HBS vs GSB
Incredibly grateful to be in this position. Background in quant finance and want to pivot to traditional AM (fairly open however). Majority of my network (and partner) is in NYC, with my family in DC area. I know GSB wins most cross-admits and am planning to visit both admit weekends, but super mixed. I would love the weather and flexibility with S, but would be very far from everyone. I also don’t want to lose opportunities picking H over S.
GSB
Thanks for the response - any reason why
I'd be wary of any advice regarding universities coming from him... You need only check his posting history
Any US-university is Tier 2 tbh compared to the Ivory Towers of Oxbridge but Stanford >>> Harvard
Harvard been around since the 1600s. If you want a “safety” school, seems like a decent choice.
If you want something newer and more adventure and risk, Stanford seems the way to go.
G
Rishi Sunak chose GSB over HBS…
According to their respective 2025 Employment Reports, 9% of GSB grads went into “Investment / Portfolio Mgmt,” while for HBS it was 7%, but for Northeast firms HBS probably wins. In your position I would choose HBS but there's no wrong answer
If you went to Harvard College then go to GSB. If you went anywhere else in the world for undergrad, then go to HBS.
Any reason why? Sorry just thinking through this - it seems like a lot of cross-admits pick GSB
I think GSB is the better MBA program especially for the most lucrative careers (VC, startups, etc.). Stanford’s location is another huge draw. As a first-year undergraduate at H we just experienced the most brutal winter in years so I can understand the appeal of California at the moment.
I don’t know how much your Alma Mater branding matters to you at this stage in your career but the Harvard brand is untouchable by any university globally, as you are probably aware.
Self-reflect on your career goals, desired experience, culture, personal life factors, etc. to effectively make your decision. From your post it seems that HBS would be a better fit for you imo.
If you want to be a CEO, go to HBS. Stanford provides other opportunities, but either way you can't make a bad choice here.
Don’t mean to hijack the thread, but curious if people think doing double Stanford (BA/MBA) or Harvard is the move vs. a mix of the two (i.e., Harvard College + GSB or Stanford BA + HBS).
Network diversification is obvious, but should that really drive the decision vs. everything else (e.g., industry exposure, geo preference, curriculum, vibe, etc)
This person should go to Oxford which is more well-known in the world than Harvard and has a stronger brand (confirmed by Quora users). Ranked #1 uni in the world by the Times Higher Education!
Personally, I would diversify my network (I’ve seen both Stanford + GSB and Harvard + HBS people, a lot of them as 2+2s, but it seems more common to flip them)
Domestically GSB offers everything HBS offers + more, and has higher talent density due to class size. I turned down H for W (i think the two are quite close if not optimizing for buyside recruiting), but would have 100% gone to GSB if i got in. Unless you want to go international, GSB is the better school.
Interesting you picked W over H, was money a factor or you just liked the program more at W?
Liked W more, money wasn't a factor
Thanks for the response - students at both schools gave me a bit of a reality check as recruiting has also been pretty brutal. I think given my degree is in CS from a top cs school, GSB makes a little more sense if I want to pivot into something where I could leverage that (still a bit lost on that but I don’t want to get a PhD in math in QR or be a SWE for the rest of my life in QD)
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