective they couldbring in addition to their remarks on bringing the club’s objectivesand vision into like with the community at large.
Elite-essays’s Analysis:
Again streamlining one of their longstanding questions, LBS, like all other schools, wants to know what you can contribute. Since your potential professional contributions can be easily understood from other aspects of your application, I suggest offering your personal accomplishments/activities/experiences as vehicles for fitting into and expanding LBS’s club, community and cultural offerings. Avoid the esoteric and describe the concrete.

AthenaS

Question 4 (300 words)
London
Business School offers a truly global and diverse experience. Describe any significant experiences outside of your home country or culture. What did you gain and how will your experience contribute to London Business School?
评论：这是去年的第四个题目的变体，去年的原题是“Describe any significant experiences outside of your home country. What did you gain from these?”有增加的内容，请注意分配好文字比例。
Clearadmit’s Analysis:
This question allows applicants the opportunity to showcase their international experience, both professionally and personally, and is designed to gauge the applicant’s ability to navigate unfamiliar terrain and resolve cross-cultural issues. The word limit does not afford much room for detail, especially for applicants with extensive experiences abroad to recount, so a sound strategy might be to focus on providing detail about the lessons and skills gained from these situations.
Elite-essays’s Analysis:
LBS finally lengthened this essay, which makes sense for such an international program, and added the contribution component. Anyone who has spent considerable time as an “outsider” should have interesting experiences to share, especially hardships overcome and their resulting lessons about living and working with people different from yourself.

AthenaS

Please choose ONE of the following options.
Question 5a (150 words)
You have decided to stand for the role of Student Association President. Announcing your campaign to the London Business
School community for the first time, please describe your manifesto.
Elite-essays’s Analysis:
As President, what would be your objectives, intentions and motives? What would you like to accomplish in one year? How would you uniquely serve the LBS community, maintaining the good and improving on the weaknesses as you see them, and how would your presidency be different than that of your opponents

OR
Question 5b (150 words)
What is your most substantial achievement to date and why?
Elite-essays’s Analysis:
In addition to a typical MBA leadership accomplishment essay, the scope of this essay can include something you take great personal pride in, perhaps learning a language, leading a sports/debate team to victory, running a family business, overcoming illness – the possibilities are endless. If you’ve covered a work accomplishment in Question 2, writing about a personal achievement could provide good balance.

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Question 6 (300 words)
(This question is optional)
Is there any other information that you believe would help the MBA Admissions Committee when considering your application?

Clearadmit’s Analysis:
This optional question provides a niceopportunity for applicants to introduce one or two key details abouttheir candidacy that were not covered by the required topics. As isalways the case when responding to optional questions, applicantsshould keep in mind that they are essentially creating extra work forthe adcom, so it’s important that they make their answer count andshare information that is of direct relevance to their application.While there will certainly be a number of items on which a givenapplicant could comment in this response, keep in mind that a detaileddiscussion of just one or perhaps two will be more effective andmemorable than a long list of facts. Therefore, in thinking about whichto mention here, we’d recommend taking a look at the subjects coveredin the balance of the essays and considering an element of yourbackground or personality that hasn’t yet been covered or fullyrepresented.

Question 7 (300 words)
(This question is for re-applicants only)
How has your candidacy for the London Business School MBA improved since your last application? Have your views of London Business
School or the MBA programme changed since you last applied?


Question 8

Please provide a CV/Resume. This CV must only be one page in length. If you have any significant gaps in your employment history, please tell us why on a separate sheet.