Meet The London Business School MBA Class of 2017

Farai Mwamuka 

London Business School

Hometown: Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Undergraduate School and Major: Claflin University, Finance Major

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

State House / Grand Hustle Records: Artist Manager

McKinsey & Co.: Business Analyst

Bushveld Minerals: Executive Assistant to the CEO

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE?

1) Do a sample / mock test early.

2) While studying is good, make sure to practice as many questions as possible.

3) Assess whether your strength is verbal or quants, and make sure you do as well as possible on those sections.

Based on your own selection process, what advice do you have for applicants who are trying to draw up a list of target schools to which to apply? Think carefully about what you wish to get out of an MBA programme, career-wise and personally. Understand clearly what different schools offer with regards to each of these areas. Try as much as possible not to include rankings in school choice. Use a process of elimination to whittle your list down to what you believe is a realistic number of schools that fit your criteria.

What advice do you have for applicants in actually applying to a school, writing essays, doing admission interviews, and getting recommenders to write letters on your behalf?

Do thorough research on each school (ie. scour websites, read articles, and speak to alumni and current students) and start essays early in the process! It is key to know yourself, what you want out of studying for an MBA, and to have an idea of what you may want to do post-MBA. Your post-MBA goals really need to be realistic based on your background experience and capabilities. If possible, ask at least two or three relevant people to review all of your essays. Also, reach out to alumni and current students for interview practice. For recommendation letters, decide what about yourself you would like your recommenders to cover – this should guide your choices of recommender.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? The school is highly ranked in finance and my post-MBA goals are to transition into finance. Also, I was looking for a highly international programme where I could interact with people from many different cultures as I believe this is a good way to expand my perspective and be equipped for the rapid economic and sociocultural globalization that is currently underway. Finally, I had heard rave reviews about the quality of the faculty and class discussions, and I wanted to make sure that I got the best education and experience possible.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? I would like to continue to deepen my understanding of business across different sectors and industries, and to develop my business leadership skills, especially focusing on soft skills. I would also like to grow my network of friends and associates across the world, for both personal and professional reasons. Finally, I would like to crystallize my post-MBA goals during the programme and be fully prepared (through coursework, interview prep and networking) to transition into that particular career.