Harvard Business School vs. Stanford Graduate School of Business

In the world of higher and business education, can there be any names more illustrious than those of Harvard and Stanford? Separated by the width of a continent, these two are united by their prestigious status as the high watermark of learning and research.

The annual QS Employer Survey reveals that MBA employers feel much the same about Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business (Stanford GSB). Such a reputation comes for a reason though; this pair is known for producing some of the world’s foremost business leaders and innovators.

To pick a winner would be as disingenuous as it would be impossible, but if you’re among the elite of candidates trying to pick between the two, what are the key differences?

2013 fees and salary data, rating from 2012/13 QS TopMBA.com Global 200 Business Schools Report

Harvard Business School

In the first year of the Harvard MBA, all students follow the same core MBA curriculum. These cover the basics: finance, leadership and organizational behavior, strategy and entrepreneurship etc. Students also take part in the year-long series of ‘FIELD’ courses, which require students to put their knowledge into practice – developing a product or a service for a global partner organization and designing and launching a microbusiness.

A huge range of elective courses – of which students can take up to five a semester – is available in the second year covering traditional areas and managerial competencies. 17 of these are field courses. Students can also step away from the traditional MBA curriculum by cross-registering to do relevant programs elsewhere at Harvard or at MIT’s Sloan School of Management or even the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Provided the right criteria are met, candidates may pursue dual degrees in public policy or administration-international development, law, medicine or dental medicine.

Harvard is known for its case study method, which employs case studies from a range of companies, nonprofits and governmental organizations, with constraints and incomplete information factored in. Students are allowed to warm up in small groups before the class meets to hammer out potential solutions. Classroom participation is key here, and can account for as much as 50% of a student’s grade in some courses. Students can expect to study 500 different cases over the course of the program. Over 80% of the world’s case studies are developed by Harvard Business School faculty.

Stanford GSB

The Stanford GSB MBA curriculum is focused on providing a personalized experience to candidates. In the first year, the course is divided into three main parts. First is ‘General Management Perspectives’, a series of courses which focus largely on looking at oneself as a manager and a leader. At the center of the program here is the Critical Analytical Thinking (CAT) course. This looks at the issues and challenges that arise in management outside of any specific discipline. This is followed by ‘General Management Foundations’, in which disciplines are set, but candidates are offered a number of options to tailor the courses to their needs and ambitions.

Graduation also requires candidates to participate in a global experience. This can be in the form of a four-week overseas project during the summer working with a partner firm, a trip with classmates to discuss major issues with business leaders, a similar trip with classmates focused on social innovation and coupled with a short project, or participation in a short exchange program with Tsinghua University in China.

The second year of the MBA curriculum consists of electives in the usual areas. Students may take up to 18 courses, as well as compressed courses – one or two- week seminars with a faculty expert. Students may take a handful of courses – accounting for up to 12 class units – from other discipline areas at Stanford. 

Students can put credits towards joint degrees (in which credits may count towards both subjects) or dual degrees (where credits only apply to one subject). Joint degrees options with the MBA are law, education, public policy, computer sciences, as well as environment and resources. Dual degrees combine the MBA with another program at a different school to which candidates have also been accepted.

2013 data, except average age (2012).

Stanford GSB and Harvard Business School admissions are, as you might expect, very competitive. Of 7,108 applicants to Stanford, 406 made the cut – a record high, while 932 of 9,315 were successful in the Harvard Business School admissions process.

Academic rigor is at the heart of both schools’ admissions process. Only the most elite of the Indian Institutes of Management, at which the competition for places is famously competitive, can lay claim to a higher average GMAT score than one finds at these two elite schools, where only a score well in excess of 700 will do for most. The difference between the two is nominal.

On average candidates at both schools have around four years’ management experience behind them and will be approximately 27 years old – about the mean for schools in the US & Canada.

While the cohort at Stanford GSB possesses a slightly higher proportion of international students (42% over 34%), students of slightly more nationalities (60 compared to 54) made it through the Harvard Business School admissions process.

In terms of the women in the classroom, Stanford GSB hovers around the regional average for the US & Canada, while Harvard Business School’s percentage of 41% exceeds it. Efforts to tackle gender inequality at the latter have largely been focused on current students – though an effect on Harvard Business School admissions and applications cannot be ruled out, and indeed there has been a single year increase in the proportion of female students.