LBS MBA Essays

When preparing your application for the London Business School (LBS) MBA program, it’s crucial to pay close attention to the LBS MBA essays and application deadlines. LBS is known for its rigorous selection process, emphasizing not just academic excellence but also leadership potential and a global outlook. As you craft your essays, be sure to align your personal goals with what LBS offers in terms of its diverse and international community.

To ensure you meet all application requirements on time, here are the important deadlines for the LBS MBA Class of 2027:

I can’t directly copy content to your clipboard, but you can easily select and copy the table below:

Application Round	Application Deadline	Interview Notification	Decision Released
Round 1	September 6, 2024	October 10, 2024	November 28, 2024
Round 2	January 3, 2025	February 6, 2025	March 27, 2025
Round 3	March 24, 2025	April 16, 2025	June 5, 2025

Key Essay Tips

While the specific prompts may vary each year, LBS typically asks about your career goals, leadership experiences, and personal qualities. Here are some general tips to keep in mind:

1. Be Specific: Use concrete examples to illustrate your points and make your essays more engaging.
2. Highlight Your Unique Value Proposition: Explain how your experiences and skills make you a valuable addition to the LBS community.
3. Show, Don’t Tell: Use vivid anecdotes and stories to demonstrate your qualities rather than simply stating them.
4. Align with LBS’s Values: Clearly connect your experiences and goals to LBS’s mission and values.

Example Essay

ESSAY 1

What are your post-MBA goals and how will your prior experience and the London Business School programme contribute towards these?

Being instinctive and conscientiously diligent, throughout my life I have been entrusted with leadership roles, from holding the position of head boy of a school of 2,000+ pupils to leading the football team in college. After college, I was selected from 500+ candidates who appeared for the selection process of the X Army for which a total of ~400K candidates appear each year. Post a gruelling yearlong training at the ABC Academy, Z, following in the footsteps of my father, I joined the ABC, which provides ICT solutions to the X Army.

On October 20XX, I was deployed in the conflict-ridden KL. I led specialist teams of 25+ personnel, maintaining communication links in extremely hostile conditions, and established two communication towers at 12,500+ ft leading two diverse teams of 15-20 people each, which provided communication to 1,500+ military personnel at each site. After four years on October 20XX, I was sent to an elite strike formation of the X Army where I managed administrative and disciplinary aspects of 1,100+ personnel. During planned operational deployments, I managed the Network Operations Centre ensuring information security of communication links. With a profile aligned with strike formations, I was then sent as a communication specialist to the first Mountain ABC of the X Army where I have been serving from January 20XX to date. My core competency in the field of telecommunication and information/ cyber security has made me appreciate the disruptive capabilities of the combination of these technologies.

At this juncture, after 10 years of military service, I seek to leap into the business world, plug my skill gaps and develop my business acumen to augment the transferable military skills I have gained along the way. I am positive that London Business School is an ideal avenue for me to achieve my future career goals.

Post MBA, I want to transition into the information/ cyber security vertical of a leading consulting firm like XYZ & Co. The line dividing the real and virtual world will soon disappear with the advent of AI and niche tech like Brain–brain-computer interface. Information security, thus, takes precedence as the corruption of data could turn a cyborg into a bionic zombie. My long-term goal is to leverage the business skills accrued at London Business School and start an information security firm in X, providing solutions to enterprises and agencies to better protect their critical infrastructure and provide digital education and training to the masses. The program will further provide me an avenue to interact with a diverse international cohort, which will help me gain valuable cultural insights, broaden my horizons, and build a global network.

At London Business School, I am excited to learn the business management fundamentals through classes in Data Analytics, Accounting, and Operations. With my 10-year work experience in the ICT domain, I am looking forward to contributing to the Tech & Media Club. Lastly, as a veteran, I wish to significantly contribute to the Military in Business Club.

ESSAY 2

Is there any other information you believe the Admissions Committee should know about you and your application to London Business School? (500 words, max)

After coming to my senses inside a crushed car in a canal we had landed in after turning turtle thrice, the first thought was for my fellow passengers. I was leading a convoy that was en route for an operational communication duty in an active conflict zone. Unmindful of my own injuries, after ensuring that the other occupants were not seriously injured, I deployed the remaining uninjured manpower around the site as the presence of militants couldn’t be ruled out. Recovery effort reached us two hours later and I was able to get the team back to safety. A year later, while evacuating an injured soldier in the dead of the night, the truck in which I was travelling started sliding towards a 150 ft gorge slipping on the stream which had turned into ice in -10°C temperature. I stopped the convoy, dug up the ice and used stones and mud to retrieve the vehicle before getting the individual to the hospital before daybreak. These experiences taught me that although planning is essential, one has to be prepared for the worst. I also learnt the importance of communicating with my team, flexibility in the face of adversity and mutual trust. Care and concern for one’s fellow brothers and sisters in arms is something that becomes naturally ingrained into the leadership style of a military officer.

Learning from my parents who partake in outreach programs organized by our parish, I too have contributed in my own little way at each military base where I was deployed. In my first unit, under Operation XYZ, while deployed in the KL, I was responsible for managing the medical care for the populace residing in the nearby villages (arranging hospital visits and provisioning of medicines), and infrastructure development in the school-run by the military formation for the children. In my second tenure, I assisted the local health infrastructure by building a 200-bed makeshift hospital for taking care of COVID-19-positive military personnel in the first wave. In my present duty station, as the officer in charge, I am responsible for organizing outreach programs for NGOs working for underprivileged children and the elderly in the vicinity of the military base.

Serving in the army was a lifelong dream for me. My primary reason for transitioning from military to corporate is that my wife, who works with an automotive company creating algorithms for self-driving cars, will not be able to join me in my tough deployments without it hampering her work. Thus, giving due diligence to my family, I took the most difficult decision of hanging up my boots. After speaking with veterans who had already made the transition, I decided to pursue an MBA soon after my service prior to joining the workforce.

Lastly, regarding my application, I have left the ‘work mobile/cell phone’ and ‘work e-mail address’ blank. Our official numbers are extensions available only to military personnel and similarly, the email service is accessible only on the Army Intranet and not over the internet.

ESSAY 3

Tell us about your responsibilities. Describe your day-to-day role, details of any clients you work with/for, the level/title of the person you report to, the size of the budget for which you are directly responsible and the number of people in your team. (400 words max)*

I currently have a techno-managerial profile in a dual role.In the static military base, I worked alongside nine other officers together managing 800+ men; all the officers reported to the X Officer . As a company commander (Major), I am responsible for the health, welfare, training, discipline, and professional development of 150+ employees and the well-being of their families. As the Network Administrator, I manage a specialist team of 20 personnel responsible for maintaining the data network of the military base which includes 500+ end-points and 20+ servers, and I am also responsible for briefing my three-up and four-up superior (Major General and Lieutenant General respectively) on our cyber security posture, IT infrastructure upgradations and its associated functioning. We have executed five Army Headquarters level projects down to the endpoints in order to improve the overall cyber security posture. Among the projects were centralised policy implementation on endpoints, enterprise antivirus solutions for endpoint security, patch management, centralised event management, and a new age centralised messaging solution. The strategic satellite resources of our formation are also administered by my company, which provides voice, data, and video conferencing facilities.

During operational deployments, our company maintains the operational efficiency of specialist communication equipment worth $1.8+ Million and 25+ specialist vehicles. Between 20XX-20XX, we have undertaken three such operational deployments at altitudes of 10,000+ ft successfully. During these deployments, which were challenging as the induction into these altitudes entails traversing distances of 1,200+ km, we would first establish radio communication links while other laterals established communication on optical fibers. The information security aspects starting from these links to the end point terminal are also ensured by my company for 200+ end points along with the configuration and maintenance of 10+ servers. Satellite communication in the operational area is also established by my company. Furthermore, on November 20XX, I was chosen by over 30 of my peers to accompany my two-up superior (Brigadier) on a reconnaissance mission to these operational areas as his staff officer.

Lastly, an additional responsibility is to organize outreach programs for the NGOs operating for the destitute children and elderly in the vicinity of the military base.

ESSAY 4

Reason for taking on this role?

With seven years of military service and a profile deeply aligned with the elite strike corps, I was selected as a communication specialist for a nascent mountain strike corps of the X Army.

ESSAY 5

Tell us about your main interests and activities in your free time. (300 words max)*

I led the football team in school at regional championships and participated in the university championships in college. In the Army, I led the unit football team in military base championships inculcating tenets of leadership, communication, and discipline. Joining the London Business School Football Club will be the right step towards channeling my energies.

I go for daily runs of 5km. Additionally, I enjoy a lap around the swimming pool wherever possible as it is difficult in my operational deployments. Persistent effort over time is my style of maintaining my physical fitness. London Business School Running and Swimming Club will support me in further maintaining myself during the grueling schedule of the MBA program.

I am an avid reader as it rejuvenates my cognitive faculties. Although I come from a non-English speaking family, I proactively made efforts to have authority over language. I enjoy classic fictional works and have recently forayed into the non-fictional genre diving into the early modern and modern era of X history.

Along with a keen interest in various categories of music, I enjoy playing guitar, which provides a much-needed respite after a hard day’s work and is a perfect accompaniment to the glass of whiskey and the offkey singing with my brothers in arms. I am a self-taught guitarist and am fascinated by the London Business School Music Club and would like to further hone my amateur skills.

As an integral part of my duties in the military base, I organize outreach programs for NGOs working for underprivileged children and the elderly in the vicinity of the military base. In December 20XX, I organized a donation drive throughout the military base followed by a donation of the collected essentials and clothes and providing one complete day’s meal for the residents of Missionaries of Charity, ABC.

ESSAY 6

How did you first hear about London Business School? (Max 200 characters)

The first time I heard of LBS was during the research I conducted on various options for my schools and the next instance was during my interaction with Col XYZ (Sloan Fellow 20xx)

ESSAY 7

If you know any London Business School Alumni or Students, please give their names, graduating class and tell us how you know them. (300 words max)*

When I began the preparation for GMAT last year, my peers told me about an officer who was on a similar journey as me, albeit with a decade-long gap between us. During my first meeting, Colonel XYZ (Sloan Fellow 20XX), who was stationed at the same military base as me, guided me in the very initial phases of my preparation giving valuable insights into salient aspects to be kept in mind while preparing for the GMAT. Colonel Dullat subsequently ended up joining the Sloan Fellows program and gave me a unique perspective on life at London Business School.

I was further able to connect with Col Arjun Pratap Singh Chabba (Sloan Fellow 20XX) and Col ABC (Sloan Fellow 20XX) who gave further recommendations and suggestions on how to better prepare myself for the impending transition I am about to undergo.

Conclusion

Crafting compelling LBS MBA essays requires careful thought, planning, and a deep understanding of the school’s values. By following these tips and showcasing your unique qualities, you can increase your chances of securing a place at this prestigious institution. Remember, the goal is to create a narrative that highlights your potential to contribute meaningfully to the LBS community.