by Lucy Palin, MiF Admissions Manager
If you’re reading this, you’re likely to be researching the Masters in Finance (MiF) and London Business School as a whole. You want to know what the teaching is like, get a sense of who you will be studying with, planning how the MiF will help your career and, if you’re not from London, wondering what the city is like to live in.
There are a lot of things to consider; going to business school is a big decision to make. We want to give you as much insight as possible into our students’ experiences so you can make an informed decision on whether the MiF at LBS should be part of your next career move.
Having settled into the Programme, we asked our MiF Students three questions to see how they’re getting on. Here are the key takeaways and our Students’ thoughts on the MiF, LBS and London.
What has surprised you most about LBS since joining?
What surprised our Ambassadors most about LBS is the diversity of the students. When you see that our 117 full-time MiF students come from 37 countries and our 74 part-time students come from 32 countries, diversity shouldn’t be a surprise, but the impact can only be fully realised when you step onto Campus. Sangeetha Madhavan (USA) said “The diversity of the student body is extraordinary. The School is truly culturally and ethnically diverse and is also very diverse in the ideas, thoughts and perspectives of students and faculty.”
Our students have also been amazed by the effort everyone makes to form strong bonds and how quickly everyone has become friends across the School and even more so within the MiF. Carolin Bode (Germany) replied “It feels like we are all one big team that supports each other. In many other schools I have been to, most of the time there was a barrier between faculty and students. At LBS, everyone treats each other with great intention and with respect.”
One thing that has also been a surprise for our Ambassadors is how much activity there is on campus. With 70+ Student Clubs, a multitude of career workshops and networking events you can explore every personal and professional interest. Mukul Maheshwari (UK) said “I was not expecting to have a busy calendar almost every night of the week. From going to great food places (as part of the Foodie club) to learning about LBO models (as part of the Investment Management club), the number of activities on offer is truly amazing.”
The Student clubs and career events are a catalyst for social and professional networking. The latter being important for our students who have been making the most of everything the Career Centre has to offer. Diana Won (South Korea) has attended various career workshops and said, “they helped me to be well-prepared for the recruitment process ranging from building prerequisite skills, preparing for CVs and cover letters, and navigating each sector and industry.” For some, it has been about being able to reflect – Jerry Xue (China) remarked “The career vision workshop that I attended recently was truly inspiring and like an epiphany for me. It really helped me become more aware of what I want in life/my career and which career path I should go down.”
What is the best thing about living in London?
Most of our students have moved from across the world for the MiF and are calling London home for the next year and possibly longer! What they love about living in London is the number of things there are to do and how much of it is free and publicly accessible. Atif Saleem (India) replied, “London is so full of life – you have more great food, music, theatre, sport and nightlife than you could ever experience! It feels more authentic and organic than any other city that I have lived in before. It is also steeped in history”. All this activity is undoubtedly because of “the diverse population” (as Shira Giat (Israel) remarked) – it clearly influences the food, music and buzz of the city. But, with all this activity you sometimes want a break and the best way to do that is to walk around one of London’s 3,000 parks and green spaces – havens from the fast pace of city life. Hendriyono Rachman (Indonesia) told us “I live in London with my family and they love the availability of green space everywhere we go”.
For students like Cagatay Gunay (Turkey), the best thing about living in London is the “proximity to one of the biggest global financial hubs. As a student who wants to continue my finance career in London, the location of LBS as one its greatest features as even before graduating, a student can find lots of different internship opportunities.” Rajbir Turna (UK) also commented that it is “easy to network with industry experts as the majority of firms are based in London”.
What element of the MiF Programme have you enjoyed the most so far?
As mentioned before, the diversity within LBS is something special and the MiF is designed to allow our students to really benefit from it by being placed in intimate study groups. And it’s not just cultural diversity, Felix Shr (Taiwan) commented, “I have made friends with people working in various areas in the financial industry. Regulators, investment bankers, sales, traders, accountants and consultants, to name just a few. People here at LBS are willing to share their experiences to help others, and I think this is one of the reasons why the LBS MiF continues to thrive as a whole across the financial industry.” Also reflecting on his classmates, Samuel Weissen (Switzerland) said “What surprised me the most was the caliber of people at LBS, both in the faculty and in the cohorts. There is an expert in the class on any subject and it’s great to share experiences.”
The culture of sharing professional experiences compliments the methodology behind the programme, to provide students with tangible, applied knowledge – “every professor finds ways to show us practical applications of the theoretical concepts they teach” said Nagui Camel-Toueg (Egypt). Our part-time students reap the benefits immediately as Catalina Vazquez Verde (Argentina) commented, “The fact that it is all focused on applying key concepts to our daily work. This is where I truly see the value of the part-time programme. I can already apply some of the key concepts learnt to my day-to-day.”
These are just a few of the things our students have to say about their experience on the MiF so far. To hear more about what they have been doing, I encourage you to reach out to our MiF Student Ambassadors. They’re more than happy to have a conversation with you about their experience!