Mr. FANG Strategy

As a first-gen, Black American candidate who went to a top-notch liberal arts college, scored a super impressive 740 on the GMAT and works for a FANG company with a promotion, you are in very good shape. Sure, that GPA could have been higher, but as a first-gen student (as I was) it shouldn’t be that consequential, particularly because of your offsetting GMAT score. I get why you want to go to London to experience a new country and culture and benefit from the experiences of a more global group of classmates. But given your background and qualifications, I do think you could get signficant scholarship money from one of the U.S. schools which tend to be far more generous with financial aid than the European options. That may not make much of a difference to you, and that is fine as well because London is a great school and you would love it there (I spent more than three years of my early career in the city with no remorse and only regret that I didn’t stay longer). If your goal is to work in finance in Europe, it’s also an excellent choice. If your goal is to return to the U.S., you might be better with a Wharton or Columbia MBA and the alumni networks they afford, particularly in the capital of finance: New York. One thing: At LBS, you need to convince them you really want to go there because they will know your chances at Wharton and Columbia are quite high. They don’t want to say yes to you, only to be turned down by another school.