ESSAY QUESTION: What type of student club or campus community event do you envisage yourself initiating? How would you set about organising this, and how would you communicate it to the wider School community? (400 words)

Choosing between my keenest interests was a difficult decision. Actually, I have lots to share with all comers and, given the LBS time-table allows such proliferation, could easily initiate clubs for Japanese martial arts and mountain trekking. However, my final choice was due to my five-year study of Philosophy - once I found that mind is the key asset making a human different from the rest of fauna, I took to developing non-stop what no other creature possesses. I would love to organize a Philosophical Circle among my peers in London.

Unfortunately most people regard philosophy as something remote from their everyday affairs. In fact, philosophy is not a rigid highbrow discipline - it's simply love of thinking. Philosophy welcomes anyone who thinks, regardless of subject matter, and tolerates any possible opinion. I believe if every person developed an appetite for thinking, our world would certainly be a much better place.

To make London Business School a little better place, I would run the Philosophical Circle after the pattern of Plato's Academy. Academia was the name of the public park situated in the suburb of Athens where the famous sage used to stroll with his followers while leisurely discussing various topics. Likewise, I would first find a quiet park in London environs with few distractions along the path.

Then, I would stick posters around the campus with such simple questions that arouse imagination of readers and prompt consideration of diverse issues we often deal with in our everyday life - e.g., "Do You Accept Revenge?", "Is A Human Naturally Selfish?", "Are You Fashionable?", "Global Community - Utopia of Today?", "Can You Stop A War?", "Should Sex Be Free?" - and many more thankful objects for serious research. The posters would invite students for a contemplative after-study walk in the park.

Open towards any member and subject, the Circle would not impose some orthodox style of thinking, nor would it require participants to subscribe to certain ideas. Founder of the club, I would only supervise organisational matters and instill a basic order for discussions - one topic per walk, taking the floor in turns, etc. I would suggest authors and sources (including the London-based Philosopher magazine) for members to revise before disputes, but my own views would not be "official" or superior to other opinions. I believe such pastime would enable LBS students to know each other better and receive a great stimulus for their personal development. (400 words)

ESSAY QUESTION: What well known historical event would you have liked to have been involved in and why?

Subjunctive is not exactly my favorite mood, although, a history person since the school bench, I sometimes indulge in pondering alternative versions of the past. Taking yesterday for a mandatory lesson, I only wish I could rewind and rewrite such episodes when human lives were wasted for no reason at all.

Few events in the annals of modern history compare to the terrifying siege of my native Leningrad during World War Two. The second largest city of the Soviet Union, Leningrad was a prime target for the German Army in the Barbarossa operation. On 8 September 1941, availing of Stalin's incompetent policies, Hitler minions fully encircled the city and, denied easy victory, started the siege that lasted for a total of 900 days. Three million population, including my grandparents and my kid father, were caught unprepared for the ensuing terrors.

Food and fuel stocks miserable, public transport not operational, there was neither heating nor water supply, almost no electricity. In January 1942 the city's food rations reached an all-time low of only 125 grams of bread per person daily. Under relentless shelling and air raids, people starved, froze, drowned, walked into mine fields, succumbed to a wide range of diseases - about 700,000 civilians died in Leningrad during the Siege. Luckily, my family lost none, prevailing against incredible odds, otherwise the present writer could have never written a line.

Normally, it's beyond one's power to thwart a war. However, it's possible to avoid costly mistakes. If I could turn back time, I would address Leningrad authorities with a comprehensive strategic plan few weeks before the disaster. A plan that might save hundreds of thousands of my future neighbors.

Following are the key steps I would consider in the plan:

- Transport issue. The only route that connected the besieged city with the mainland was the so-called Road of Life crossing Lake Ladoga. Under heavy enemy bombardments, ferries in summer, lorries in winter sought to evacuate the wounded and to import food. With the purpose of having a regular link with the rear I would urge upon completion of the Novgorod railway line, which had been abandoned on economic grounds. Laid in the marshland, the tracks would be easier to defend than other mains.

- Food issue. Leningrad couldn't properly use natural resources of the Baltic Sea - because of peculiar smell, fish-processing plants were located outside of the city, becoming the Nazis' first trophies. A timely transfer of the plants within Leningrad precincts would guarantee fish diet for the besieged. Further, I would order quantities of vitamins sufficient for three hard years to come and distribute food supply among several underground depots, as municipal storage facilities were destroyed early in the day. Also, I would provide for seeds to plant vegetable and fruit gardens on any open ground in summers.

- Air-raid defense. In opposition to importunate Luftwaffe, I would seek to implant the solutions learned during history classes and my private investigations, including the London experiences of the 1940 Blitz.

- Finally, I would move hospitals underground, as they were easy victims of bombers. The underground railway stations and tunnels embodied the safest refuge during air raids and therefore could largely reduce the death toll.

ESSAY QUESTION: You've been given $1 million to set up a philanthropic organization. What would it support and why?

Given $1,000,000 for philanthropy, I would certainly establish an independent record label. Roughly speaking, in Russia there are two major alternatives for a hopeful outfit entering the music scene: you either sell out catering to the most vulgar taste that has usurped the entertainment media or remain faithful to your authentic interests sinking into obscurity. What became an integral part of the Western mainstream in the wake of Nirvana or Portishead is still too much out-of-tune here.

With plenty of domestic talent locked in the club circuit for good, gradually degrading or ultimately migrating to more remunerative fields other than music, the situation could do with a strong nucleus for rudimentary left-field forces to gravitate to. In brief, I would initiate a label to give a few talented acts and songwriters the chance my band missed badly as well as to distribute music the likes of me yearn for but cannot buy in local stores.

Seeking to influence public taste, I would work on building a sturdy nation-wide record brand gathering talented artists of all stripes under the banner of non-conventional musicianship. The Rough Copy appears to me as an appropriate name for the record company emphasizing its opposition to the sleek and empty pop stuff.

Setting up in Moscow, the main national beacon for ambitious wannabes, I would start with hiring professionals loyal to the cause and renting premises for the office and the recording studio. Because of my connections in the underground scene, the former wouldn't be a problem. The latter expense item would also include cost of the studio equipment, which often gives a major headache to indie record owners short of million bucks.

Although the motive is not to become rich, I do not want my enterprise to be crushed after the budget is spent, so it has to earn its daily living. Manned with handpicked enthusiasts and rigged out with quality recording technology, the Rough Copy would focus on smart talent-scouting and creative music marketing. I would rather promote fewer truly outstanding artists than a bunch of eccentrics in order to acquire a solid reputation in the market. The cover art of different outings must be world-class and easily recognizable as the label's produce.

As the law is yet indulgent towards audio piracy, it's not practicable to profit by CD sales in Russia - here, hottest stars register modest tens of thousands of official distribution annually. Artists' only source of finance is touring. Therefore, it's an imperative to find a regular affordable venue for gigs.

Because our budget allows no proper promotion campaigns, to attract larger audiences we should offer our entire catalog on the Internet free of charge and closely cooperate with radio stations and independent music magazines.

To ensure the company's future growth I would consider a range of side activities, such as songwriting and music publishing, performance booking, contracting the recording studio, and producing concerts.

Knowing what makes record labels tick, I'm dreaming with my feet on the ground. Public taste is a plastic material. If you apply efforts consistently, it will make room for the new. Thus, if my philanthropic endeavor survives the many troubles of a pioneer, it should generate in my country the new viable musical culture alternative to the currently reigning schlock.