STANFORD

GRADUATE
SCHOOL OF
BUSINESS
 Program Overview

The Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) takes its mission seriously: “Change lives. Change organiza-
tions. Change the world.” The school seeks candidates who not only will be transformed by the experience of
earning an MBA but will also seek to transform lives, organizations, and the world. Members of the GSB com-
munity refer to this motivation frequently in their classes and personal explorations. In the comedic GSB Show
a few years ago, they even turned it into an acronym/verb: “CLOW”!

Despite the school’s medium class size (426 students in the latest incoming class), the GSB community is
tight-knit, and the program emphasizes team-based learning. On its website, the school describes its stu-
dents and alumni as “insightful, passionate professionals who are never satisfied with the status quo,” as the
GSB community is always looking for the next interesting perspective on business and the world. Beyond the
classroom, students stay connected via such programs as the beloved tradition Challenge for Charity, which
raises funds for local charities and culminates in a weekend of events in friendly competition with other local
business schools; by joining some of the numerous student clubs available; and by taking advantage of the
surrounding Bay Area and its offerings.

Although the GSB is proud of its Silicon Valley roots and center of entrepreneurship, the school prides itself
on training global leaders across all sectors. The GSB seeks candidates who will try to make a big difference,
and it is willing to consider applicants who have taken risks, are innovative, and dare to be different or do
things differently. Applicants who view an MBA as merely the expected next step to advance up the corporate
ladder will not stand out, and cutthroat behavior is frowned upon.

On its website, the GSB describes its campus as a “close-knit entrepreneurial community,” and entrepre-
neurial options are indeed plentiful. The school supports founding new ventures, joining startups, corporate
innovation, social innovation, and entrepreneurship through acquisition. The Stanford Venture Studio is also
available for graduate students who wish to test their ideas outside the classroom but are not ready to launch
their ventures yet. Through the Stanford d.school, both MBA students and those from other Stanford schools
can use design to think outside the box and develop their potential in their chosen field via such courses as
“Redesigning Finance” and “Negotiation by Design: Applied Design Thinking for Negotiators.”

Leadership is at the core of the GSB experience, and one of the first classes every incoming GSB student takes
is the experiential course “Leadership Laboratory.” Students really do treat the school like a leadership labora-
tory. Aspiring managers can apply to become Arbuckle Leadership Fellows and coach first-year students

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 using a variety of interpersonal and coaching skills. Aspiring CEOs can practice managing difficult leadership
situations in such classes as “Managing Growing Enterprises” and “Political Communication: How Leaders Be-
come Leaders.” Finally, nearly half of GSB students choose to practice storytelling and build deep connections
with classmates by giving 30-minute Talks about the most formative and challenging moments in their lives.
Interpersonal dynamics are at the core of the GSB experience. How will you take part in the culture?

The Center for Entrepreneurial Studies is an amazing resource for Stanford GSB
students, offering experiential courses, often in conjunction with Stanford’s School
of Engineering and d.school. For example, in Startup Garage, students get the
opportunity to develop, prototype, test, and even launch a new product or service.
Over 130 companies, raising over $2.5 billion in funding, have been created
through this class alone!

— Stratus counselor and GSB graduate

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 Curriculum

The GSB curriculum is divided into quarters. Students start the autumn quarter of their first year with courses
within their section, so by December, everyone knows the other members of their section very well. Much of
the first year is dedicated to management perspectives and foundations, with such core courses as “Manage-
rial Skills,” “Finance I,” “Organizational Behavior,” and “Managing Groups and Teams.”

The elective course “Interpersonal Dynamics” has become a staple at Stanford

GSB after being available to students for more than 45 years. In fact, the course
has been the most popular elective at the school in each of those years. The
course divides students into groups of 12, where they practice giving and
receiving feedback with a facilitator and build leadership skills. The goal of the
class is to “[create] more productive, professional relationships,” according to the
GSB website.

During my time at Stanford GSB, I earned a Certificate in Public Management.

Now expanded to become the Certificate in Public Management and Social
Innovation, this popular academic option prepares students to address public
issues as future employees, Board members, policy makers, and/or investors, and
is earned by over 25% of the class.

— Stratus counselor and GSB graduate

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 In the winter and spring quarters of the first year, students choose from a menu of courses including “Macro-
economics,” “Information Management,” “Strategy Beyond Markets,” and “Human Resource Management.”
The second year is filled with a wide array of electives—more than 100 are available annually—from sophis-
ticated finance classes to the famous “Touchy Feely” course (“Interpersonal Dynamics”) that helps students
build soft skills and connect emotionality to leadership. Many students also take advantage of courses “across
the street” in other Stanford programs, exploring design thinking, engineering, computer science, and other
disciplines.

My very favorite class during my time at the GSB, “Interpersonal Dynamics,”

has been voted the most popular elective for over 45 years in a row. Known as
“Touchy Feely,” this class is an incredible, immersive, and very intimate experience
with a very small set of classmates. The friends I made in my “T-group” are still
some of the classmates I feel closest to now over 25 years later.

— Stratus counselor and GSB graduate

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 Extracurriculars

The GSB sports a variety of clubs for students to get involved in, ranging from affinity groups to career
focuses to pure fun. Among Stanford’s more unique clubs are the GSB Show—an original musical written,
composed, and performed each year by GSB students—and View from The Top Leadership Team—a group
that hosts speakers from around the world who are leaders in their field. Global opportunities abound as well.
Students can go on eight- to ten-day global study trips to destinations all over the world or take part in the
Global Management Immersion Experience, which enables students to spend at least four weeks working in
a new country. For students eager to have social impact, the Social Management Immersion Fund sets stu-
dents up with summer internships at relevant organizations and companies, and the Social Impact Club brings
in a steady stream of social enterprises and other impact-driven organizations and leaders.

The MBA Challenge for Charity (C4C) is a nonprofit organization that was
launched at Stanford GSB nearly 40 years ago and has grown to feature chapters
at eight other MBA programs on the West Coast. The C4C hosts an annual
event, typically during the spring, where students from each program compete
in athletic, social, fundraising, and volunteering opportunities. The winner—the
school with the highest attendance and sports performances during the C4C
weekend and the most active volunteering and fundraising throughout the year—
receives the Golden Briefcase. On its website, the C4C describes its mission as
“to develop future business leaders with a lifelong commitment to community
involvement and social responsibility.”

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 Statistics

Class Profile
(Class of 2023)
426 4.8 years 3.78
Class Size Average Work Average GPA
Experience

44% 48% 47%

Women US Students of Color International
Citizenship

738 610–790 165 165

Average GMAT GMAT Range Average Verbal GRE Average Quantitative
GRE

Career Placement (Industries, Class of 2021)

ƒ Finance: 33% ƒ Other: 1%

ƒ Technology: 29% ƒ Transportation and Logistics: 1%
ƒ Consulting: 18%
ƒ Healthcare: 5%
ƒ Media/Entertainment: 4%
ƒ Consumer Products: 2%
ƒ Real Estate: 2%
ƒ Agriculture: 1%
ƒ Education: 1%
ƒ Energy: 1%
ƒ Hospitality/Travel: 1%
ƒ Manufacturing: 1%

Due to rounding, the combined percentages listed may be slightly over or under 100%.

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 Geographical Placement (Class of 2021)

ƒ North America: 93%

Š West: 56%
Š Northeast: 22%
Š Midwest: 7%
Š Mid-Atlantic: 4%
Š South: 2%
Š Southwest: 2%
ƒ Outside North America: 4%
Š Europe: 3%
Š Asia: 1%

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 Tips for Your Stanford Graduate School of
Business Application Essays

The application essays for the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) are among the more expansive
and demanding of those for the top MBA programs. The GSB truly wants to get to know you. With a 650-
word essay that necessitates some soul-searching, 400 words on your interest in Stanford specifically, and an
optional short answer that allows you to reveal purpose and impact, you have plenty of opportunity to paint
a more complete picture of yourself that goes well beyond grades and test scores. The GSB application gives
you a chance to think holistically about your goals, your career, and how an MBA fits into those plans.

? Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (650 words recommended)

This simply worded question often vexes applicants, but that is because many perceive that there is a “right”
answer they need to provide. But Stanford is agnostic with respect to topic. For example, it is not better to
write about your quest for knowledge or worse to write about your desire to have impact. What matters (those
words again!) here is that you share whatever has truly been the driving force, or will be the driving force,
within your life—both anecdotally and through clear personal experience. The “why” part of this question is
key; dig deep and demonstrate the reasons behind your passion for whatever you say matters most to you.

The GSB admissions committee is seeking authenticity and values, but that doesn’t mean that everything
needs to be sunshine. You can show that your values evolved through a failure or by finding inspiration through
others’ examples. Feel free to be vulnerable in this essay—to the extent that if you left it in the printer at work,
you might feel a little embarrassed or exposed if a colleague were to find it.

We often think of this essay as having three distinct sections where a theme first emerges, then manifests
through experience, and finally matures and is validated. It isn’t complete heresy to write, “What matters most
to me is…” at some point in your essay, but it is often unnecessary because the reader should fundamentally
understand the point of your piece without those words being written. Either way, make sure your theme is
very clear to the reader.

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 ? Essay B: Why Stanford? (400 words recommended)

Unlike many business schools, the GSB notably doesn’t explicitly pose the conventional “What are your
goals?” question along with its “Why us?” prompt; it just asks, “Why Stanford?” However, we still think that
many applicants can benefit from grounding their essay in a discussion of their goals to help contextualize
their “Why Stanford?” answer.

We’d like to challenge you in this essay. What if you did not write about the popular “Touchy Feely” course
(“Interpersonal Dynamics”) or “Startup Garage” course? So many applicants write about these Stanford ex-
periences! Take a step back, go beyond the program’s most popular offerings, and really dig in and share your
reason for wanting to be at the Stanford GSB more than any other program.

Do your homework! Beyond just sharing a list of programs and classes, be specific about how you might take
advantage of nonacademic features of the GSB and perhaps of some broader Stanford University resources
and how you would contribute to those experiences. Show that you really, fundamentally understand the
culture and spirit of the program. When you write this essay, don’t be afraid to go high-minded and “big
picture” if that makes sense for you. Stanford doesn’t mind dreamers as long as the applicant is grounded in
reality in some way. The GSB likes to think of itself as a place where people go to embrace world-changing
ideas, and you can paint yourself as such as long as you do so with sincerity. Even if you are on a conventional
path, such as consulting or private equity, there can absolutely be a place for you at the GSB. You can present
your shorter-term goal as a means of achieving your bigger, longer-term dream—or as just your big, long-term
dream itself. Either way, whatever goals you share, you need to think carefully about how the GSB will be your
catalyst and then “prove” that in your essay.

? Optional Short Answer Question

Optional Question 1: Think about times you’ve created a positive impact, whether in professional, extra-
curricular, academic, or other settings. What was your impact? What made it significant to you or to oth-
ers? (1,200-character maximum)

In the Essays section of the application, we ask you to tell us about who you are and how you think Stan-
ford will help you achieve your aspirations. We are also interested in learning about the things you have
done that are most meaningful to you. If you would like to go beyond your resume to discuss some of your
contributions more fully, you are welcome to share up to three examples. (Up to 1,200 characters, or ap-
proximately 200 words, for each example)

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 Do you need to provide three examples for this prompt? The answer is basically “Yes!” unless you simply don’t
have three examples of impact. The goal here is for the admissions committee to get to this point in your ap-
plication, read your three stories, and say, “Wow! I can’t believe how much more there is still to learn about
this applicant!” Ideally, you will share three examples that all include new information about you. What hasn’t
the committee learned about your personal life, community experience, professional successes, or academic
triumphs elsewhere in your application? Although you might be tempted to write three generally awesome
stories about yourself, don’t lose sight of the fact that you need to discuss moments when your actions had a
direct impact on others.

Even in such a short submission, you still have room to share a full anecdote that provides sufficient color to
make the experience “real” for the admissions reader. Do not just write, “My greatest moment of impact was
when I….” That kind of writing is almost always boring and minimizes the reader’s suspense and attention.
Instead, set the stage, present a moment of conflict, and then drive home that you were able to positively
change the experience for the better. Demonstrate your impact!

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