Meet The London Business School MBA Class of 2017

Nicholas Deakin

Nicholas Deakin 

London Business School 

Hometown: Staffordshire, United Kingdom

Undergraduate School and Major:

Bristol University (UK) – Medicine and Surgery

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

Academic Foundation Doctor – Barts Health NHS Trust

Research Fellow – ICHOM, Harvard Business School

Education Inspector – General Medical Council

External Consultant – McKinsey and Company

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE?  First, the GMAT/GRE is not the be-all and end-all. It’s an important part of the screening process but you shouldn’t see it in isolation from the rest of your application. In terms of specifics, seeing it as one piece of a bigger jigsaw is one way to reduce stress on test day. Prepare lots and remember that it’s a global test – so focus more on your weaknesses than your strengths.

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? Finding the right school, and succeeding in the application process, is all about around fit – and this is a two-way assessment. You need to be sure that in your interactions with staff and students from the school that you can see yourself becoming a part of the community. If you can do this – and begin to think about what you might bring to the school, then admissions tutors are more likely to want you. 

There’s also the research aspect of the decision-making process. Do the school’s graduates go on to work in the kind of areas that you want to work in? Does the school embrace people like you? And does the school have strong research scores or faculty in the areas that interest you? Careers destination reports, league tables, press cuttings, and applicant resources will help you evaluate this.

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? The length of the question implies that you should see this as a marathon rather than a sprint. Better to take some time framing and re-framing your story, sharing it with your mentors, discussing it with admissions staff and current students, and then finalizing it for your application. Learn as much as you can about the process and screening criteria from official sources, applicant portals online, and other students.Invest some time nurturing mentors who are excited about the prospect of you attending the MBA programme and make sure you have a fair idea about what the interview involves before you attend.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? London Business School is a truly outstanding school in what I believe to be the best-connected and most diverse city in the world. Aside from the rankings – which speak for themselves and recently ranked London Business School business and management research as top in the world – I knew that the big corporate companies would be on-campus and interested in the London Business School brand going forwards. More than this though, and where London Business School really stood out from other schools to me, was the fantastic personal interaction that I had with everyone – staff or student – who I reached out to at the school. All were genuine, passionate about the school and professionally impressive. This continued right to my interview, which was with an alumnus in the pharma industry, and the London Business School culture seemed like the perfect fit for me.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? Academically, I want to add an understanding of general management and finance principles to the problem-solving, team-working and communication skills that I bring from practicing as a doctor in the UK National Health Service.

More broadly than this though, I want to move towards a career where I can have an impact on a macro level – shaping strategy, guiding investment and pushing forward advances in research and technology for patients and society at large. I can’t wait to meet and network with my internationally and professionally diverse class, help organize EurOUT – Europe’s largest LGBT conference for graduate business students – and advocate for those from under-represented backgrounds at business school.

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