The Full-Time MBA is an immersive one-year postgraduate degree that allows people passionate about management and leadership, the opportunity to devote a year to developing core business and industry-specific skills. With global and applied learning experiences, personalised careers advice and the opportunity to tailor their learning through electives and concentrations, Imperial Business School’s one-year Full-Time MBA offers a highly personalised learning experience, all set within a world-leading STEMB university. Students graduate with the knowledge, skills and perspectives to lead with confidence as they progress in their careers.

Who are the Full-Time MBA Class of 2027? 

Each year, Imperial Business School's Full-Time MBA programme welcomes a new cohort of innovators, from a broad spectrum of professional and academic backgrounds.  

The Class of 2027 brings together professionals from 25 different nationalities across five continents, with an average age of 28, six years’ work experience and 46% female students. Before joining Imperial Business School, 35% of the Full-Time MBA class worked in the banking and finance industries; 17% come from consulting and professional services; 12% have worked in consumer and retail; and the remaining 36% are from a diverse array of career trajectories, from tech and the public sector, to healthcare and energy. 

Behind these numbers are individual and unique career journeys, and the Class of 2027 is brimming with countless success stories and a wide variety of professional paths; some linear, others more complex.  

In this blog, we aim to shed light on those years of experience, finding out what makes our students tick, what motivates them each day and what ambitions they have for themselves as they embark on the next chapter of their professional development.

Please provide a brief overview of your career to date, highlighting your current position and industry sector. 

After graduating from the University of Nottingham with a First-Class MEng in Mechanical Engineering, I joined a hovercraft manufacturer and progressed from design engineer to technical project lead, running multi-million-pound programmes for international government customers. That included three months in Japan as the company's engineer on the ground during the handover of three passenger crafts. Most recently I joined a refrigeration manufacturer in London as Business and Technical Development Associate, brought in to help modernise the business. I led the prototyping phase of its first bespoke refrigeration unit, launched the company's first ecommerce site and introduced the data and analytics that gave the leadership team clear sight of margins, lead times and delivery performance for the first time. 

What factors influenced your decision to choose Imperial Business School, and what made it stand out as the right fit for you? 

I wanted a business school that takes engineering seriously, and Imperial is the clearest example of one. The Imperial Innovation Challenge invites students to collaborate with faculty members from medicine and engineering to participate in a week-long project to work with cutting-edge technologies to create business proposals. Furthermore, I am also looking forward to the Enterprise Lab, the support hub that helps students test business ideas and launch real-world startups, and I-X, Imperial’s strategic flagship Artificial Intelligence initiative. These schemes put you to work with Imperial scientists, which really excites me, and the elective list covers energy, technology and entrepreneurship in more depth than the other programmes I looked at. For an engineer moving into commercial leadership, that combination mattered more than anything else. 

What aspects of the Imperial Business School community are you most excited to be part of, and why?  

The cohort is the biggest draw, with people from dozens of countries and every kind of industry. I've spent my career in engineering businesses, so a year alongside people from finance, consulting, tech and healthcare will challenge assumptions I don't know I have. I can also bring my own experience to the classroom, offering a practical view on how products get built, priced and delivered. 

Beyond the classroom, I expect to spend a lot of time at the Enterprise Lab, partly to test whether an idea of my own is worth pursuing and partly to see how engineering-led innovation becomes commercially viable. I'm keen to join the student clubs around energy, sustainability and entrepreneurship, and to build links with the engineering departments across the wider university.  

How important was Imperial's London location in your decision to apply, and what advantages do you think the city offers MBA students? 

I already live and work in London, so I've seen how much of an advantage the location is. The city is a hub for almost everything an MBA connects you to. Within a single tube journey, you can reach the City and its investors, the head offices of the businesses I might want to work with or sell to and the policymakers shaping energy and industrial regulation. Whatever route I take after the Full-Time MBA, the people who matter to it are here. That changes what a year of study can be. Guest speakers are people you can follow up with in person, consulting projects are with companies you can visit and the events worth going to are on your doorstep. 

Please provide a brief overview of your career to date, highlighting your current position and industry sector.  

After completing my MSc in Marketing Management at ESADE in 2020, I joined EssilorLuxottica in the Milan HQ. Working in the retail marketing team, I managed end-to-end POS execution for Lens Crafters - a leading eye-care retailer in North America. There my career accelerated, moving quickly from an internship to a full-time role. In 2023 I made the switch to Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and joined AB InBev, where I have spent the past three and a half years. Here, I have had the opportunity to look after some of the most recognisable drinks brands in the world, from Corona and Budweiser, to Leffe and Beck's.

What factors influenced your decision to choose Imperial Business School, and what made it stand out as the right fit for you? 

Imperial is one of the world's leading science and technology universities, making it the ideal place to learn how to bring innovation into business. My marketing background has given me a sharp commercial sense, but I want to broaden my scope to operate at a more strategic level - understanding not just how to build a brand, but how to innovate within key business functions to engender growth: portfolio choices, market entry and resource allocation. Beyond the academic content of the Full-Time MBA, I am eager to connect and collaborate with my fellow students and professors. Being in the room with people who have an innate innovation mindset is one of the most valuable aspects of the programme.  

Which modules and projects are you most excited about on the programme, and why? 

I am really looking forward to the LEADS (Leadership, Ethics, Awareness, Diversity, Society) module. LEADS is a year-long module that asks students to analyse themselves to build leadership capabilities. More than just a professional skill, I see leadership as the art of walking into a room and being able to inspire people and drive them toward a shared objective. I deeply believe in the importance of good leadership, and it is a subject I am genuinely passionate about beyond the professional sphere. Through the LEADS module, Imperial's distinctive, structured approach to developing that capability is exactly the kind of immersive experience I have been looking for.

Please provide a brief overview of your career to date, highlighting your current position and industry sector.   

I spent the last three years as a Finance Officer in the Republic of Korea Air Force, most recently commanding a headquarters company of over 300 personnel. Day to day, that meant running training operations, managing a team of 25 instructors and handling company-level budgeting and financial compliance – with zero audit errors across my whole tenure. I was promoted to Instructor Evaluator, and I was named ‘Outstanding Instructor of the Year’ for that work. It's not the industry most people picture when they think ‘pre-MBA background,’ but it gave me a grounding in leading people under pressure, managing money responsibly and making decisions when there's no room for guesswork. 

What factors influenced your decision to choose Imperial Business School, and what made it stand out as the right fit for you? 

What stood out most was how much Imperial's reputation extends beyond the classroom into London itself. Being based in London means direct access to an alumni network that's actively working across finance, consulting and industry, not just a name on a directory – and the Careers team, with its clubs and events give me confidence that support doesn't stop once you're admitted. Coming from a military background with no corporate exposure, I was specifically looking for a business school that could bridge that gap practically: dedicated Career Consultants, employer events, industry talks and real opportunities to build a network, rather than just study theory.  

How does Imperial's STEMB positioning add value to you?  

A lot of what I did in the military was quietly scientific without me labelling it that way – designing objective criteria to evaluate instructors, running budgeting systems tight enough to survive an audit every time, rebuilding training programmes based on what actually worked rather than what we'd always done. Imperial's STEMB angle feels less like a novelty to me and more like validation that rigorous, evidence-based thinking belongs in business, not just in a lab.  

How did you find the Visa process, and do you have any tips for managing this?   

My advice would be to treat ‘as early as possible’ literally, not as a loose guideline. Don't wait for the perfect moment to have every document ready; start the process the second you're able to, because delays on the Home Office side are completely out of your control and the one thing you can control is not adding your own delay on top of it.

Please provide a brief overview of your career to date, highlighting your current position and industry sector.   

I have built my career across the luxury hospitality, travel and consumer industries, with a focus on business development, strategic partnerships and marketing. Most recently, I worked as a Business Development & Partnerships Manager at Chateau De Vere. Alongside my professional roles, I have also been selected as a Business Consultant for UN Women, where I support women-led startups as they optimise their operations and prepare to attract investment. 

Why did you decide to pursue an MBA at this stage of your career? 

After eight years of experience across Georgian and global brands, I have developed strong hands-on expertise in marketing, business development and strategic partnerships, particularly within luxury hospitality. I now plan to pivot into strategy consulting, and so I believe this is the ideal time to complement my practical experience with stronger business analytics and strategic decision-making skills. An MBA will broaden my exposure to different industries and business models, preparing me to make a successful transition into consulting. 

What aspects of the Imperial Business School community are you most excited to be part of, and why?  

I’m particularly excited to get involved in the 180 Degrees Consulting Club – the world's largest university-based consultancy providing strategic and operational advice to non-profit organisations. Furthermore, the Enterprise Lab and Women Mean Business club – the club that aims to support female students through exclusive networking events, panels and skill-developing workshops - as they connect closely with both my career goals and my personal interests. I’m also looking forward to building relationships with alumni and industry professionals, especially those working in consulting and entrepreneurship. 

How does Imperial's STEMB positioning add value to you?   

In consulting, I expect technology and data to play an increasingly important role in how companies solve problems and engender growth, so I want to be comfortable with the technological side of a business, and I think Imperial can give me that. Coming from the fast-developing Caucasus region, I have seen many businesses that have potential but lack access the technology and leadership that ensures success. In the long term, I would like to use what I learn at Imperial to help businesses in my region attract strong leaders and innovative technologies to compete with traditional business hubs such as London and New York.

Please provide a brief overview of your career to date, highlighting your current position and industry sector.   

I have worked in digital marketing consulting and financial services across a range of analytical roles in North America and Asia. Alongside this, in the year leading up to the Full-Time MBA, I also explored an entrepreneurial idea by launching an initiative in the education sector, developing a system to help professionals structure their GRE preparation efficiently. 

What are your career goals, and how do you see the Full-Time MBA helping you achieve them?  

I am keeping my post-MBA goals open. I am interested either in moving into a business-focused role within financial services or in exploring the possibility of expanding my own business. The MBA will allow me to build a strong foundation in core business disciplines such as corporate finance and operations management, while also giving me the opportunity to pursue entrepreneurship-focused electives or projects to deepen my knowledge in that area. 

Which modules and projects are you most excited about on the programme, and why?  

I am particularly eager to deepen my understanding of sales, which is why the elective Psychology of Sales stands out to me. Coming from a quantitative background, this is relatively uncharted territory for me, and I recognise how universally valuable this skill is. Whether it is communicating your value in a job interview or demonstrating to a prospective client how you can solve their problem, sales are relevant across almost any path.

As the Full-Time MBA Class of 2027 bring innovation to business we look forward to seeing how our cohort settle into life at Imperial, utilising the wealth of resources, knowledge and networking opportunities to progress their skills, experiences and aspirations.