Prospective MBA Student: Interview with Adam Davies

Adam Davies talks us through the labyrinth of decisions he had to make when deciding on the right business school, and the reasons for wanting an MBA. 

So I am off to London Business School in August. This wasn’t the easiest of choices. I was also offered places at Oxford University and Henley Management College. Plus the decision was made harder by the fact that, unlike for Oxford and Henley, I didn’t apply for the MBA at LBS, but rather their “Sloan Fellowship” program; a kind of MBA for old fogies (or, as they put it, “senior managers”) like me.

I am 38 years old, an ex-“film lawyer”, and have more recently become a self-taught film finance consultant and author on the sector.

Why go to Business School?

I felt I had taken my current career about as far as it would go. I had run the legal departments of several listed companies in my industry and, literally, written the book on the sector. Other than at the film “studios” in Los Angeles, there weren’t many legal departments bigger than mine, and in any event I was looking for a new set of challenges. I am intrigued by what makes a successful business, and feel I want to move into something more large-scale managerial, strategic, or entrepreneurial. And perhaps away from film altogether.

I was discussing all this with a friend from QS Network and TopMBA, and he suggested coming down to the QS World MBA Tour in London to get a feel for whether this might be the right time to make the move.

How did you start the ball rolling?

I wasn’t confident at first, being conscious that I was over the typical age of applicants, and from a legal rather than commercial or financial background. The London Fair started with a panel discussion which answered a few simple questions right from the word go. After listening to executives from a few schools discuss student collaboration versus competition, one-year versus two-year programs, wasted unclaimed scholarship money and studying abroad, I decided to focus on one-year courses at UK schools, or at foreign ones where there seemed to be a high chance of getting some form of financial aid.

I wandered round the large exhibition hall, approaching stands of business schools that I had heard of. Surprisingly there were quite a few, and on the whole the admissions people were a friendly, welcoming bunch. One or two were keen on asking about my background in detail, and that put me more at ease.

The most important thing I took away from the Fair was encouragement. I started to research rankings, read brochures, check the notes I’d made on business cards, and contact anyone I know who had done an MBA before.

By this stage, Cambridge (Judge Business School) was the clear front-runner. They seemed to like me, I liked them, the rankings couldn’t say anything bad about the place, and it was only an hour away from where I live. Their open day had been great, and they didn’t even charge a fee to apply! So I shot off a rushed application form in time for their next approaching application deadline, and quickly turned my attention to the dreaded GMAT.

How did you choose which schools to apply to?

Boosted by a pretty decent GMAT score, I decided to apply to more schools. I visited a few other schools, telephoned admissions departments around the world, and had another long look at websites and rankings. In particular, the personalized rankings at TopMBA.com/scorecard, which are interactive, helped me to order the schools in relation to my own personal preferences.

My personal feeling was that the US programs were too long at two years and too internally competitive for me, and some European schools - clearly ignorant of the UK’s age discrimination laws - said that I was simply too old. Ultimately, following some insightful personal meetings with yet more schools at QS Network’s One-to-One event in London, I created a shortlist of 3 schools - Oxford (Said), Henley and London - and a larger fall-back list of 2nd and 3rd choice destinations. I would only apply to three at a time because the admissions fees alone were, in my view, extortionate.

I looked carefully at the essays, spending time trying to work out where I had succeeded or failed in a team, how I’d like to be remembered, what my influences were in life and work, why I took and left the jobs I’d had, and why I am really wanting to go to business school at this stage in my life.

How did you decide which to accept?

Henley was the first to react with an offer. It’s a highly respected school with a great demographic in terms of age and origin of student, relatively small classes (hence falling under the radar of some rankings), a proactive and well-informed careers team, and a beautiful setting. My main problem was that they wanted me to start in January - which was only three weeks away - and I simply couldn’t get organised or raise the money in time.

Two very nervous months later, and Oxford (Saïd Business School) came back with their offer. Back in the late 80s, neither Oxford nor Cambridge had taught the subjects I took at undergraduate level, so I had never before had the opportunity to apply to either of the UK’s so-called elite universities. The “Oxford Experience” is incredibly compelling, and the small city is simply beautiful. The admissions team and facilities were a delight and I am sure I would have had a fantastic year if I had chosen to study there. The fact that fellow students would all be studying different disciplines was also particularly attractive, not to mention the collegiate system, nightlife and student societies. The program was also not as expensive as London Business School, who waited another agonising month before sending me their offer.

This was now really decision time, and possibly one of the most difficult of my life. As much as Oxford would have been an amazing experience, something I would definitely never forget or regret, I had to remember that I was doing this as a means to an end, and not for just the year off. It was a lifetime choice, and one that had to maximise my chances of changing career and enhancing my employability for years to come. LBS’ brand within the business community was probably as prestigious as Oxford’s in the wider world.

Importantly, LBS’ Sloan students were on average 8 years older than Oxford’s MBAs, and its careers team seemed familiar and equipped to deal with older graduates looking for work on completion of the program. Oxford boasted a 92% employment rate within 3 months of graduation. However, there was a very real possibility that I, as perhaps a bit of an outsider, would fall into the other 8%, which would be a high price to pay for the dinner-party value of being able to say “I studied at Oxford”. Also, the opportunity to work with and learn from contemporary peers, with an average of 16 years’ business and management experience, had a big hand in tipping the balance towards the Sloan.
I guess I’ll never know if I’ve made the right or wrong decision, but as Thierry Henry said when asked about his move from Arsenal to Barcelona, “How could I regret it? I thought about it a lot before making the decision”.