Stanford GSB Interview Prep: Format, Criteria + Sample Questions
If you’ve made it to the interview stage at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, congratulations are in order. As you well know, the GSB has the most competitive admission stats in the world. With a 6% admissions rate, receiving an invite proves that Stanford already considers you a strong candidate.
Arguably more than any other program, Stanford looks for applicants who have formulated a worldview and understand who they are and what matters most to them.
We asked, “What does Stanford GSB Admissions look for?” of the former Stanford GSB Admissions Officers (AdCom) on the Stacy Blackman Consulting team. Here’s the consensus: Stanford GSB seeks talented, diverse, and smart people who will make a significant impact in business and society.
Stanford GSB students seem to have this ‘X’ factor associated with them, almost like an “unexpected” trait or experience. They take risks, push beyond the imaginable, and lead with passion.
Need extra guidance? We can help with your Stanford GSB interview preparation.
Email us at info@stacyblackman.com to ask about availability.
Interview Invitations at Stanford GSB
The Stanford interview invitation process can be stressful because it extends interview invitations on a rolling basis. “I have had clients get an invite on the final day of the range for the past few years, so they really do send them throughout,” SBC consultant Erika notes.
Stanford continues to read applications/issue interview invitations right up to the deadline. The interview invitation usually expects the applicant to schedule the interview within ten days.
Sample GSB Interview Questions
Across our client pool, we have seen the following questions consistently across interviewers from the GSB:
- Tell me a time when you were blocked on a project or had to navigate a particularly difficult person or conflict
- Tell me about a time you built team culture
- Why an MBA, why Stanford, and what after the MBA
Likewise, we have consistently seen the following structural attributes across interviews from the GSB:
- Conversational but challenging in tone
- Starts with general get-to-know-you questions
- Behavioral questions
- Opportunity to ask questions
Stanford Interviewer Criteria Matrix
Many of our SBC consultants have served as interviewers for Stanford GSB and have shared a sample interviewer assessment matrix here. Your interviewer will be assessing the following criteria during the exchange.Academic Strength | *College academic record *Strong GMAT *Professional accreditation |
Intellectual Capacity | *Judgment of recommenders/interviewer *GMAT *Professional performance from an intellectual perspective |
Leadership Potential: Will the Candidate Make a Difference in the World? | *Strategic, innovative/creative, confident thinker *Not satisfied with the status quo *Curious, visionary *Ambitious, intense and sustained drive to succeed and make a difference in the world *Charismatic, good communicator, able to gain support from/inspire others *Competitive, tenacious *Decision making under uncertainty/stress, ability to assess risk *Versatile (function, knowledge), specialized talents (e.g., design, aesthetics, quantitative, verbal, social) *Execution capabilities in longer-term efforts requiring diverse resources *Maturity to understand that success requires aid from others (in addition to one's own abilities and hard work) *Avoids hubris |
Management/Interpersonal Skills | *Analytical acumen *Project management, results-orientation, sets clear directions *Strong work ethic, reliability, build respect *Interpersonal-collaborative instincts, manage up-down-sideways, build short and long-term relations, team spirit *Performance under pressure, multi-tasking *Culture carrier, mentor-trainer *Cross-functional management |
Globalization | *Global/diverse perspectives · Commitment to cross-cultural intelligence · Additional languages · Introspective, sensitive |
Career Direction: Why | *Pragmatism vs. ambition *Progression from past (function, skills, and/or industry) *Longer-term: recognizing and grasping opportunities, undertaking dreams *Halo/foundation of ethics (value construct, front-page test) *Peculiar strengths *Interests *Seek short vs. long-term rewards *Bored easily? *Social, collaborative aspects *Risk profile *What do they need to learn, skills *Network? Degree? *Geographic change |
Ambition: Why | *Parents *Friends/peers *Defining moment *Role models *Work ethic? *How do they judge success? *What makes them happy? *Something they are afraid of? |
Why Choose Our School | *Career, location, culture, alumni recommendation, global reputation, destiny? *Geography – U.S. “core” exposure *Management training |
How Would They Fit with the Class? | *Engaged and engaging *Positive/optimistic, inspirational *Team player, perhaps team leader *Challenge each other, vigorous discourse, competitive *Specialized experiences/knowledge/skills to share *Personal appeal (range of potential styles), mostly social/fun |
Many are Qualified. Why Bring You into Our Family? | *Will they make a difference? *Will they make a positive difference? *Career – for self and others? [Helps if they can develop an answer to a difficult question.] |
Stacy’s 6 Tips to Ace the Stanford GSB Interview
1. Show how you have made your indelible mark.
Sharing stories about your past leadership achievements will help your interviewer gauge your potential for realizing your future ambitions. The scale of your achievement is less important than the fact that you have left indelible footprints in areas that matter to you.
2. Demonstrate passion and vision.
Show that your reasons for applying to business school go beyond the goal of merely scaling the corporate ladder. During your interview, demonstrate that you have a talent for seeing greater possibilities and a track record of rallying others to embrace that picture of the future and work together with you to realize it.
Your passions make you unique, and your achievements in these areas show the interviewer that you know what is truly important to you.
3. Show you are collaborative.
Stanford wants to determine if you will thrive in its “give more than you take” culture. Do you have the dynamic energy and drive to get involved and give back even when it’s not strictly required? Do you have a track record of contributing to the causes and communities you care about? Then, the admissions committee is likely to conclude you will make their student community stronger.
4. Show that you have a global mindset.
Candidates should emphasize their ability to find common ground and form effective relationships with people different from themselves. Applicants who can provide evidence that they survive and thrive in new, unfamiliar environments will be of particular interest to the admissions committee.
Experience with the challenges of doing business globally and a natural curiosity for learning more about other countries and cultures will also be valued.
5. Demonstrate self-awareness.
The ability to explain why you value one accomplishment above others, what you learned from a setback, or the deeper meaning of your career goals is evidence of self-awareness. The self-aware individual also knows their strengths and weaknesses.
A quality that goes hand-in-hand with self-awareness is maturity. The fact that the admissions committee is seeking evidence of maturity suggests that you should look for opportunities to share defining moments in your life during the interview.
6. Have a compelling answer for the ‘Why Stanford?’ question.
While it’s true that the goals that made you apply to business school will be the same regardless of where you interview, how Stanford can help you achieve those goals should be something you have given serious thought to well before your interview.
Your answers should demonstrate that you have done your homework on the program. That means you’ve interviewed students, alumni, and professors, sat in on classes, or regularly read several Stanford student and professor blogs. Use what you know about the program’s curriculum and philosophy to prove that Stanford can help you achieve your goals like no other program.
Finally, know that interviewers will also expect that you have prepared thoughtful questions about the program for them to answer. So, be sure to spend time planning for this portion of the interview as well. Avoid asking questions you could easily answer by looking at the admissions website. Instead, use this opportunity to learn more about Stanford GSB from someone with firsthand knowledge.
Stanford admits approximately 40 to 45 percent of interviewed candidates, so if you use these tips to help you craft your personal narrative and prepare for the exchange, you stand a good chance of convincing your interviewer that you deserve a seat in next year’s class.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting offers multiple services to meet your MBA application needs, from our All-In Partnership and Interview Prep to hourly help with essay editing, resume review, and much more! Contact us today for a free 15-minute advising session to talk strategy with a Principal SBC consultant.
Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team.
Ashley
Ashley is a former MBA Admissions Board Member for Harvard Business School (HBS), where she interviewed and evaluated thousands of business school applicants for over a six year tenure. Ashley holds an MBA from HBS. During her HBS years, Ashley was the Sports Editor for the Harbus and a member of the B-School Blades Ice Hockey Team. After HBS, she worked in Marketing at the Gillette Company on Male and Female shaving ...
×Kerry
Kerry is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). During her 5+ year tenure at HBS, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a wide range of backgrounds across the globe. She also led marketing and outreach efforts focused on increasing diversity and inclusion, ran the Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP), and launched the 2+2 Program during her time in Admissions. Kerry holds a B.A. from Bates College and ...
×Pauline
A former associate director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Pauline served on the HBS MBA Admissions Board full-time for four years. She evaluated and interviewed HBS applicants, both on-campus and globally. Pauline's career has included sales and marketing management roles with Coca-Cola, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM. For over 10 years, Pauline has expertly guided MBA applicants, and her clients h ...
×Geri
Geri is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). In her 7 year tenure in HBS Admissions, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a diverse set of academic, geographic, and employment backgrounds. Geri also traveled globally representing the school at outreach events in order to raise awareness for women and international students. In additio ...
×Laura
Laura comes from the MBA Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is an HBS MBA alumnus. In her HBS Admissions role, she evaluated and interviewed hundreds of business school candidates, including internationals, women, military and other applicant pools, for five years. Prior to her time as a student at HBS, Laura began her career in advertising and marketing in Chicago at Leo Burnett where she worked on th ...
×Andrea
Andrea served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years. In this role, she provided strategic direction for student yield-management activities and also served as a full member of the admissions committee. In 2007, Andrea launched the new 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School – a program targeted at college junior applicants to Harvard Business School. Andrea has also served as a Career Coach for Harvard Business School for both cu ...
×Jennifer
Jennifer served as Admissions Officer at the Stanford (GSB) for five years. She holds an MBA from Stanford (GSB) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jennifer has over 15 years experience in guiding applicants through the increasingly competitive admissions process into top MBA programs. Having read thousands and thousands of essays and applications while at Stanford (GSB) Admiss ...
×Erin K.
Erin served in key roles in MBA Admissions--as Director at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Assistant Director at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB). Erin served on the admissions committee at each school and has read thousands of applications in her career. At Haas, she served for seven years in roles that encompassed evaluation, outreach, and diversity and inclusion. During her tenure in Admissions at GSB, she was responsible for candidate evaluation, applicant outreach, ...
×Susie
Susie comes from the Admissions Office of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she reviewed and evaluated hundreds of prospective students’ applications. She holds an MBA from Stanford’s GSB and a BA from Stanford in Economics. Prior to advising MBA applicants, Susie held a variety of roles over a 15-year period in capital markets, finance, and real estate, including as partner in one of the nation’s most innovative finance and real estate investment organizations. In that r ...
×Dione
Dione holds an MBA degree from Stanford Business School (GSB) and a BA degree from Stanford University, where she double majored in Economics and Communication with concentrations in journalism and sociology. Dione has served as an Admissions reader and member of the Minority Admissions Advisory Committee at Stanford. Dione is an accomplished and respected advocate and thought leader on education and diversity. She is ...
×Anthony
Anthony served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he dedicated over 10 years of expertise. During his time as a Wharton Admissions Officer, he read and reviewed thousands of applications and helped bring in a class of 800+ students a year. Anthony has traveled both domestically and internationally to recruit a ...
×Meghan
Meghan served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute, a joint degree program combining the Wharton MBA with an MA in International Studies. In her role on the Wharton MBA admissions committee, Meghan advised domestic and international applicants; conducted interviews and information sessions domestically and overseas in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe; and evaluated applicants for admission to the program. Meghan also managed ...
×Amy
Amy comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was Associate Director. Amy devoted 12 years at the Wharton School, working closely with MBA students and supporting the admissions team. During her tenure at Wharton, Amy served as a trusted adviser to prospective applicants as well as admitted and matriculated students. She conducted admissions chats with applicants early in the admissions ...
×Ally
Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS). During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and dome ...
×Erin B.
Erin has over seven years of experience working across major institutions, including University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School, and NYU's Stern School of Business. At Columbia Business School, Erin was an Assistant Director of Admissions where she evaluated applications for both the full time and executive MBA programs, sat on the admissions and merit scholarship committees and advised applicants on which program might be the best fit for them based on their work experience and pro ...
×Emma
Emma comes from the MBA Admissions Office at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she was Associate Director. Emma conducted dozens of interviews each cycle for the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as coordinating the alumni ambassador interview program. She read and evaluated hundreds of applications each cycle, delivered information sessions to audiences across the globe, and advised countless waitlisted applicants. ×