London Business school has released their essays through their new admissions blog. In his first post, Oliver Ashby from the MBA Recruitment & Admissions Team says, “We pride ourselves on our strong relationships with our students and our students remain close to LBS many years after graduation. So we are looking for applicants who will be part of the LBS family for life.”
Following are the essays and Mr. Ashby’s analyses of them:
What will your future look like after completing your MBA? (500 words)
We are extremely focussed on helping our students to achieve their goals and ambitions. This essay gives you the opportunity to share your future aspirations with us. They don’t have to be ultra-specific but if your goals are particularly ambitious, you may want to think about some steps as to how you will achieve them and think about having a coherent back -up plan if they don’t immediately work out. Also remember that your future can include other aspects of life, not just your career. Think about how your relationship with LBS will evolve in the years following your graduation.
What value will you add to London Business School? (300 words)
This essay is deliberately straightforward. At LBS, one of our core values is collaboration. We are looking for students who will be highly active members of the community. This might be membership of one of the many student clubs, helping fellow students in their jobs searches or myriad other contributions. You should think carefully about what you intend to bring to London Business School and your future classmates.
One of the most common failings we see in applications is an inability to differentiate between top business schools. Many applicants will apply to more than one school and that is absolutely fine. However, when you apply to different schools you should know exactly why you are applying to each specific school and how it is unique from other world-class institutions. If you can’t tell the difference, you probably need to do some more research, think about visiting the school and speak to the admissions team.
What is the School’s responsibility to you and what is your responsibility to the School? (400 words)
At London Business School we take our relationships with students very seriously. We firmly believe that the relationship between the school and our students should be a two way process. We believe that the LBS MBA is a well-rounded, transformative experience, but it is vital that from day one our students understand what they can expect from us in terms of support, and what we expect from our students in terms of contribution to the LBS community. Our community is vibrant, fun and extremely diverse. Though, when it comes to academic performance all LBS MBA students understand that the degree is a solemn undertaking and as a result, take their studies seriously. When answering this essay think about how you will approach your MBA studies and how you will manage the competing demands on your time. Feel free to be open about what you expect from us and what you believe the school should deliver both during your studies and after.
I hope the above provides some level of guidance on the new essays that you enjoy writing them. The best essays we read show evidence that there has been a great deal of thought behind them and that it has been an enjoyable and exploratory process for the applicant.
The single best piece of advice I have heard in relation to writing business school essays is something one of my colleagues often says: ‘Once you feel you have completed your essays, get a friend or someone who really knows you to read them. If they don’t think they reflect ‘you’ or your personality, go back to the drawing board!’