All You Need to Know About Getting into Stanford’s MBA

Stanford Graduate School of Business’s MBA is a leading program in business education, attracting talented applicants from all over the world and ranked second globally in the QS Global MBA Rankings 2020.

Stanford GSB’s faculty includes three Nobel Prize Winners, two John Bates Clark Award winners and 15 members of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences. The school is located in the town of Stanford, between San Jose and San Francisco, making it an ideal destination for those hoping to advance their career in the Silicon Valley region.

If you’re dreaming of landing a spot in this top program, here’s everything you need to know about the school.

Stanford GSB’s class profile

 Stanford GSB is known for having one of the toughest acceptance rates in the b-school community, and you might expect an MBA program of this caliber to have a cut-throat class environment. Luckily for you, the school has fostered a friendly and diverse culture that fosters collaboration between faculty, staff and students.

As Yossi Feinberg, senior associate dean for Academic Affairs at Stanford GSB, told TopMBA: “The highly collaborative culture at Stanford GSB is designed to leverage the proven value of teamwork in order to foster the development of innovative solutions to complex problems.

“It is at the intersection of deep domain expertise with the thirst for new ideas and collaboration where breakthrough innovations thrive.”

Stanford GSB’s MBA program

Stanford GSB’s MBA aims to challenge students and help them become better leaders. The program focuses on collaboration and innovation, with courses designed to offer an impactful and transformational learning experience.

The school offers a two-year, full-time MBA – its most popular program – as well as a wide range of dual-degree MBAs, such as Public Policy, Electrical Engineering and International Studies orientations.

The first year of the traditional MBA program follows a core general management curriculum, with classes such as ethics in management, financial accounting, organizational behavior, corporate finance, data analysis and marketing.

In their second year, students have the opportunity to customize the program with courses from Stanford’s seven schools, electives, seminars or a joint or dual degree.

The MBA elective topics include:

• Accounting
• Entrepreneurship
• Finance
• Global management
• Human resources
• Information technology
• Leadership
• Managerial economics
• Marketing
• Operations
• Organizational behavior
• Political economics
• Public management
• Strategic management

Throughout their MBA journey, students have access to different global initiatives, such as the Global Management Immersion Experience (GMIX), a four-week opportunity to work on projects for a foreign sponsoring organization, and global study trips, where groups of 20-30 students spend eight to 10 days abroad to learn more about international ways to do business.

Stanford GSB’s MBA application

The selection for Stanford GSB’s MBA cohorts is competitive. According to the school’s recruiters, candidates must possess intellectual vitality, leadership potential and personal qualities and contributions that would make them stand out in the applicant pool, such as unique beliefs, diverse perspectives and unusual professional backgrounds.

Aside from common application requirements – such as test scores, letters of reference and information on candidates’ professional and educational experiences – Stanford GSB asks applicants two standard essay questions:

• Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (Up to 650 words)
• Essay B: Why Stanford? (Up to 400 words)

You can find all application deadlines for Stanford GSB’s MBA here.

Stanford GSB graduate employability

According to QS data, Stanford GSB’s MBA graduates have an employment rate of 88 percent three months after graduation. This high figure reflects the program’s respectability in the job market, as well as its advantageous proximity to the Silicon Valley.

On average, new graduates can expect to make a salary of US$145,559.