by Gabriela Olivera, 1YMBA2026
The elective portfolio is a chance to shape your experience to your career goals and what you want to get out of it. With over 80 electives to choose from, there is a range of subject areas you can explore. What is most important is knowing which ones are right for you and your post-MBA career.
As part of the electives, you also have a Global Experience, an opportunity to travel to a destination and gain firsthand experience of the theme being explored. With the electives, you can explore and build on areas you already know or build your skillset in completely new areas.
So how does this work on the programme? Current One-year MBA student Gabriela Olivera shares her approach to choosing electives, international experiences and dives deeper into her Global Experience in Riyadh below.
Choosing Electives as a One-Year MBA Student: How I Made the Most of My Time at LBS
When I first decided to join the London Business School One-Year MBA, I knew exactly what I wanted: to develop the investor mindset needed to strengthen and round out my work in corporate venturing and innovation consulting, while combining it with a truly global perspective. Having spent several years working at this intersection across Latin America, I was looking for a programme that would allow me to go deeper without losing speed. Electives ultimately became one of the most powerful ways to shape my MBA journey.
Before Day One: Start with Research
Even before I arrived in London, I did a lot of homework. Publicly available data and rankings consistently show that LBS produces graduates who go on to become successful venture capital investors and leaders in innovation driven fields. Knowing this gave me a clear why. If I wanted to build toward roles in venture capital, growth equity and innovation strategy, I needed to be intentional from day one.
That early awareness helped me approach electives with purpose and early. Unlike longer MBA programmes, where course selection happens later, the One-Year MBA asks you to make your elective choices within the first month. That means doing research, speaking with second-year students and alumni about their experiences, and building a shortlist quickly. It may sound intense, but it really helps bring focus to the year ahead.
Planning with Flexibility
One thing I quickly learned is this: your plan in August doesn’t have to be your plan in January. While you make your first selections early, the programme still gives you the flexibility to refine them as your goals sharpen or evolve. I spoke with several students who pivoted after discovering new interests, and that openness is one of the programme’s biggest strengths.
The variety of elective formats also helps. Courses are offered as evening classes, five week blocks and intensive week long modules, making it easier to balance deep academic work with recruiting, student club activities and global experiences.
How I Picked My Electives
I built my elective lineup around three core themes.
1. Deepening financial and investing skills
• Securities Analysis & Financial Modelling
• Private Equity & Venture Capital
• Digital Investing
• Wealth Management
I chose these courses to build the framework I had been missing: how investors think about valuation, capital allocation and portfolio construction. This is essential for anyone planning to work in venture capital or growth equity.
2. Strategy and scaling businesses
• Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances
• Financing the Entrepreneurial Business
• Building a Scalable Business
• Managing Corporate Turnarounds
Together, these electives provide a holistic view of how companies grow, adapt and transform. This applies whether you are helping a startup scale or supporting an established organisation through strategic change.
3. Technology, data and decision making
• Data Science for Business with Python
• Applications of AI & Machine Learning in Business
In today’s environment, the ability to translate data and emerging technologies into business insight is a core skill, particularly when working at the intersection of innovation, capital and strategy.
Going Global: Middle East, San Francisco and China
Electives at LBS go beyond the classroom. I chose the Riyadh Global Experience, which focuses on Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation and Vision 2030. Being there in person and seeing how policy, capital and entrepreneurship come together to drive innovation was eye opening. I also took the opportunity to travel to Dubai afterward, which broadened my understanding of the Middle East’s rapidly evolving business and investment landscape.
Global experiences are one part of the story, but student led treks are another. Through the Data & AI Club, I participated in a trek to San Francisco, the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, where I met founders, investors and technology leaders and saw firsthand how innovation ecosystems operate at scale. Next up for me is the China trek, with visits planned to Beijing, Chongqing, Chengdu and Shanghai. These four cities each tell a different story about technology, growth and opportunity.
What I’d Tell Incoming One-Year MBAs
If you are considering the One-Year MBA at LBS, here are some top tips that have helped me:
- Start thinking about electives early. Do your research before you arrive and speak with second-year students. It will save you time and stress.
- Be intentional, but stay open. Your interests may evolve, and the programme gives you room to refine your choices.
- Use electives to connect the dots. Do not see them as isolated classes. Think of them as building blocks for the career you want to create.
- Take advantage of global and club experiences. These are not just add ons. They broaden your thinking in ways classroom learning alone cannot.
Choosing electives at LBS has been a deliberate process and one of the most impactful parts of my One-Year MBA experience.
The programme’s structure, flexibility and global opportunities have allowed me to deepen my skills, expand my perspective and move closer to my goals. Approached with curiosity and purpose, electives become far more than courses. They become the foundation of a truly personalised MBA journey.
What to learn more about our MBA programmes at London Business School. Join our MBA Open Day (online and in-person), Saturday 7 March 2026, 9.45am – 4pm (UK time). You can sign up here.