Stanford Graduate School of Business

Stanford Graduate School of Business
Average GMAT Score	737	GMAT Range	610-790
Total Applicants	Click here to know	Acceptance Rate	Click here to know
Class Size	417	Average Work Experience	48 Months
Applicant Deadlines		Decision Dates
Length of Program	21 Months	Placement Information	Click here to know

 

Since its inception in 1925 Stanford has met the challenges of the ever changing economy by empowering the leaders with skills and knowledge that help them in shaping the future of business world .This school has established itself as a global leader in management education and has built an international reputation based on the various leadership programs with practical experience exposure designed to develop insightful, principled global leaders. The School allows having a better interaction with your peers and faculty by having a student to faculty ration of 6:1. With impressive alumni of 26,000, the students have excess to the advices and experiences of the leaders in the Global business community.

The School has continued to incorporate new additions to its curriculum by having an impressive faculty known for its cutting-edge research in its teaching. Every MBA graduate from Stanford is enriched by the global experiences and diversity of the class size of 385.

To be part of this experience, you need to showcase your intellectual prowess, leadership skills, personal interests and community contribution in your essays, a good GMAT score, Letter of references and best interview. So, for crossing these hurdles to be part of Stanford GBS, either the candidate should be master of all the above mentioned requirements or should be taking guidance from experienced professionals who have already faced or dealt with similar kind of situations.

General Education being the group of thorough experienced professionals compounded with profound professional capabilities of guiding applicants to write impressive and successful B-School applications. We help you in your journey towards your dream B-School. Join us today to realize your dream.

Stanford Essay for the Class of 2021:

Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (750 words)

Essay B: Why Stanford? (400 words)

Both essays combined may not exceed 1,150 words. We recommend up to 750 words for Essay A and up to 400 words for Essay B. We often find effective essays written in far fewer words.

Stanford Essay for the Class of 2019:

Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (750 words)

For this essay,Stanfordlikes applicantsto:

• Do some deep self-examination, so you can genuinely illustrate who you are and how you came to be the person you are.
• Share the insights, experiences, and lessons that shaped your perspectives, rather than focusing merely on what you’ve done or accomplished.
• Write from the heart, and illustrate how a person, situation, or event has influenced you.
• Focus on the “why” rather than the “what.”

Essay B: Why Stanford? (400 words)

Enlighten how earning your MBA at Stanford will enable you to realize your ambitions.

• Explain your decision to pursue graduate education in management.
• Explain the distinctive opportunities you will pursue at Stanford.

Stanford Essay for the Class of 2018:

Stanford request that you write two personal essays. The personal essays give glimpses of your character and hopes. In each essay, Stanford want to hear your genuine voice. Think carefully about your values, passions, aims, and dreams prior to writing them.

Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (750 words)

Essay B: Why Stanford? (400 words)

Your answers for both essay questions combined may not exceed 1,150 words. Each of you has your own story to tell, so please allocate these words between the essays in the way that is most effective for you.

Essay Questions for Class of 2016

Tell us in your own words who you are. Answer essay questions 1, 2, and one of the three options for essay 3.

Essay 1: What matters most to you, and why? (750 words)

Essay 2: What do you want to do "REALLY" and why Stanford? (450 words)

Essay 3: Answer one of the three questions below. Tell us not only what you did but also how you did it. What was the outcome? How did people respond? Only describe experiences that have occurred during the last three years.

Option A: Tell us about a time in the last three years when you built or developed a team whose performance exceeded expectations.

Option B: Tell us about a time in the last three years when you identified and pursued an opportunity to improve an organization.

Option C: Tell us about a time in the last three years when you went beyond what was defined or established.

Essay Questions for Year 2013

Essay 1: What matters most to you, and why? (750 words - suggested)

Essay 2: What do you want to do "REALLY" and why Stanford? (450 words - suggested)

Essay 3: Answer two of the four questions below. Tell us not only what you did but also how you did it. What was the outcome? How did people respond? Only describe experiences that have occurred during the last three years. In your short answer responses (Essay 3, options A, B, C, or D), we learn more about the experiences that have shaped your attitudes, behaviors, and aspirations. (300 words each - suggested)

Option A: Tell us about a time when you built or developed a team whose performance exceeded expectations.

Option B: Tell us about a time when you made a lasting impact on your organization.

Option C: Tell us about a time when you generated support from others for an idea or initiative.

Option D: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined or established.

Essay Analysis for Year 2013

Essay 1: What matters most to you, and why?

Essay 2: What are your career aspirations? How will your education at Stanford help you achieve them?

Essay 3: Answer two of the four questions below. Tell us not only what you did but also how you did it. What was the outcome? How did people respond? Only describe experiences that have occurred during the last three years.

Option A: Tell us about a time when you built or developed a team.

Option B: Tell us about a time when you felt most effective as a leader.

Option C: Tell us about a time when you tried to reach a goal or complete a task that was challenging, difficult, or frustrating.

Option D: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined, established, or expected.

Essay Length

Your answers for all of the essay questions cannot exceed 1,800 words. Each of you has your own story to tell, so please allocate the 1,800 words among all of the essays in the way that is most effective for you. We provide some guidelines below as a starting point, but you should feel comfortable to write as much or as little as you like on any essay question, as long as you do not exceed 1,800 words total.

Essay 1 750 words

Essay 2 450 words

Essay 3 300 words each

If you look at all the Stanford questions it has suggested maximum words limit (close to double the word limit for other questions) on the question on self analysis, which clearly indicates the importance that is given to the person at Stanford. Even the career question relates to vision. Other personal traits questions include questions on leadership, team building, challenge that you faced and your vision.

Before answering any single question make a rough sketch of yourself. How you can best project yourself or rather how you can give a complete and best and genuine view of yourself in these 1800 words. Can your best personality traits be covered in the 2 optional essays? Will the personality that will emerge from these essays will be real you. Ensure that these essays complement each other, and it is conveyed clearly that your career vision is a natural corollary of what matters the most to you, and you are most capable of pursuing this career because of your personality traits. Please be honest and genuine.

Essay 1: What matters most to you, and why?

Do a real introspection. There is no ideal answer, so don't try to be somebody else. Do not start with a presumption. Do not think that you have to be extra ordinary.

Go deepest into the well step by step on a ladder of whys. Ask a question, answer it, and again ask why? answer it; ask why? again till you find the answer to question like why your value system and your attitudes are what they are and what is your passion?

Start by making a list of all the choices (big and small) that you made in your life, answer why you made these choices, give due weightage to circumstances that influenced the decision making. For example why you chose to be an engineer? Was it the trend at your time? Or because your parents wanted you to be an engineer? Or you yourself knew that in India if you want to be somebody you need a branded engineering degree? Or because you wanted a secure future, hence you did not pursue a career in Music? Then why you chose a job in India only? Because Indian Job Market is as good as that anywhere else? Because you wanted to be accessible to your parents? Because you got a better and more high profile job in India? Or because you could attend Indian Music Classes on the weekends. A pattern will emerge which answers what matters the most to you.

But this is half the mission accomplished. Half of the question is why is this most important to you? You have to go to the deepest to find the answer- that is your passion, your values, your predispositions, your analysis of life. Suppose being somebody is what matters to you most, then why can have answers like because you have seen your father struggle in life to bring you up, so you wanted to be somebody, or because you were brought up with the expectation to be a successful person as your father was a successful person. So may be your passion and your dream is to succeed. All that you do is directed in that direction only.

Above exercise is the raw material for your answer. Go ahead in your own style to write the answer. Your own story in your own style is bound to click.

Essay 2: What are your career aspirations? How will your education at Stanford help you achieve them?

Stanford really does not give importance to minor details. They are not asking you about short and long term goals, they are asking you about your career vision. It is really easy to link your answer to previous question with this one. Your career vision has to be a step in the direction of achieving what matters to you the most. If environmental concerns matter to you most, then starting or leading an international NGO, working in that area can be your career vision.

You can describe your career so far and link it with your vision very briefly, because word limit is not much. But, please give only the experience (learning) and not for three months I worked for XYZ- India's top most company in Banking. Another no is for giving the post that you want to hold. Preferably say that you want to lead the company (or any word that you find fit). It is better still if you can say where you will lead the company to instead of the company leading you to some career growth.

Just see the values that Stanford puts the emphasis on. Make a list of activities that are available. Which ones match your career vision? What are the students clubs, what activities they take up? Link these in an intrinsic way to your answer.

Essay 3: Here is the assorted pack of various traits. Take your pick. What suits you best? What goes best with your career vision and what makes your first essay even more convincing.

All the options ask for narration of some real life experience through which an insight can be achieved into various aspects of your life. Since the admission criteria include proven demonstration of leadership potential, it is prudent to select option A or B. the first one deals with your leadership style and the second with the effectiveness of your style. The other option you can choose from remaining two- your ability to find a way out of tight spots and your vision- your ability to see beyond. Be brisk in all these essays because you have just 300 words each.

Option A: Tell us about a time when you built or developed a team.

The question aims at a peep into your leadership style through a matter of fact scenario. For the matter for the answer recollect actual scenario, where you had to build or develop a team. Questions to be asked are- who were your team members, were you elevated from amongst the group to be the leader, or you came from outside, how you were welcomed by the team, were they already trained or they were just raw hands, what changes did you bring in the team, why you felt the need for a change, what steps did you take, and more importantly why you took those steps? Was the result achieved?

Answers to these questions will again be facts only, use them wisely. Use more answers to why and how questions. Since the question asks you for a narration, let the answer be that only. Do not reach on the conclusion; leave that job for admission committee, but ensure that your facts lead them to draw a conclusion which you want them to draw. To test this, give it to others to read to find if you are successful in your efforts.

Option B: Tell us about a time when you felt most effective as a leader.

The question focuses on effectiveness of your leadership- which will be judged by the success that you achieved. So, choose the event where your success ratio was maximum- you gave maximum result with minimum resources or in most adverse situation.

So, you have to emphasize as to how you achieved it. For this collect matter on how you visualized the target- somebody set the target or you decided on it, or how you diagnosed the situation if it was a problem- solution situation, what was the involvement of team, did you make them see your vision, how you motivated them to achieve the result, what was your strategy and why, how it was executed, and finally the result- what made it special.

Write the scenario from where you took over in very clear terms. Edit it again and again so that no extra words are wasted in it. Spend more words in explaining your diagnosis of situation, your strategy, its execution and why and how part of it. This will explain your analytical ability, your planning capability, and your motivating capacity.

State the result explaining why it was special so that reader visualizes it in the same way as you felt it.

Let the style be narrative but do not give moral of the story. Ensure that your narration creates your real picture.

Option C: Tell us about a time when you tried to reach a goal or complete a task that was challenging, difficult, or frustrating.

A challenge is to attempt doing something despite knowing that it is difficult or frustrating. So in my view, it is better to write your experience of challenge.

Further, write the challenge that you felt and not the situation-for example target may be to achieve 50% growth, but you feel the challenge lies in motivating the team, or in developing a vibrant dealer network so that growth up to 75% can be achieved.

Collect facts on what was the challenge, why it was a challenge at all i.e. what were the hurdles, how you diagnosed the situation, what strategy you adopted and why- will include questions like how you got the direction, what were the options available, what was the logic behind this strategy, was it agreed upon by the team? How the strategy was executed, did the team act willingly? What was the result?

Narrate the event in a way that clearly states the challenge without forcing the reader to refer to previous lines to understand the relation or situation. Explain how you met the challenge- not what steps, but why those steps. Try to live that thought process again.

Again, keep the style to be narrative.

Option D: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined, established, or expected.

This aims at seeing your initiative, and more importantly your vision. Answer this question if you have done it, because true leaders do go beyond what is established, defined, and expected.

Again recollect the event. Why at all you went beyond, how it got sparked, how you convinced your top management and your team- how you made them see what you were seeing? How you initiated this journey. What plans you had? What and why of steps taken, results, how you felt, how it was appreciated?

Narrate your story with the humility of an inventor, and not the pompousness of a politician.