LBS MBA面经汇总2021-2022

myice

The interview was application-based, very conversational, and lasted for about 1.5 hours. It was conducted virtually via Zoom by an alumnus based in my country. The experience was enjoyable as the conversation felt natural and amicable. They emphasised that the interview is merely a part of the process and not a decisive factor in the final decision. They told me of past examples when applicants they enjoyed interviewing weren’t accepted, while applicants they thought were “mediocre at best” were admitted. They believe the interviews aren’t playing a unique role compared to other elements of the application.

The interviewer was intelligent, open, direct, friendly, and practical. There were some random questions that I neither expected nor experienced in other interviews, but I tried handling them well. They were very intrigued by my story and profile, primarily due to my non-traditional and versatile professional background, activism, interests, the international academic institutions I attended, and modest upbringing. They read my application very thoroughly and mentioned parts of it during the conversation.

The interviewer asked me the following questions in approximately this order:
1. Walk me through your resume – Follow up – now summarise your resume in one minute instead of three.
2. Questions about my professional experience – some specific questions such as “what does a typical day look like?”, “what do the projects you lead and manage entail?”, “how do you manage your reportees?”
3. Questions about my upbringing, international experiences, academic background.
4. Post-MBA plans.
5. Why, LBS? Given your background and goals, why are you applying to an MBA and not a different degree?
6. Academics & student-life at LBS
7. Some very typical and straight-forward behavioural questions about working in and leading teams and some random thought-provoking questions.
8. More fit questions.
9. A case question (which was very enjoyable) – 5 minutes to prepare (ended up being 7), 5 minutes to present.
10. Which other schools did you apply to? Why is LBS your top priority? They were impressed by the number of people I talked to, clubs I connected with, events I attended, and generally by my engagement with the school over the past few months.
11. Any questions for me (I had time to ask three questions) – this part was my favourite part.

I sent them a thank-you note following the interview, and they offered to connect.

I hope this is helpful, and I wish you all good luck with your coming interview!

myice

The interview was on Zoom.

My interviewer was very friendly. He introduced himself and the process briefly, and then asked the standard why MBA / why now / why LBS questions.

Then he asked the behavioral questions. Most of the questions were behavioral. I was expecting some questions regarding family, but surprisingly they never came.
1. When was a time you made an impact on your organization?
2. Tell me about a difficult teammate you had.
3. Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership.
The problem solving question was nothing to worry about. It was very casual and he gave me a lot of space to think and organize what I wanted to say (he turned off his camera and muted himself). I’d say just take a deep breath and structure your response well.

Then I got to ask questions to him, mostly about his experience at LBS.

Overall, he made me feel the friendliness of students at LBS, as well as the friendliness of the faculty. I think LBS would be a great place to learn and make friends.

I got an offer in the end.

myice

Had a fairly conversational interview with an alum that consisted of the standard questions (Tell me about yourself, why MBA, why LBS) as well as some questions about my resume and behavioral questions. My interviewer had already read through my application so there wasn’t a ton of probing questions on my motivations for b-school since it was already in the app. One unexpected question was what other schools I was applying to- makes sense since LBS is very concerned about yield, so this is important to have a good answer prepared about why you would prefer LBS vs. other schools.

For the most part very relaxed, we probably spent about 35 minutes on the introductory questions and then launched into the case, which was very easy (I wouldn’t stress about this- it’s just trying to assess how you think about problems/business decision-making). Finished up with another 20 minutes of questions and that was it!

myice

My interview for LBS was with an alum, and was conducted over Zoom. There are 3 main components of the interview –
1) Fit questions asked by the interviewer
2) The 10-minute case
3) Questions for the interviewer

I am wary to put a time limit to it, as I have heard wildly different accounts (1.5 – 3 hours). My interview lasted approx. 2 hours and 45 minutes. It was a very informal discussion on topics that ranged from recent US politics, the state of the UK economy, common national roots etc. Expect there to be a structure, but don’t treat it like a job interview.

I would advise to be informed about the world around you and your industry and role. Do also expect to be probed on motivational questions (Why MBA? Why LBS? Why Post-MBA aspirations?) have thoroughly fleshed out answers for these kind of questions.

The 10-min case is a random topic (usually based around current events in the business world) for which you will have 5-min to prepare and 5-min to verbally present. While important, treat it like a brain exercise you are asked to do in some job interviews.

A large part of my interview (45 mins or so) was dedicated to questions that I had about LBS and the interviewer. It goes without saying that find out as much info about your interviewer via LinkedIn as you can. This part of the interview is where you can showcase your interest in the school and highlight the research you have done prior to applying.

Good Luck!

myice

The interview was very relaxed and casual, which I am grateful for. I was quite nervous beforehand because London Business School is a top choice for me and my brain was in the “better not mess this up” mode.

The interview began with the alum giving a short introduction about what he was currently doing, and then gave an overview of how the interview would go.

Here are the questions I was asked:
1) Tell me about yourself.
2) Why MBA, why LBS?
3) Talk about an experience where you had to negotiate a conflict while working in a culture different. (This wasn’t the exact question in terms of phrasing, but that’s the essence of what I was asked and it naturally arose from my responses to the prior questions.)
4) What are qualities you believe are important for business leaders to possess in this day and age?
5) What has been your most significant international experience to date, and how has that experience shaped who you are?

I was then presented with the case study that is unique to the London Business School interview.  My interviewer chose a case for me and left the room for 5 minutes allowing me time to jot down ideas.  After 5 minutes he returned and I had 2-5 minutes to present my recommendations. The point of the case study is to see how well candidates think on their feet, and to also assess presentation skills. I don’t think you can really prepare for this beforehand, but I might suggest thinking about simple business problems, and being able to articulate ideas, risks, and recommendations succinctly.

After the case study, the interviewer allowed me to ask any questions about the LBS program, at which point we discussed some of the clubs and extracurricular opportunities unique to the school. It was a very pleasant interview, and in total, lasted roughly an hour and a half.

The interviewer will have read the entire application, so they might comment or ask about things from the additional essay as well. They are aware of the GMAT score, so if it’s on the lower end, they might ask if you’ve thought about retaking it. I would suggest going over your application and especially the essay responses beforehand.

Another thing to note is that reading all these debriefs will give you a sense of the type of questions they will ask, but the interview will be very personalized. Your responses will determine follow up questions, so having a good idea of what you’ll say for the Why MBA? Why LBS? Why Now? type questions might give you a good idea of what you’ll be asked next, so I highly recommend having solid answers to those responses, which you’ll need for the video assessment anyway and would have already provided in the school essays.

I also don’t recommend just re-telling the resume. If they open with “tell me about yourself,” talk about your professional experiences, but illuminate aspects of yourself that aren’t stated on paper. The first 5 minutes of the interview are the most important in my opinion because it’s your chance to grab the interviewer’s attention and make his or her time feel worthwhile since these are busy alums.

Best of luck to the other candidates and I hope my debrief will help with the preparations!

myice

My LBS interview took place at Starbucks with an alumnus. He is working in the VC/PE space and
I have worked in startups, so I think that was a common link. Interview was very casual and conversational.

It started with introduction:
– Schooling & family
– College activities, internships
– Work experiences

After introduction he asked the below questions:
– Goals
– Why MBA?
– Why LBS? Why not U.S. or Indian schools?
– Geography preferences post-MBA

The above 2 parts were completed in 30 minutes. Surprisingly, he didn’t ask any behavioural questions such as “tell me a time when you lead a team” etc.

The next part was case study. He provided the case question and gave me 5 minutes to prepare. After that, I verbally presented my thoughts on the same. There were no follow up questions. In the end, I asked a few questions about his experience. The entire interview went for 1 hour.

myice

Background: The LBS adcom spends a lot of time (sometimes upto two weeks) to match you to an alumnus in your preferred location and usually s/he is in a field similar to yours. My interviewer was a recent graduate (2018) and was back in India to head her family business. I was requested to meet at her home office. She had already gone through my entire application and had certain portions highlighted to delve deeper into.

Introductory questions:
Walk me through your resume.
Why LBS?
Why MBA?
Why MBA now?
If not MBA, then what?
Why UK instead of US?
Where else have you applied and why?
What are your short term and long term goals? Why?

Behavioral questions:
Tell me about a time you failed at being a leader. What would you have done differently? What did you learn?
Tell me about a time you had the opportunity to work with people of diverse nationalities/cultures. What did you learn and how will it be useful in your future career?
Who do you admire the most and why?
What are your biggest weaknesses? What steps have you taken to address them?

About my job:
What does a typical day look like?
What will you like to change about your job?
What do you like the most about your job?
How would your colleagues describe you?

About LBS:
Which clubs will you join?
What is something special you will bring to your study group?
What perspective will you bring to discussions in class?
Which classes are you looking forward to?

Case study:
She read out a case study and had a timer on for 5mins for me to work on this (she headed out of the room during this time). I was given another 5mins to present my solution to the case. The case was around challenges faced by a major bank.

Endnote:
She asked if I had any questions for her.

The entire interview lasted for one and a half hours. It was moderately relaxed but she did cross-question a lot. Hoping for the best!

myice

My interview was at the alumnus’ office. It started by breaking the ice and talking about the current situation in our city, and then the interview started with a classical tell me about yourself. After, the alumnus had a list of questions she started asking and checking after responded. The questions were quite typical of a job interview and what you can find in online forums, but some interesting ones were to tell her about a challenging time while working on a team, what do I think is an issue in business that is not being addressed, and what would my friends say to describe me.

Then came the candidate presentation regarding a topic, where the interviewer gave me 5 minutes to prepare and then 5 minutes to present my ideas, it is not a difficult case.

In the end, there was time for me to ask all the questions I had. I would say the interview was always really empathic and quite an enjoyable experience, so don’t come with fear and just relax and be yourself. Now I have to wait for the admissions team’s decision, but overall my experience applying to LBS was very positive.

myice

刚面完LBS 的alumni面试，一直以来都在看大家的面经，觉得自己也要回馈一下，攒人品。

面试前我问了很多LBS毕业的人的面试经验，有些人说不用准备，有些人说最好准备好7-8个cases。当时我还想要不要找中介mock一下。

最后因为正好这段时间工作巨无敌忙，mock也没有，cases也是整理一下没用的LoR里的例子就准备面试了。因为Alumni是zoom面，给我邮件以后立马就约几天后面试。

Alumni是个02年毕业当了面试官好多年的nice老头，去过世界很多地方，问的问题也非常随意，大概面试时长在1个小时左右。

问题包括：
1. introduce yourself
2. why MBA
3. why LBS compare to CBS and other MBA program?
4. can you describe a poor leadership example? (dig more when i answered)
5. tell me a funny movie that you like (coz my cv mentioned i like watching comedy)
6. one presentation (我抽到的是传统银行要不要join一个fintech program）
7. ask me any question if you want

结果准备的case一个都没用上，因为alumni已经看过我的application package对我挺了解了，所有其实他也没有问啥我个人的问题不过正好我也没怎么准备，真的就是聊聊天的感觉。

如果大家也正在面or已经面完，wish we all good luck！！

补充：presentation面试官好像有个list然后他挑一个让你present。2min准备，2-5分钟present，可以预先准备好纸笔。不过我感觉我的面试官没有在计时，我讲完就完了。

myice

LBS- 90 min： Interview with Alumni （not blind）

面试官的背景和我在文书里面写的 career path 一样，并且竟然跟我有相似的 BG，也就是说 LBS 是根据我的背景给我找到了一个转型成功的 alumni 来面试我，整个 package 全看过，面试不是 standard，几乎是纯聊天的形式，只问了几个 standard 的问题，之后全是随机问题，因为我在 LBS career goal 里面是要转型 VC 的，所有问了很多有关行业相关的内容。

自我介绍。
Follow up question 根据自我介绍问了很多转型的原因。
Short-term long-term goal and Why?
直接说 VC 这个行业特殊性，问在中国有没有人脉？
然后问了一些国内目目前主流 LP 都是谁，对中国很感兴趣，我也介绍了一些现在国内比较火的创业内容形式，之后都是随意聊天了。

Case - 题目就不能透漏了，但是主要是考察你解决问题的思路和逻辑，回答的时候合理即可。