Turkish Lawyer Turned Entrepreneur gives Insider Insights on the London Business School MBA

Sıla grew up in Turkey, where she studied law and went on to work in various roles spanning law, manufacturing tech, and entrepreneurship. This untraditional background worked in her favour when it came to MBA admissions, and she is currently an MBA candidate at London Business School. 

We sat down with Sıla to discuss her MBA experience, what makes an applicant stand out to LBS, and what advice she would give to other LBS hopefuls. 

Watch the full interview here:

What is the LBS MBA experience like?

Sıla: The first day at LBS, they told us it's going to be like an emotional rollercoaster, so be prepared for it. They were so right!

LBS is an intense school in terms of social events and classes, but I mean that positively. I’m having the best time of my life because the classes are incredible and the professors are so knowledgeable.

I’m taking a tailored core class, which refers to classes that are tailored to specializations you want to move to, like strategy or entrepreneurship. One particular class called Digital Strategy is my favourite; it introduces new frameworks and techniques to better understand new trends like multi-sided platforms, how to grow them, and what's the network effect around those platforms. And it has really introduced me to this new way of thinking about business. The professor who teaches it, Keyvan Vakili, is also incredible. The class changed my mindset about startups, especially as someone who has a background in entrepreneurship and plans on returning to it post-MBA. I’ll come back to his teachings. 

As for clubs, there are a lot of incredible clubs in LBS. We have a trek where students come together, either with a club or by themselves and we travel to a certain country to understand its culture. For example, we’re going for a Champagne trek with the Wine and Spirits club in the next couple of weeks. That’s one of my favourite clubs. 

At the same time, I'm in the Student Association, where I work as Chief of Staff and act as the bridge between the students and the school. That’s probably one of the best teams I’ve ever worked with. I’m going to work with the Student Association next year too; I loved working there so much!

What do you NOT like about the LBS MBA?

Sıla: That's a very good question. And to be honest, I have to nitpick to actually find something negative.

I’d probably say that I never expected to feel so much FOMO! There are a lot of opportunities you can tap into at LBS. But having so many choices of events and workshops can get overwhelming. Navigating that was harder than I thought.

One advice I got from an MBA '25 graduate was to understand that it's going to be chaotic and just ride with it. With that mindset, I’m trying to go through it day-by-day and being present and in the moment. It requires a lot of prioritising. You have to say no to some things and focus on specific clubs or events that are relevant to your goals. When you figure that out, the journey gets better. 

Sam: I think you’re going to miss that! Right now, it may feel overwhelming, like there’s so much to do. After my classmates and I graduated from my MBA and went back into the grind, we missed having a group of only 5-10 friends, not 300. It’s something you'll look back on and think – how was I ever so sociable? 

Is post-MBA recruitment difficult right now? 

Sıla: The job market has definitely been one of our conversation points with the classmates recently, especially a couple of months ago in the consulting recruiting season.

Naturally, some people are anxious about the job market because it's uncertain at the moment, especially with tech or media and entertainment, which I’m looking into. You can see some slowing down on hiring, but it’s not impossible. It doesn’t worry us too much. 

We’ve seen that there are actually a lot of ways to find a job or internship.You have to network a lot. Being part of clubs and introducing yourself to people in your target sector helps significantly. 

I also don’t think London has been that affected by the hiring slowdown. People also try to get jobs overseas. It’s harder, but not impossible. 

Sam: Interesting.

So, two points I take away from that is:

• The job market in the UK perhaps isn't going through the same cycle as the job market in the United States.

• You’ve got to go out of your way to find recruiters. Maybe structured programs at big companies are dialing back a bit, but the bulk of the internship opportunities and recruitment opportunities come from networking anyway.

→ If you’re unsure about whether to apply to MBA programs, check out our popular blog “Is an MBA worth it in 2025?”

How stressful was moving to London?

Sıla: For context, I am a Round 3 applicant. I was relatively late in the process. I got my offer around late May – beginning of June, and school starts around mid-August. So I had very little time to actually go through my process of moving in. 

That affected me a lot. It was stressful to move to a new city. LBS tries to make it as easy as possible, however. As soon as you get the offer, they invite you to a platform where you can find all the information about different neighborhoods in London. If you're coming from another country, you don't know where to live, so the platform really helps you understand different options, where students typically stay, what your budget should be, and even an Excel sheet of potential flatmates, which is where I found my current flatmates! 

The main problem is London real estate. We spent approximately three weeks to actually find an apartment. It was stressful, but it is what it is. 

So if you are a Round 1 or Round 2 applicant, be fast and get a place soon. But if you’re Round 3, don’t worry too much. It’s manageable. A few friends got sublets or stayed in Airbnbs for 1-2 months. After August, the market stabilized a bit and they got better deals on houses. 

Tell us about the LBS MBA application process.

Sıla: LBS was actually the last school I applied to. Initially, it wasn’t even in my target school list because other people told me that my profile didn’t fit LBS, or that it would be hard for me to get in due to my low GPA.  

But the application process was fun for me. It became this game of “okay, I see a lot of good qualities in myself, how do I present this to the school?” 

Of course, Sam helped a lot in terms of reflecting on how to narrate my own story. LBS ask a lot of essay questions, so that really helped. They don’t do it to make the application hard, but to get to know you really well. To this day, I still see my recruiting contact who knows me very well. Every person they select comes from a niche, unique background, and there’s incredible diversity – and they could only have that by actually understanding you.

So creating your stories, reflecting back a lot, and narrating that in a way that actually shows who you truly are is so challenging at first, but when you get to the core of who you are and why you’re pursuing an MBA, it becomes easier. 

Sam: That was what we really focused on, wasn't it?

Looking back at your profile, I think the key factor that applies to many people watching this interview is the breadth of experience, like you had. There were three or four different Sılas that could apply to business school. And so you were almost overwhelmed with thinking about which one of your different profiles you could apply with. Would it be with the family business profile? Or the tech profile? 

That’s what made it stressful for you. And I suspect it was also one of the reasons why consultants before me turned you away from the LBSs of the world.

But actually, I think the experience of going through everything you’re involved in and really boiling down your application narrative to what you really care about was one of the big steps  forward in your process.

Sıla: Definitely. Getting into those different versions of me was, in my view, super generalist where I couldn’t actually pinpoint to a strong skill or motivation. But understanding what I want to focus on after my MBA and narrowing down my focus was one of the main milestones. I can still refer back to those reflections, and know that I felt good about specific priorities, for example, the entrepreneurial angle. I mentioned that I wanted to build another business in 10 years, that still applies.

Sam: To anybody watching, what we're talking about here is building a career narrative.

When you're applying to MBA programs, it's important that you identify an experience that you've been involved with, an impact you want to have, and a goal after the MBA that allows you to make that impact. But if you've got lots of different interests, which ones do you focus on?

It's a really important part of the process to narrow that down and create that arc, which worked exceptionally well for Sila. 

Jasmin

Harsh

Vibhav

Piyush

Chinenye

Sejal

Elie

What do LBS students have in common that the school is attracted to?

Sıla: LBS says that they are a very diverse school. I thought that was a cliche thing that every MBA school tells applicants. But when I got into LBS and started studying here, that was when I understood what LBS meant! 

At first, I thought there would be a lot of students from PE, VC, and consulting, given where LBS is located. But many of my friends come from very different backgrounds. They have so many diverse skills and I think I fit in that diversity very well as a Turkish woman. I had experience in tech startups, I did manufacturing with my family business, and my undergraduate degree was in law.

And what I focused on in my application narrative was knowing how to manage a supply chain and a manufacturing line, and combining that with entrepreneurship – which is where I want to go – which ties perfectly together. At the same time, it's such a different story that you can't find in other applicants.

I think that was the main reason why they selected me. I could contribute to the classroom diversity with all the different stories I had from working in various sectors. That’s a common trait I share with my friends and professors here as well. 

With all the different nationalities in the class, the clubs, and student interests, I realised there was a whole different world outside of Turkey, and LBS provided that experience for me. They really mean what they say about diversity. 

Sam: In my experience, the people that do well at LBS have had international experience and exposure, and that’s what they bring to the programme. It sounds like AdCom really value that.

Is it true that there’s drama among MBA students?

Sam: Without naming names, can you give me an idea of the kind of drama that MBA cohorts generate so that people understand that it's not all classroom stuff?

Sıla: I’m going to be really honest. If you put 400 diverse, extroverted people with good EQ and high IQ in one room, there’s going to be some drama. 

But it’s primarily the ones with big personalities. We do a lot of group projects, where you're working with a lot of people that are very different from you. When there are big personalities in those groups (which could apply to workplaces as well), emotions are high, especially when it comes to the intense recruiting season. 

Relationships evolve, friendships change. There’s a lot of FOMO around things. Personally, I look at it as being a very intense experience where people act in different ways while trying to find themselves. I try to approach them with grace and understanding, which helps a lot. 

Sam:  Let me be less diplomatic. I’ve seen people drop out of the program after fights, relationships breaking up – that stuff is quite classic. Arguably, it’s not that different to the sort of drama you would see perhaps in a work environment as well. 

But at the end, at graduation, everyone's going to hug and make up! 

What advice would you give yourself before applying to MBA programs?

Sıla: I’d tell myself not to stress myself out so much!

I’m grateful to be at LBS and proud of all the work I put into my applications. But at the same time, I put myself through a lot of stress during this journey while it could have been a lot more enjoyable.  

Having a strong support system and surrounding yourself with the right people – from your friends to your family to your consultant – through your MBA application journey is so important.

When I first started, not many people around me knew much about an MBA. I had to justify why I was applying to MBA or even to LBS. But when I met with people in the MBA community, like those who had already applied and others who were willing to understand what it takes, it made the process much easier than trying to tackle it alone. 

Sam: For most people, their parents or immediate family haven’t done an MBA, and they might be resistant to the idea. How would you convince someone that an MBA is worthwhile?

Sıla: To be honest, I think the first approach should not be to convince them! If I know why this is important for me and I can convince myself of the value of an MBA, it doesn’t matter what other people think. 

But if I had to do it, I’d convince them with research. I would try to help them understand what the program offers in terms of learning new skills and experiencing new cultures. I’d pitch the workshops, speakers, lectures, and specific projects we do. Right now, I’m learning some key technical skills, working with real clients, and will probably work on projects across the world. I could go to Buenos Aires to learn about crisis management! It’s incredible to learn so many things in a short amount of time. 

Sam: Pretty good advice! Thank you so much for sharing this little window into the LBS world. We’re seeing an increase in interest in LBS and other European schools in general. For anyone interested in European business schools like LBS, INSEAD, Oxford, Cambridge, and more, Sıla’s a great example of the work we do. 

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