Tara Littlehailes (she/her)

Education: Bachelors, University of California, Berkeley, US; graduated in 2025

Subject: Economics

Sector(s) of interest: Finance, Banking, Corporate Banking, Client Coverage

My greatest challenge when I applied to business school: Navigating my finances, as well as my path forward.

About me: Before joining the MFA programme at London Business School, I studied economics at UC Berkeley in the US and spent an academic year at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). My path to London Business School has been shaped by balancing full-time work with my studies, which taught me a great deal about resilience, responsibility and the value of different paths into higher education.

Professionally, I have experience across financial research, operations and management. Most recently, I contributed to financial reasoning research at a Y Combinator-backed AI startup, where I focused on valuation, financial statements and investment risk. I have also held finance and operations roles alongside managing teams while studying full time.

At London Business School, I am particularly interested in corporate banking and hope to begin my career in corporate or transaction banking after graduation.

Outside of academics, I love swimming, both in pools and in the ocean. I am currently training with the goal of running the London Marathon in April 2027.

Having benefited from advice throughout my own application journey, I am excited to support prospective students and share my experience of the MFA programme, London Business School and studying in London.

Three topics I can be approached about: Application strategy and essay writing; deciding which career to focus on; balancing a full-time job with GMAT prep and applications.

Email: taral.mfa2027@london.edu