International exchange is one of the clearest examples of the tradeoffs built into the LBS MBA.
The official facts are straightforward. LBS says roughly 30% of second-year MBA students spend a term abroad, exchange placements are competitive, and students can receive credit for up to four electives. The 15-month exit is not compatible with exchange, and shorter completion paths can restrict the options available.
What students actually do with exchange is more interesting.
Timing can be as important as the school
Sai Kota (MBA2024) wanted a US exchange, but he did not simply rank his favorite American schools.
He was recruiting for consulting and co-leading the Consulting Club, so he specifically looked for spring exchanges. In his experience, full-time consulting recruiting and many club responsibilities were concentrated in the fall. He eventually chose Wharton as his top option and received it.
The “best” exchange, in other words, can depend on the rest of your MBA calendar.
Kota even found a way to make Wharton shorter. After speaking with earlier LBS exchange students, he learned he could complete his exchange in a six-week Wharton term instead of staying for the full twelve weeks. The compromise was course choice.
That was his MBA2024 experience, not a promise about current Wharton rules. But it shows how much detail can sit underneath the simple phrase “term abroad.”
How selection worked in one recent cycle
Kota says that in his cycle, Term I academic performance and the exchange essay affected the likelihood of receiving a preferred school.
LBS doesn’t publish its current allocation formula, so treat that as how the process worked in his year rather than today’s rule.
Students use exchange for very different reasons
Shristi Maurya (MBA2025) spent a semester at Wharton and used it to add another academic and professional network to an MBA already full of internships and club leadership.
Snehal, MBA2025 writes about exchange at Columbia as both an academic and personal experience in New York.
An older reflection from Veronika Kuchinskiy (MBA2023) calls her NYU Stern exchange one of the highlights of her MBA.
Put together, exchange looks less like an LBS vacation semester and more like a choice to temporarily trade some time with your home cohort for another school’s courses, network, geography and recruiting ecosystem.
Course approval belongs in the same planning problem. Kota says he looked for Wharton courses already approved by LBS, and that anything outside that list needed LBS approval. It sounds administrative, but if the courses you most want do not transfer cleanly, the exchange gets harder to fit into your remaining LBS requirements.
Went on exchange from LBS? Tell us how it worked
If you’re a current LBS student or recent graduate, reply below with:
- How allocation worked in your year, and whether grades or an essay still affected priority.
- Which partner schools seemed most competitive.
- If you were on the 18-month path, how you fitted exchange in.
- Whether your partner school offered a shorter format like Kota’s six-week Wharton term.
- The extra costs you didn’t expect.
- Whether exchange got in the way of recruiting.
- What you gave up at LBS to go.
Please include your class year and exchange school. This is an area where process details can change.