London Business School MBA Essays & Analysis 2024-2025

The following essay topic analysis examines London Business School (LBS) MBA admissions essays for the 2024-2025 admissions season. You can also review essay topic analyses for other leading MBA programs as well as general Essay Tips to further aid you in developing your admissions essays.

LBS Essay Topic Analysis 2024-2025

Let’s take a closer look at each of this year’s LBS MBA essays.

Required Essay 1

What are your post-MBA goals and how will your prior experience and the London Business School programme contribute towards these? (500 words)
This is a fairly standard career goals/why MBA essay, asking applicants to specify their post-MBA plans and to discuss the ways their work experience to date prepared them, as well as the ways they see an MBA from LBS fitting into this picture. Given the amount of ground that needs to be covered in this response, highlighting one or two major accomplishments should be appropriate, but it will be important to be prudent with the details. As this is the only required essay for LBS, it will be crucial to include some sense of impact, possibly as part of a discussion of how one’s work to date has prepared him or her for elements of the target post-MBA position.

Effective essays will provide all of the requested information in a straightforward manner, naming a job they wish to hold immediately after an MBA and perhaps alluding to the larger plan in which this position is a first step. Admissions Director David Simpson has commented that the adcom looks for applicants who have taken the time to learn about the program and who are genuinely excited about programmatic offerings that are unique to LBS, as well as the school’s highly diverse student community (in terms of nationality as well as professional background), and its location in a global financial capital. Applicants should therefore aim to demonstrate a high degree of thoughtfulness in discussing the ways their previous experience have provided skills and knowledge that will transfer to this new role and, of course, detailing specific elements of the LBS MBA program that will facilitate this transition.

As for the allocation of space in this 500-word response, we recommend providing a thorough but direct treatment of one’s goals, spending 100-200 words on this topic. We then recommend moving through one’s past work experience and past preparation fairly quickly (in another 100 or so words) in order to reserve ample space for a detailed discussion of the appeal of the LBS MBA. Applicants should aim to devote at least 200 words of their essay to the ways an LBS MBA would uniquely prepare them for future success. Rather than writing in generalities about the program, diving right into specific courses and clubs of interest will enable applicants to get as much mileage as possible out of their comments. Going beyond the program’s website and taking the time to learn about the program via information sessions or conversations with students and alumni will pay dividends here.

Required Essay 2

What makes you unique? (200 words)
Making its debut in the LBS application, MBA applicants are invited to share something unique about themselves. Though there are myriad potential items to highlight here, you should consider the balance of subjects you have covered in your application forms, résumé, and the main essay and choose information that provides new insight into your overall candidacy. The first essay, recommendation letter, and résumé will give the adcom a very clear picture of your past professional experiences and future goals. As such, this short-form prompt is designed to reveal something truly interesting about you. In terms of where you should go with this, it could make sense to highlight a unique hobby or passion (like your obsession with summiting the tallest peaks on each continent), a facet of your background (like being the first in your family to attend college), or some talent (your role as lead clarinet in your town’s classical orchestra), etc.

Optional Essay

Is there any other information you believe the Admissions Committee should know about you and your application to London Business School? (500 words)
LBS has asked these same two essay questions for several admissions cycles. When LBS first released these essays, we caught up with Admissions Director David Simpson about the noticeable reduction in topics. Simpson said, “Along with all the questions we ask in the application form, we believe that the [single required] essay gives us the information we need to make our initial admissions decision.” Hence, applicants should weigh the information they are tempted to share in the optional essay in line with the school’s view that the one required essay should be sufficient.

As applicants are provided fields in the online application to address any academic weaknesses, e.g. academic probation, class withdrawal, etc., this place may be used to address other weaknesses in their applications or anomalies in the professional backgrounds that may raise questions for the admissions committee. While it may also be possible to share more general information about accomplishments or interests, applicants should pay attention to the “should” signifier in the question–a more closed wording than that of schools asking if there’s anything the applicant “would like” the adcom to know. Any information shared here should therefore be of material importance to one’s candidacy (as opposed to details falling in the “nice but not necessary to know” category).

Re-applicant Only Essay

How have you strengthened your candidacy since you last applied? Please comment on how you have grown personally and professionally. (300 words)
The framing of this LBS MBA essay question suggests that the adcom is more interested in proactive steps toward material improvement of your candidacy. You should therefore focus on the specific ways you’ve worked to strengthen your candidacy over the past year (e.g. assuming more responsibility at work, attending conferences in line with your professional goals, retaking the GMAT, or bolstering community involvement), and the reasons that you believe you’re a better applicant to LBS this time around.

Clear Admit Resources

Thanks for reading our analysis of this year’s London Business School MBA essay topics. As you work on your LBS MBA essays and application, we encourage you to consider all of Clear Admit’s LBS offerings:

• London Business School on the Clear Admit website: up-to-date advice and admissions information
• Clear Admit LiveWire: admissions updates submitted in real time by applicants to London Business School
• Clear Admit DecisionWire: school selections in real-time by admits to London Business School