Written By, Pedro Fernandes, MFA2025
The storm before the storm
The official start for the LBS Graduate Masters class of 2025 was August 27th, but, in true LBS fashion, the journey began much earlier for a big portion of LBSers. I landed in London on August 15th and was immediately swept up into an impromptu evening event at a local pub with around 40 other incoming Graduate Masters students. Right there, we were all bombarded with dozens of new names and faces, quickly realizing that life at LBS was like the world’s largest Who’s Who game (one that would test our memory and require an extra set of social batteries).
The pace didn’t let up: over the next few days, events flowed one after another, each reinforcing the sense of community. By the time the Graduate Masters Welcome Fair came around on August 22nd, we were already meeting ‘old’ friends amidst new connections (so much so that an unfortunate amount of delicious food didn’t get eaten because of the social richness of those few networking moments). As for myself, I was lucky enough to eat 3 outstanding pieces of falafel to survive the event.
The long-awaited official start to LBS
After this intense experience of getting to know students from all the Graduate Masters Programmes, it was time to formally start our year at LBS with Orientation at The Brewery. LBS defines Orientation as “a celebratory event for students across all Graduate Masters Programmes to proclaim the start of a rigorous and remarkable learning journey at London Business School”, which, while true, barely scratched the surface of what the day brought. We found ourselves plunged into the deep end, meeting hundreds of peers from the most diverse backgrounds and realising the journey ahead would be far more than just academics. We understood that LBS wasn’t kidding when they said diversity is at their core: throughout the day, we met peers from all walks of life, each bringing unique perspectives to the (by then) more than 700-student-strong cohort. Amidst all of this, we also had the privilege of receiving insights from experienced faculty/directors and inspiring alumni.
The exhaustingly exciting Away Day and the positively overwhelming first few weeks
The first few official weeks at LBS include lots of introductions to the School and lots of opportunities for the streams to get to know each other. Away Day especially was wildly effective at breaking the ice within our study groups and everyone else in our streams. It pushed every one of us out of our comfort zones, sometimes quite literally (some of us realised why we’re business students and not trapezists).
While social events were never sacrificed (and are still a staple in our weekly calendars!), we started attending several career-focused sessions led by faculty members and by leading industry practitioners. This is when everyone understood that what makes LBS unique is that perfect balance between building genuine connections and becoming the best professional your ideal future job requires you to be and/or that you aspire to be.
It’s not all fun and games: What now?
Everything that has happened so far makes it hard to believe that we haven’t been at LBS for a full year yet, and many of us simply refuse to accept that it’s only been about a month since the official start to LBS. It’s already clear that our time at LBS is about far more than landing a great job. Even after just a month, it’s evident that this year will shape who we are as individuals, not just as professionals (and in ways we’re only now beginning to realise).
Nowadays most of us are getting our first assignments and exams and getting involved in a (sometimes unbelievable) number of clubs, all while meeting more and more of our Graduate Masters cohort. Luckily, alongside persistent support from all the services that LBS offers, the Graduate Masters class of 2025 has been showing impressive resilience and admirable cooperation. The general feeling around every programme and stream is that there is no place we’d rather be for what is a beyond exciting stage of our early careers.
If you’re thinking about joining LBS for the MFA or any of the other Graduate Masters Programmes, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn. I’m always open to chat and share more about these and more unique LBS experiences!