Stanford Graduate School of Business About This Guide The Clear Admit team has prepared this reference guide to Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business (“Stanford” or “GSB”) to assist you in your research on this program. Our comments are designed to be of use to individuals in all stages of the admissions process, providing information rel- evant to those who are determining whether to apply to this program, looking for in-depth information for a planned ap- plication to Stanford, preparing for an admissions interview or deciding whether to attend. The guide is unique in that it not only addresses many as- pects of life as a Stanford MBA student and alumnus, covering school-specific programs in depth, but also compares Stanford to other leading business schools across a range of criteria based on data from the schools, the scholarly and popular presses, and Clear Admit’s conversations with current MBA students, alumni, faculty and school administrators. We have normalized the data offered by each business school to allow for easy side-by-side comparisons of multiple programs. www.clearadmit.com © 2006-2015 Clear Admit, LLC. All rights reserved. Applying to business school? Learn more from Clear Admit! The Leading Independent Resource for Top-tier MBA Candidates Visit our website: www.clearadmit.com Stay up-to-date with the latest news on the world’s best business schools and sharpen your approach to your applications with insider advice on MBA admissions Want this information--and more exclusive content--delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for our Newsletter Check out our unique offerings to guide you through every step of the admissions process... Publications Live Wire Interview Archive From a school’s curriculum Track the ebb and flow of Receive an invitation for an to universal admissions decisions with interview? We have col- b-school Live Wire: application re- lected thousands of in- strategy, sults in real time, submitted terview reports from MBA each of our by site visitors. candidates. Sort reports by publica- school and know what to tions series expect in your admissions provide a interview. centralized source of informa- tion that is crucial to an effective application. ...and come find us on social media Table of Contents | v Applying to business school? Learn more from Clear Admit! Contents 1 Introduction to Stanford GSB 1 Program Highlights . 1 Brief History of the MBA . 1 Stanford GSB History . 3 Student Demographics . .5 2 Academics 7 Academic Calendar . 7 Pre-Term . 7 Student Body . 8 Core Curriculum . 8 Visit our website: www.clearadmit.com Electives . 9 Seminars . 10 Stay up-to-date with the latest news on the world’s best business schools Cross-Registration . 11 and sharpen your approach to your applications with insider advice on MBA admissions Curriculum Comparison . 11 Want this information--and more exclusive content--delivered straight to your inbox? Grading System . 12 Grade Non-Disclosure . 13 Sign up for our Newsletter Honors . 13 Faculty . 14 The Nobel Laureates . 15 3 Special Programs 17 Entrepreneurial Focus . 17 Global Management Opportunities . 18 Public Management & Social Innovation Program . 19 Program in Healthcare Innovation . 20 4 Life at Stanford GSB 22 Campus Spaces . 22 Life in the Bay Area . 23 Palo Alto . 23 The City of San Francisco . 23 Clubs . 24 www.clearadmit.com © 2006-2015 Clear Admit, LLC. All rights reserved. vi | Table of Contents Conferences . 26 5 Life After Stanford GSB 27 MBA Career Management Center . 27 Recruiting/Interview Procedures . 27 Career Statistics . 28 Industry . 28 Geography . 30 Alumni Network . 30 6 Admissions 33 Visiting Stanford GSB . 33 Outreach Events . 33 Application Requirements . 34 Deadlines . 35 Joint & Dual Degree Programs . 35 7 Financing the Stanford MBA 37 Tuition & Expenses . 37 Financial Aid . 37 Loan Forgiveness . 38 8 Appendix 40 Essay Topic Analysis . 40 9 Further Resources 43 Publications . 43 Stanford GSB Research Centers & Institutes . 43 Contact Information . 44 Social Media. 44 www.clearadmit.com © 2006-2015 Clear Admit, LLC. All rights reserved. Table of Contents | vii www.clearadmit.com © 2006-2015 Clear Admit, LLC. All rights reserved. Introduction | 1 Introduction to Stanford GSB 1 Program Highlights Personalized Program – With the ability to choose from a menu of courses as early as the second half of the first year, Stanford GSB allows students to tailor the difficulty and fo- cus of their core coursework rather than adopting a “one size fits all” approach. The school’s unique core curriculum also involves working one-on-one with members of a student’s designated career advising team throughout both years. Small Size – With around 400 students in each class, Stanford is one of the smaller leading MBA programs. This relatively small size translates into closer ties to faculty and relatively accessible professors. It also makes for a close-knit commu- nity with extensive interaction between first- and second-year students. Entrepreneurship – In addition to offering traditional career support services, Stanford devotes significant resources to the study of entrepreneurship and to providing support to students and alumni seeking to launch their own companies after business school through their Stanford Entrepreneurship Network. The Entrepreneur Club is the most active student- run organization on campus, with over 300 students partici- pating each year, and last year the club organized more than 50 events. Silicon Valley Location – Stanford’s Bay Area location is a boon to the program in several respects. In addition to being a hotbed for entrepreneurial activity, the area is home to a large number of high-tech companies, and Stanford places a rela- tively high percentage of its graduates in the technology and biotech industries. Brief History of the MBA Originally conceived as an extra year of undergraduate train- ing in finance, economics and accounting, business schools shifted around the start of the 20th century to begin offering managerial training for the U.S.’s new industrialized compa- nies (see Figure 1.1). Their prestige grew throughout the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the research and train- ing generated by business schools was seen as a key to the country’s economic recovery. The unprecedented managerial needs of World War II further increased the demand for for- mal business education, and after the war, U.S. veterans used their G.I. Bill funding to finance their business studies and www.clearadmit.com © 2006-2015 Clear Admit, LLC. All rights reserved. 2 | Clear Admit School Guide: Stanford GSB Figure 1.1 Notable Developments in MBA History MBA Degree Stanford GSB • Business schools are established in the U.S. to 1880s train managers for service in the new industrial- ized economy, especially the railroad industry. • Academic focus is on accounting and bookkeep- ing, and most professors are professionals in these fields. 1910s • Association of Collegiate Schools of Business is founded in 1916 to provide resources for the grow- ing number of U.S. business schools, which by 1919 enroll over 36,000 students. • On-campus recruiting by industry rises. 1920s • The Stanford Graduate School of Business opens in • Curricula begin to include policy issues. a wing of the University Biology Building in 1925. • The research and training conducted by business 1930s • J. Hugh Jackson begins his 26-year deanship in schools during the Great Depression is seen as key 1931. to the U.S.’s economic revival, significantly raising • Students of the Business School Club donate $200 public opinion of business schools. to start the Business School Loan Fund in 1933. • World War II sharply increases demand for trained 1940s • Special Emergency Defense Program is established managers, and WWII veterans return to U.S. in 1941, providing wartime-relevant secretarial business schools in droves. training and an accelerated degree in industrial administration. • The Stanford GSB Alumni Association is founded in 1946. 1950s • Stanford offers its first classes to business execu- • Most professors now hold Ph.D.s in business, and tives in 1952. academic research begins to form the basis • The Stanford-Sloan 1-year MBA Program for prom- of business school curricula. ising middle managers is inaugurated in 1957. • Strategic decision-making and quantitative and statistical analyses enter many curricula. 1960s • MBA starting salaries rise 5-10% per year at some 1970s • Stanford forms a joint council with nine other busi- schools, even during stagflation. ness schools in 1970 to promote enrollment of • Entrepreneurship enters most curricula. minorities. • Public Management Program is founded in 1971. • Female enrollment reaches 20% in 1974. 1980s • The first annual MBA Challenge for Charity is held at Stanford in 1984. • Business schools focus on leadership, ethics and 1990s • The Center for Entrepreneurship opens in 1996. interpersonal skills, altering course content and in- creasing classroom emphasis on working in teams. • High-profile corporate scandals prompt calls for 2000s • Professor and former dean Michael Spence shares greater ethics education in business schools. the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001. • By 2004, 447,000 students are enrolled in U.S. • In 2006, Stanford GSB announces an overhaul of business programs. its curriculum for greater customizability. • Garth Saloner is named the ninth dean in 2009. 2010s • In early 2011, the GSB moves into its new unified academic facility, the Knight Management Center. www.clearadmit.com © 2006-2015 Clear Admit, LLC. All rights reserved. Introduction | 3 move into management jobs. “Most people who come here are used to being one of the By the 1950s, the MBA was a two-year, post-graduate pro- smartest people in the room. gram that turned business into a professional discipline on par Once you get here and you see with medicine and law, and the degree was seen as a ticket the combination of people who to a better, more secure career.