London Business School

The London Business School MBA: What You Need To Know

Established in 1964, the London Business School MBA is a product of the city it is based in; a thriving capital, cosmopolitan and full of opportunities. Their main campus is situated in the Marylebone neighborhood, close to Regent’s Park, and this is a program packed with everything an MBA could want – a global community, projects designed to help students master new skills, and opportunities everywhere you look.

The LBS MBA welcomed 487 MBAs in the Class of 2025, for a total of 993 across both years. The two-year program is very diverse and in order to account for this, LBS takes pride in considering themselves the world’s most flexible MBA. Recognizing that students are on different timelines and have varying needs, LBS offers the option to complete the MBA in 15, 18 or 21 month-formats.

The program has eight “fundamentals” courses with the option of a “tailored core” of courses, where students can take advantage of a variety of concentrations; the newest being Sustainability, where students take a series of courses that teach them corporate sustainability strategies, sustainability leadership, ESG investing, sustainability consulting and international development.

As well as core business courses, the program offers skills courses such as programming, coding and digital courses in finance, accounting and quantitative methods to give a more blended experience. Global Business Perspectives courses are designed to raise cultural awareness and help students learn the subtleties of doing business in different regions. They also partake in the London CAP – a unique 10-week project addressing a business challenge in a real-world context.

In their second year, students can customize their MBA to fit their interests and goals with over 100 electives. Their Digital for Impact elective is a huge hit – student teams work with micro entrepreneurs from countries like Rwanda and Uganda across many sectors including tourism, finance, retail, handicrafts, e-commerce, tech, coffee, and real estate, applying what they learn in the classroom to tackle a challenge.

All students are a part of the Global Experience to cities such as Johannesburg, Yangon in Myanmar, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, and Lima. Most students also take the opportunity to complete a summer internship, either in London or overseas.

As for extracurriculars, many students enjoy participating in conferences, speaker series, and trips and treks. Many also join student-led clubs like their Black in Business (BiB), Women in Business (WiB), Out in Business (OiB) and First, Lower and Intermediate club.

The school has an excellent rapport with recruiters. A solid 90% of their 2023 MBA graduates accepted an offer of employment within three months of graduating, highlighting the value top recruiters place on the knowledge and skills students gain on the program.

When asked what MBAs have said their most memorable experience of the program was,
 MBA Program Director Helen Foley tells P&Q. “We talk a lot about diversity at LBS, and what I love most about this is seeing the benefits of our diverse classes in action,” she says.

“In Year 1, students are allocated to study groups of 5 or 6 students – and those students will be as different from one another as possible, with different nationalities, cultures, languages, educational backgrounds and work experience. Our MBA is a safe space for our study groups to not only learn how to work with people from diverse backgrounds, but to realize and experience the value this can bring in innovation, productivity and growth – both personal and professional.”