Who gets into Stanford GSB?
So I’m feeling discouraged after learning that a mentor of mine was rejected from Stanford GSB. He did 2 years of MBB consulting (tech-focused), 2 years of PE at a MF (but was not a finance undergrad), had a great gmat/gpa, has a unique background, and is well-rounded.
He got into wharton, but was rejected from HBS and GSB.
I’m particularly interested in GSB given its small class size. How the hell do you make it as one of the 5% to get in? A large portion of their class consists of ppl with PE/banking/consulting backgrounds, so I’m wondering what differentiated those that broke in.
A friend of mine was a dual admit to GSB and HBS (he chose GSB). He is truly exceptional. Doesn’t matter if you go to GS —> Blackstone with a 760 gmat. They can find plenty of smart, driven ppl across all industries and backgrounds.
Stanford makes a big deal about candidates having an “x-factor”. They look for natural leaders who are literally going to change the world. Yes, pedigree, brand names, etc carry a lot of weight. But they want people that excel in every role that they have.
That means you can’t just be the guy who got into Blackstone, you have to be the guy who stood out at Blackstone (while saving the white rhinos in your “off-time”.
As people have said, you need to find someway to standout beyond just being a good achiever at work. Your friend got bucketed into the standard blue chip finance pool, think of all the other MF PE kids that were applying.
Stanford is a class of ~400 or so right? They take ~20% of kids from PE/VC/Investment Management, so 80 total and let's say the PE/VC are a larger pool than IM, so ~60 slots in between the two.
A number of seats will be soft reserved for the funds that have a strong relationship with the school, so a few from each of the MFs will make it, then you have to service the UMM, and then there's the unique ones that might have started their own firm, or had some sort of unique investing experience.
From people I've talked to, applicants, students, admission consultants, they all say that Stanford tends to be the biggest crapshoot. I've heard anecdotally that Stanford is the hardest to predict in terms of who gets accepted, meaning, there are people on paper who look like great fits (like your friend) that get rejected and others that look like long shots that get in.
I wouldn't try too hard to optimize perfectly for Stanford. In general, be a high achiever across the board, try and do a strong extra curricular or two that have some personal ties to you, and build a narrative as to why Business School and why Stanford specifically will help you achieve your goals. Other than that, there's not much else you can do.
Last point is key.
I doubt anyone at GSB got in because they planned out their path to GSB.
They are just high achievers that went into good career paths, did what they loved, and spent all their extra time leading / cultivating relationships / learning / just general enrichment. They just happened to then want to get an MBA and thereby self selected into the HBS / GSB glass.
You don't kick ass to get into GSB... you kick ass... period... and those are the people that GSB looks for among their applicants.
FinancelsWacc is quite accurate, and frankly I noticed that fact when applying this year for applicants from HBS, GSB, Wharton, and to a lesser extent Sloan when compared to CBS, Kellogg, Booth, and the rest of the top 10-15 programs.
I had a 770 GMAT, solid GPA from a top 10 UG, good work experience, and I knew I had no prayer at GSB. What separates someone like me from someone who gets into H/S is passion for a given industry or cause coupled with leadership and accomplishments. Sure, if you go HYPSW->GS/MS/MBB->MF PE and have a 3.8+/770+, you have a great chance at H/S regardless and a certain % of those will get in, contingent on good essays, recs, and interview. But they're still not a lock, and so many (if not most) of those who do get into H/S have that extra factor of exceptional leadership, accomplishments in relation to their passions, and, candidly, diversity factors (race, gender, country of origin, or even work experience).
No, I am not an IB/PE guy--work in a totally different industry. That being said, I do "strategic" work for my firm and so in talking to admissions consultants/colleagues, it became clear I was being bucketed with either the MBB guys or maybe even PE guys in some cases. My job looks less competitive than theirs, and when you couple that with no great leadership story and nothing truly exceptional about my stats (probably about average for a white male at these schools), there's nothing really differentiating me against that guy who went top UG->MBB/IB/PE with some additional "it" factor.
Thought I had a very remote chance at HBS because I've worked with our CEO (F500 company) who's an alum and had him write me a strong rec, and for Wharton I had a family friend who's a chaired prof write me an additional rec, and I had a competitive profile for them anyway. Didn't get an interview at either, disappointingly. I didn't bother to apply to GSB, but all these facts considered, I don't think I had >1% chance unless there were some fluke.
I have a few friends who got into GSB and I’ll be attending HBS. Echoing what some of the people above mentioned, Stanford, seems to especially consider your passions and your commitment to making a difference.
The people who I know that have been admitted all were very involved in the communities they were interested in, had patterns of leadership that dated back to high school, and were extremely intelligent and driven. Also important to note that while they are all absurdly successful, they are also very humble and genuinely good people. With a class of HBS is very similar in the sense that they want well-rounded and exceptional candidates. However, you can’t get lucky and get into GSB if you’re not 100% qualified. I will admit that I have seen some peers get into HBS that made me scratch my head lol. Understandable given the larger class sizes, I guess.
One other thing that I don’t think has been mentioned is that MBA programs care about why an applicant wants an MBA, how they will make use it, and how those goals fit into their programs. I would guess that Stanford cares about that even more than HBS and Wharton, given the smaller class size and the amount of students that enter entrepreneurship straight out of school.
Stanford GSB wants yes outstanding academics, but they just as much want people of initiative and impact. The people who have started things that make your jaw drop and who have had an impact on their communities/jobs are the ones that have a better chance of getting in.
In addition, the head of admissions at Stanford has a PhD in leadership. It's not just enough to be a nice person, who has done a few good things, and checked boxes. She's looking for more.
Also, as I just said in another post, at the recent AIGAC meeting it was clear that Stanford adcom is very focused on "building a class." and that means a class with different and rich experiences and perspectives, backgrounds and ambitions. Obviously they're all going to business schools so there is going to be some commonality, but somehow you have to show that you have a distinctive hue to contribute to the mosaic the adcom is creating.
And again, initiative is key. And luck certainly helps.
You might be interested in https://reports.accepted.com/mba/webinar/stanford-graduate-school-of-bu…
To echo what others have mentioned above, an 'x-factor' is needed - particularly in non-profit/volunteering. A search of ‘MBA Candidate at Stanford GSB' on google resulted in the following first page results:
You get the point. This reminded me of this parody op-ed from the NYT a few years back:
“We had exceptional applicants, yes, but not a single student we couldn’t live without,” said a Stanford administrator who requested anonymity. “In the stack of applications that I reviewed, I didn’t see any gold medalists from the last Olympics — Summer or Winter Games — and while there was a 17-year-old who’d performed surgery, it wasn’t open-heart or a transplant or anything like that. She’ll thrive at Yale.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/opinion/college-admissions-shocker.h…