An American MBA in London

It has been a while since I last saved a file with "MBA Journal" in its name, but I couldn't postpone it any longer after I received a truly inspiring e-mail from a reader and MBA candidate, Polina from Moscow. She writes:

Dear Martin,
Thank you very much for your articles in BusinessWeek. I've been really inspired both by your message and by your having an internship at a publishing company during the summer. I'm currently applying to London Business School [and] after the MBA I want to switch [from being a software analyst] to a publishing executive. Thanks again for your articles and, please, continue writing :-). I've read all five, but I'm longing for more.
Sincerely yours,
Polina

What I have observed over the past year from letters such as this one is that MBA hopefuls turn to MBA journals not for admissions tactics alone, but also to gain perspective on career and lifestyle choices associated with a B-school of interest. It is no longer about getting a degree from a top-10 player, but about the intangibles such as lifestyle or friendships that come with the two-year stint as well as the professional opportunities -- such as internships or consulting assignments -- that one can explore on an MBA program.

Having compared campuses of top business schools in the U.S. and Europe during my application process and while in the program -- either through personal experience or contact with friends who have gone on exchange -- my conclusion is, there isn't a business school out there that will give you more professional and personal opportunities than London Business School. That is why I would like to dedicate this file to my reflections on the topic.

Let's start with the "shadowing project." This is the first real consulting project undertaken at the end of the first year at the school and puts us face to face with a senior executive. Simply put, shadowing is a week-long assignment spent observing a manager in a challenging situation and reporting on what one has seen and learned. It allows students to investigate managerial behavior, reflect on leadership, build networking skills, and perhaps most importantly, validate theories taught back home. No other global business school offers anything like it.

REAL EXPERIENCE.  Taking advantage of LBS's European location, I decided to do my shadowing in Barcelona with an executive in the restaurant industry. Not only was it a great way to learn what happens behind the closed doors of Michelin-rated restaurants, but it was also an opportunity for me to try something new. Cooking happens to be one of my hobbies, and restaurants ... well, I am definitely planning to open one in the future.

The project became a great way to start the summer, and turned out to be quite an adventure: I didn't have much free time between the last trimester of the first year and the start of the "internship season" because I was propelled by the experiences gained through the shadowing project and couldn't stop myself from testing out everything I had learned in the preceding 10 months! I took temporary leave of the academic realm and pursued internships to sustain the motivation that I found in the shadowing project.

The first of my dual internship experiences took me to the boardroom of a major newspaper publisher, where a revolutionary marketing strategy was created for the company's portfolio of national dailies. This experience was priceless, mostly because I got to work with an amazing marketing professor, a teaching fellow at London Business School named Tim Ambler, and some of the country's most respected media executives.

CLIENT FACING.  Next up was a market expansion strategy into Central Europe for a multinational specializing in business process outsourcing (BPO) and enterprise data management (EDM). In this role, I was responsible for a full market analysis and for creating an entry strategy. This was another unparalleled opportunity that allowed me to apply business acumen to cultural awareness -- a match that companies are only now realizing is the ace in the hole in establishing businesses in emerging markets.

As you can see, London Business School not only allows students to experience the real world time and time again, all in just the first year, but makes it a requirement. The shadowing project, for example, counts as one full credit and is mandatory for graduation. This is followed by a credit-bearing second year project, which is a consulting assignment done at the end of year two, and many more client-facing projects required for academic coursework.

I would like to share one thought regarding an interesting phenomenon that I've observed on campus: applying for anything and everything. Even though every student has the right to apply for any job offered, there are some who submit applications and interview for an endless series of jobs they would never consider if given an offer. There is nothing wrong with "practice interviews," but think about your peers who may well consider the professional opportunity you will surely refuse to be their dream, yet may not be given a chance because there can be only a certain number of offers extended. I'll leave it at that.

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