Stanford MBA Application

Contents

Stanford GSB’s acceptance rate is the lowest of all MBA programs globally at just 8.9%. Learn more about this highly-coveted program here.

“Stanford seeks outstanding and diverse people who seek a transformative experience at the GSB and in turn, seek to transform lives, organizations and the world — that is, to make a significant impact,” shared a former Stanford GSB Admissions Officer on the Stacy Blackman Consulting team.

Contact us for an assessment of your Stanford GSB MBA candidacy today. Here’s a snapshot of our GSB expertise on the SBC admissions consulting team:

Stanford Program Overview
The Stanford MBA Program maintains that strong leadership “is as much a mindset as a skill set, and to make a difference in the organizations you will serve, you need both.” Accordingly, they aim to deliver a “leadership education that prepares you for your next job and for career moves 30 years from now.”

Known as one of the country’s most selective business schools, Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) took a new, more personalized approach to its curriculum in 2007. This new approach tailored each student’s academic experience to match their individual career goals and abilities.

At the Stanford GSB, students and alumni describe a very supportive and enthusiastic environment in which many long-lasting relationships are formed. Stanford is known for its strength in the entrepreneurial area, and many students enter the program with ideas for new ventures already in mind. Alumni cite the school’s entrepreneurial resources and support for such ventures as characteristics which set the program apart from others.

Stanford GSB is also known for its small class size and for having an environment in which students can have closer relationships with faculty and staff than they would in a large program. The school’s vision is that of a “collaborative community” in which students can benefit from working with others who have varied backgrounds.

stanford course female entrepreneurs

Admissions Stats

Here’s a snapshot of GSB’s student class, relative to HBS:

Admission Stats Harvard Stanford
Median GMAT 730 738
GMAT Range 590-790 610-790
Average GPA 3.69 3.78
Estimated selectivity 10.02% 7.00%

 

Class of 2023 Harvard    Stanford 
Enrolled MBA Students 1,010 426
International MBA Students 37% 47%
Women MBA Students 46% 44%
Black American Students 12% 5%
Hispanic/Latinx Students 11% 11%
Asian American Students 24% 23%

Rounds & Deadlines

Search our MBA deadlines chart for updates on round and dates.

Stanford GSB Admissions Essay

Here are GSB’s main essay prompts and GSB essay tips can be found here. Even outside the actual essay prompts, GSB embeds within its application data form short answer questions that are not to be dismissed, as they are as scrutinized by MBA Admissions readers.

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

For this essay, we would like you to reflect deeply and write from the heart. Once you’ve identified what matters most to you, help us understand why. You might consider, for example, what makes this so important to you? What people, insights, or experiences have shaped your perspectives?

Essay B: Why Stanford?

Describe your aspirations and how your Stanford GSB experience will help you realize them. If you are applying to both the MBA and MSx programs, use Essay B to address your interest in both programs.

Both essays combined may not exceed 1,050 words. We recommend up to 650 words for Essay A and up to 400 words for Essay B. We often find effective essays that are written in fewer words.

GSB Admissions Tips

SBC reviews its admit pool each season to identify key trends and lessons. When we evaluated all our successful HBS admits across our SBC client pool, past clients who received admits, we found that their essays had some common success factors:

  1. Core passion and driving motivation shared through several examples, professional, community, personal
  2. Autobiographical and also key achievements
  3. Multi-topical as opposed to one topic, but with a structured framework of some type and not colloquial, freeflow presentation

Similarly, academic stats, intellectual horsepower, leadership track record, career clarity, and proven ambition are all table stakes for GSB  admissions.  

Sample GSB Essays

Winning essays from our successful admits are new on the SBC site and can be found here:

GSB Essay Examples

What Matters Most to You and Why: Examples

More HBS Application Tips

View our extensive overview of how the application for Harvard varies from that of Stanford here.

Stanford GSB Class of 2023 Key Statistics
Applicants: 7,367
Entering Full-Time MBA Students: 426
Average GMAT: 738
Average GRE: 165 Verbal/ 165 Quantitative
Average GPA: 3.78
Average Age: 28
Average Work Experience: 4.8 years
Rolling Admissions: No
Women: 44%
International Students: 47%
US Students of Color: 48%
First-Generation College Graduate: 12%

Stanford GSB Important Dates

Round 1 Deadline: September 13, 2022
Round 2 Deadline: January 5, 2023
Round 3 Deadline: May 25, 2023

Contact

(323) 934-3936
info@StacyBlackman.com

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