By Emily Carney (One-year MBA Launch Director)
The One-year MBA programme is specifically designed for those of you with a Masters in Management, or equivalent management masters, from an accredited institution to build on your existing skills and knowledge, and achieve an MBA in just one year.
You have your pre-requisite and you’re ready to start the application, where should you start? Applications for the One-year MBA programme are now open and to help you get started, we have compiled some tips to support you on your application journey, answering those burning questions you have.
What is LBS looking for in the essays?
Don’t be afraid to show your personality. Essays give you the opportunity to tell us who you are outside of the standard application questions. These essays give the Admissions Committee a better picture of who you really are, and we are looking to hear about your authentic personality.
Make sure you answer the question. You can use the essays to tell us more about your aspirations or reinforce something of importance to you, whatever way you choose to answer make sure you have answered the asked question. LBS asks you to complete one set question and one optional question. If you feel you have sufficiently put yourself forward and do not need the optional question, that is fine. It is optional, though you may want to view it as an opportunity to tell us something that you don’t feel has been expressed about yourself yet.
Get a friend (or AI) to check your essays. Grammar, spelling, clarity- it’s all important and worth double-checking.
When should I apply?
We wouldn’t have three admissions rounds if we didn’t use them all. LBS classes are carefully crafted over the course of the year, with great candidates applying on the first day applications open, right through to the last minute. However, if you are ready, I would advise going for it in Round One. Doing so will give you more time to plan your move – resigning from work, sourcing your finances and moving to London, (for the majority of you who are not based here already).
If you definitely need more time, be assured, we will offer places in the later rounds. Whilst we don’t know how many spaces we will be filling and who we might be looking for in order to round out the class, you certainly don’t have to wait for Round One of next year.
What should I say about post-programme goals?
Be honest, we want to understand what your goals and ambitions are and what your journey has been so far to get there.
You don’t need to know with absolute certainty what comes next, or how the rest of your professional life will go. However, we do want you to consider where your initial plans fit on the realism-ambition scale. What’s realistic for someone from your background – how big are the changes you want to make? Are you being ambitious enough? Do you require a top school to get you there?
And you don’t need to cover everything in the essay. If you are selected for an interview, that meeting will give you another chance to expand on the things you talk about in your essay and application. We are interested in how you arrived at your goals, and how you are preparing and planning to achieve them. How many steps will you need to make along the way? You should be researching careers and role requirements nearly as much as you are researching schools. But don’t worry too much, you’ll learn a lot more about that early on in your studies from our amazing Career Centre team.
Who should I ask to be my referee?
For the One-year MBA we only require one professional reference, but choosing the right person to provide this can be tricky.
We are looking for a reference to talk to your professional experience, someone who knows you well and can attest to your overall character. This person should be someone you work with closely and who knows how you perform. A reference from a line manager who works alongside you has far more weight than a CEO who may not know exactly what you do day to day.
Talk to your referee early on in the process and make sure to brief them on your motivations and aspirations for applying to LBS so they are brought along the journey with you.
If you would like to reach out to a member of the team, please get in touch via oneyearmba@london.edu
Ready to start your application now? Take a look at our How to Apply page