Well... there goes my LBS dream.
I just attended one of LBS's info sessions and learned I would be ineligible to apply for the 2025 intake. I graduated in the year 2022 with a degree in Computer Science and Engineering from a shitty state university in a third-world country. However, I secured a job in the Operations division of a FAANG and had to quit due to some serious personal issues. Even though I started looking for jobs after quitting, I wasn't able to find any. On the bright side, I was able to take the GRE during this jobless period (scored 324). Again, I was too late for the 2024 R1 intake for LBS MiM/MFA. Right now, the future seems bleak and hopeless. I wanted to do a Masters to BREAK into Investment Banking/Consulting for almost all of my undergrad. I worked hard to get a high GPA (9.5+/10 CGPA), to land my first job, and to struggle in between. And now, I feel like my dreams are getting crumbled over and over again.
Should I wait to do an MBA? Because even if I did, I would only have 4 years (maximum) of work experience before my GRE validity ran out. I just don't want to take that crappy test again. And there's a high chance that my work experience (if I manage to get another job) would be IRRELVANT to Banking/Consulting. Also, I have to grind myself with a shitty pay (think $5000/year) till my application to the MBA. Are there any programs that could give me a fighting chance to get my foot in the door of Banking/Consulting? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
I'm more of a fan of MBA in this position than I am a masters. Without finance or finance adjacent (also UK masters don't recruit into consulting so much as straight from undergrad) internships in a pre-experience master, such as MIM/MFA, you really face a tough battle in recruiting and its not a golden bullet.
Yeah. The fact that I don't have any relevant work experience has been super concerning. But I'm kind of in a catch-22 situation. For the MBA, don't they care about finance experience as well? Also, I heard LBS and Oxbridge MBAs aren't so great as their Masters program.
Well you need to get work experience either way.
MBAs are more experience agnostic and are at times encouraged for career switchers.
But yes as below many other programs exist, as Redsun says, a 2yr program would be more advantageous given the ability to have an intersnhip.
Yep. I could wait it out for doing an MBA working an ultra low paying job for the next 2.5 years with absolutely no RELEVANT work experience in Consulting/Finance. But I honestly don't want to wait that long. Currently, I'm 24 and I feel like I'm too late.
Maybe it's all for the best. I think I should shoot for HEC, ESSEC, and ESCP for their MiM programs. I wasn't able to find any other 2 year programs with solid placements like these three. I think I should focus on learning French as well.
So? LBS isn't the only target school for London. In the U.K. alone you can still shoot for Oxbridge, LSE and Imperial for a realistic shot. Then there's HEC, Bocconi, HSG, RSM and so on in mainland Europe.
That is true. LSE's and Imperial's MFin falls into the dream category as well. But afaik, they're too academic and not too strong on recruiting compared to LBS. The other schools you have mentioned are pretty good. But I believe the BBs in London expect at least C2 level of French/German/Dutch/Itlaian proficiency. I'm South Asian. I don't think I can reach C2 by the time I graduate from one of the European programs. However, HEC MiF and ESSEC MiM are on my list if I'm gonna apply next time.
I am also not eligible for HSG's and RSM's business/finance masters programs since I had a non-business/finance background.
Given your lack of W.E. I would strongly recommend HEC MiM over the MiF (you can take the MiF in your second year so it changes nothing) as you have the option of taking a gap year to do internships.
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