How to Get Into London Business School

Welcome back to MBA Monday. I'm Angela Guido, the founder of Career Protocol, a Career Coach and an MBA Coach, and here to help you achieve your MBA dreams. We have a very exciting video. At long last, the most requested video by all of you, we're finally talking about the European MBA programs. We love the European MBA schools. We send tons of clients to those schools every year. And finally, our global and European MBA expert is here with us today to talk about London Business school. Say Hello, Charli.

Charli: Hey! Hello, everyone. I'm Charli Taylor. I'm a Senior Instructor at Career Protocol and I'm the Chief International Officer. I am so excited to be here with you today, Angela, to talk about this amazing school. We both love and adore the school and in fact, I think that we met at an event where also London Business School was very prominent in a Forte event. That will forever be one of the things that binds us together. So LBS is really special in my heart for all of those fantastic reasons.

Angela: That is so true. And before Charli gets into it, we're going to start with the origin story of London Business School, because it's a really interesting one and it's going to give you a lot of insight into how to be successful in their application process. I'm going to hand it over to Charli in just a second but before I do, I just want to point out that today, the day we're filming this, is the day that the Poets & Quants Admissions Consultant ranking came out and Charli Taylor, none other than Charli Taylor, ranked on the top 20 admissions consultants, because in addition to being an expert in European MBA schools, she's also just totally awesome. So, if you want to talk to Charlie about your MBA dreams and potentially work directly with her to get into a European school or any other top MBA program, sign up for a free MBA strategy call and don't forget to request Charli. Now, here we go. London Business School!

Charli: London Business School has such an interesting origin story. It started in the 1960s and it strangely started as kind of a more British-centric school. It was really about teaching British people the art of doing business, to be able to develop like, commerce and the business infrastructure within the United Kingdom is very, very exciting. And of course, the programs were so interesting that that was also a time when kind of in the 60s and 70s people were starting to really kind of gravitate more to the UK and suddenly they found themselves evolving into a broadly international school. They now have such an extraordinary global outlook. Their goal and their mission statement is to have a profound effect on the way the world does business. So it went from something kind of like internally focused to really develop the United Kingdom to just exploding on the global scene. Very exciting, Angela. Pretty important for a small island, too, kind of in the midst of developing itself, and what's also really interesting is sort of that was pre-European Union days., right? So the United Kingdom had to start also looking outward and now that we're in a post-Brexit era, it's really important for the United Kingdom to be looking outward again. And we're going to talk later about kind of the soft diplomacy aspects of international education and why that's going to help you as an international candidate, particularly in the United Kingdom.

Angela: Awesome. So, Charli loves working with MBA candidates of all stripes but from the very beginning of her earliest days in year one at Career Protocol, she's always had a particular passion for helping students that are trying to pursue a global education through their MBA. So, Charli, talking to the people who are looking to really broaden their Horizons and their perspective through business school, why do you think LBS is one of the best places they could go if they want a global perspective?

Charli: Wow. So many reasons. First of all, I think that LBS might have one of the best international experience opportunities of any school on the planet. Like, it is mind blowing. They have just countless partners where you can go in your second year and do study abroad programs. So about 30% of their second-year students go and do an exchange program. And that's really phenomenal. They also have the global business experience and that can put you for a week in a number of different countries. You can do multiple global business experiences and opportunities, and the incredible opportunity to be able to sit in such a diverse class. They have classes that boast, like, students from 90 different countries. I mean, can you imagine, like, sitting with people from so many different places with such extraordinary world views? So you are going to learn from your colleagues who are just going to excite you with new ideas and new ways of thinking. So, so many opportunities at LBS to just broaden your horizons and do extraordinary, deep international work. But, you know, Angela, that's not all! I mean, what's really exciting is a part of that for international students, too is the London cap opportunities, right? It's the ability to be able to apply what you're learning in the classroom in real world situations in one of the greatest cities on the planet. And whether you're doing finance or consulting or tech or just really a number of really interesting things, and you don't have to be limited to those experiences. London business school wants people from a diverse range of backgrounds and professional backgrounds to really add to their class and everything can be found in London. And so, you're really in the backdrop of this extraordinary city that will give you life lessons that you can take everywhere you go.

Angela: So, Charli, for everyone out there who's considering either a global MBA or an MBA in a country other than their own, and then for all the UK applicants out there, why is LBS a great place to be right now? Like, if you had to say, the global stage is changing month by month, from your perspective, why is LBS a great place to get your MBA right now?

Charli: Well, LBS is a great place to get your MBA right now and partly because of what the United Kingdom is currently going through. So, in a post-Brexit universe, one of the really big points is trying to develop very strong international bonds. The powerful thing about international education is it’s a form of soft diplomacy. So, a country really wants to attract amazing talent because they're going to go home and they're going to want to build bridges and bonds and create partnerships with that country, and in a post Brexit universe, that's really important for the United Kingdom. Angela, you may know that I had the great honor of serving on the Mayor's Council for bringing international education, international students into London, and the Mayor at that time was Boris Johnson, who's the PM now. I didn't know him, but you can tell that just by having such a Council, he's very focused on the ability of international education to build those bridges. And so we're seeing really exciting stuff in the United Kingdom, like more opportunities for students with a graduate — or postgraduate education if you're in the UK or in Europe —  with students with postgraduate education to stay abroad, gain work experience, develop those wonderful relationships with the United Kingdom and then when they return to their home countries or wherever they're going to next, they will develop those hopefully amazing relationships and build upon them. So from the soft diplomacy angle, this is such an interesting time to be in the United Kingdom. I think that maybe I worked there for 20 years in higher education, just about, and I think this is maybe one of the most exciting times to be an international student in the UK.

Angela: Amazing. So last question for you, Charli, our expert, given that you've sent dozens of clients successfully to London Business School, what is your number one tip for LBS hopefuls out there as they're seeking to build an application that is going to get them access to the city of London, to the UK, and to London business School for their MBA? What advice do you have for applicants as they look at that application? What's going to help them understand what the school wants and be as successful as possible?

Charli: Boy, Angela, this is such an important question. London Business School really wants to know that you want to very specifically attend their school and understand their program in just a granular way. Think through your goals, this is something that we're going to help you with a Career Protocol. We're going to help you really articulate your goals, and we're going to teach you how to relate those goals in very specific, granular ways to what the school has to offer. LBS wants to know that you want them and also they really want to know that you have an international outlook. They want to know that you have a desire to become an internationalist. What happens if you don’t have any international experience? Hey, that’s okay too! Think very deeply about the times when you have been in a diverse group, you have exercised skills of diversity. What makes you want to become an internationalist? Talk about things from that angle as well. So those are two really important tips for LBS.

Angela: Amazing Charli, thank you so much. It is always a pleasure to see your smiling face in my Zoom. We have team meetings at Career Protocol and Charli's greetings are one of the high points of all of our meetings. I'm so happy that you all got to meet Charli today and hear her amazing tips for admissions to London Business School. Come back next week and we'll give you the dirty details on yet another amazing European MBA program. We'll see you next time next week. On MBA Monday.

Charli: See you next week. Ciao!