How to get into Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB)

Over 7,324 people applied to Stanford GSB in 2020, but with a class size of 436 students and a 5.9% acceptance rate for the class of 2022, GSB is perhaps the most difficult MBA program to get accepted into from a pure numbers perspective (HBS has more applicants each year, but also a larger class size. The HBS class of 2021 had a 10.2% acceptance rate). What is the difference between the applicants who were offered a spot and those who were rejected? What can you do to make sure you are one of the lucky people accepted to Stanford GSB?

Table Stakes

It is clear from the GSB website that there are some minimum table stakes you need to meet in order to gain admission into Stanford GSB.

GPA/GMAT/GRE: While GSB claims to have no minimum GPA requirement to gain acceptance, with an average GPA of 3.8, the average applicant shouldn’t be too far under a 3.5 if you want a decent shot at admission.

Not all schools and majors are created equal. While Stanford draws heavily from elite undergraduate institutions, they tend to be a little more forgiving for peer-school-but-not-Ivy League graduates than HBS. Anecdotally, we have also seen a greater concentration on quantitative majors such as economics and computer science.

The median GMAT score for the class of 2022 is 733 and the median GRE verbal and quantitative scores are 165/164. We tell the candidates that we work with that once you have higher than a 710, you don’t need to worry about retaking the GMAT, although if you have a very low GPA, a higher test score will help you. We like to use this website to calculate the GMAT score equivalent for the GRE.

There is no preference between submitting test scores for the GMAT vs. the GRE – take whichever test you feel you will score best in. People who are stronger at math tend to excel in the GMAT, whereas people who are strong verbally tend to do better on the GRE, but this is a generalization. Our recommendation is to take a free practice test or answer some practice questions for both tests to see which one you gravitate toward.

Work Experience: The average years of work experience is 4.7. Now, this doesn’t mean that if you have fewer than 4 years you will not get in; rather, it means that you should have enough work experience to allow you to make a significant impact in your role, and for most people that seems to take about 4-5 years.

The specific roles that GSB candidates tend to come from are the more technical ones in their industry. That means if you work at a bank, you work as an investment banker; at a tech company, as a software engineer.

Previous Industry: GSB does not care which industry you come from pre-MBA. Historically, GSB has had a reputation for being strong in tech. While this is true given its proximity to Silicon Valley, the most common background for applicants is actually Investment Management, PE & VC. However, like every top business school, GSB’s goal is to attract a good mix of students from different backgrounds and industries to bring diversity to the class. Keep in mind that if you’re applying from a common industry, you may need to have a stronger application to stand out.

But I have a 4.0 from Yale and I worked at McKinsey and Facebook – why did I get rejected?

A quick perusal of MBA forums will reveal numerous people posting their incredible stats and profiles, along with their rejection results from top schools. Why is this?

Here is the tough truth – there are way more people who apply to schools like Stanford GSB and meet the minimum table stakes than there are spots. Unlike college applicants, business school applicants to schools like GSB tend to be a more self-selecting group of people who feel like they at least have a remote shot at being accepted, i.e. meeting the minimum table stakes. So, it is clearly not enough to just meet the minimum table stakes. What sets apart those who get accepted and those who don’t?

What is that special ingredient? Narrative. It’s a simple word, and quite frankly, a simple concept. But it is often misused, forgotten, or implemented haphazardly. A narrative is a story arc that connects your personal inspirations and motivations to your career aspirations. In the case of an MBA application, a personal narrative will inform the admissions committee how you ended up on your current life story arc, show where this arc will take you by projecting it into future, and then argue why business school is the logical next step in your career because it is the perfect bridge to connect the two. Why are you more deserving to attend GSB than the hundreds of other candidates whose resumes and profiles look remarkably similar to yours?

How Narratives Differ Between GSB and HBS: What we find from our successful candidates at HBS and GSB is that HBS prefers the traditional Marshall-Ganz-style narrative that connects the individual’s candidacy with a particular career mission aligned with the mission of HBS, and with particular urgency given world or economic events. GSB prefers a less career-focused narrative and a more personal-focused one where you latch on to a time of trauma of vulnerability and explain how that set you off on a particular calling that provides a leitmotif for your involvements.

Final Thoughts: It is crucial that your personal narrative be authentic and reflected in every component of your application, something that takes a lot of deep personal introspection and reflection. For many people, this is a struggle, and it can help to have an objective third-party work with you to try and distill your personal narrative. Ivy Admissions Group originally started out by helping Waitlist clients, and over the years we have had the opportunity to help dozens of candidates fix their narratives and gain admission. If this is something you might need help with, please feel free to get in touch for a free consultation, or check out our Complete School Package and Narrative Bootcamp services.GSB websitethis website

How to get into Harvard Business School

Over 9,228 people applied to Harvard Business School in 2019, but only 10.2% of applicants matriculated, resulting in 938 students for the HBS class of 2021. What is the difference between the applicants who were offered a spot and those who were rejected? What can you do to make sure you are one of the lucky people who gets into Harvard Business School?

Table Stakes

It is clear from the HBS website that there are some minimum table stakes you need to meet in order to gain admission into Harvard Business School.

GPA/GMAT/GRE: With an average GPA of 3.70, you probably shouldn’t be too far under a 3.5 if you want a decent shot at admission. The median GMAT score for the class of 2021 is 730 and the median GRE verbal and quantitative scores are 163/163. We tell the candidates that we work with that once you have higher than a 710, you don’t need to worry about retaking the GMAT, although if you have a very low GPA, a higher test score will help you. We like to use this website to calculate the GMAT equivalent for the GRE.

There is no preference between submitting test scores for the GMAT vs. the GRE – take whichever test you feel you will score best in. People who are stronger at math tend to excel in the GMAT, whereas people who are strong verbally tend to do better on the GRE, but this is a generalization. Our recommendation is to take a free practice test or answer some practice questions for both tests to see which one you gravitate toward.

Work Experience: The average years of work experience is 4.7. Now, this doesn’t mean that if you have fewer than 4 years you will not get in; rather, it means that you should have enough work experience to allow you to make a significant impact in your role, and for most people that seems to take about 4-5 years.

Previous Industry: HBS does not care which industry you came from pre-MBA. If it seems like they tend to favor consulting or tech, it is because that is where most of the applicants are coming from. Dee Leopold, the former head of admissions, used to say that HBS is trying to build a “salad” (her words), so they need to get a good mix of students from different backgrounds and industries to bring diversity to the class. However, keep in mind that if you’re applying from a common industry, you may need to have a stronger application to stand out.

But I have a 4.0 from Yale and I worked at McKinsey and Facebook – why did I get rejected?

A quick perusal of MBA forums will reveal numerous people posting their incredible stats and profiles, along with their rejection results from top schools. Why is this?

Here is the tough truth – there are way more people who apply to schools like Harvard Business School and meet the minimum table stakes than there are spots. Unlike college applicants, business school applicants to schools like HBS tend to be a more self-selecting group of people who feel like they at least have a remote shot at being accepted, i.e. meeting the minimum table stakes. So, it is clearly not enough to just meet the minimum table stakes. What sets apart those who get accepted and those who don’t?

Ivy Admissions Group originally started out by helping Waitlist clients, and over the years we have had the opportunity to see hundreds of profiles that clearly meet the minimum table stakes, but were missing something to push them into the accepted zone. What we’ve been able to figure out is that special ingredient that moves the application from Waitlist -> Accepted. What is that special ingredient? Narrative. It’s a simple word, and quite frankly, a simple concept. But it is often misused, forgotten, or implemented haphazardly. A narrative is a story arc that connects your personal inspirations and motivations to your career aspirations. In the case of an MBA application, a personal narrative will inform the admissions committee how you ended up on your current life story arc, show where this arc will take you by projecting it into future, and then argue why business school is the logical next step in your career because it is the perfect bridge to connect the two. Why are you more deserving to attend HBS than the other candidates whose resumes and profiles look remarkably similar to yours?

It is crucial that your personal narrative be authentic and reflected in every component of your application, something that takes a lot of deep personal introspection and reflection. For many people, this is a struggle, and it can help to have an objective third-party work with you to try and distill your personal narrative. If this is something you might need help with, please feel free to get in touch for a free consultation, or check out our Complete School Package and Narrative Bootcamp services.

Podcasts to listen to as you apply to your MBA

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Build your vocabulary with Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day! Each day a Merriam-Webster editor offers insight into a fascinating new word -- explaining its meaning, current use, and little-known details about its origin. (~2 min per episode)

• Good for: studying vocabulary
• The narrator of this podcast, Peter Sokolowski, combines wordplay and interesting facts in every one of his expositions. For the vocabulary-intensive GRE, I can think of no other podcast to listen to on the go that will expose you to a greater number of obscure and arcane words that you might encounter on your test. Sometimes you'll even encounter a word or two that will perfectly explain a concept that was previously ineffable. 
• The episodes are interesting and very short, making them especially easy to binge consume when you're waiting for something -- like deboarding an airplane.

Finance Career Launch

David Mariano is a Director with Western Reserve Partners, a middle market investment bank in Cleveland, OH. David has spent most of his career working with business owners, CEOs, CFOs and Heads of Corporate Development as an advisor, part-owner and/or business leader. David has served in many other capacities, including Manager of Financial Planning & Analysis, VP of Finance, Head of Marketing and General Manager, and has made the transition from an entry-level, analytical role to one focused on leadership and business development. You and I and everyone else in the first 10-15 years of their career (and beyond, for those willing to admit it) would really like to be mentored, but mentors are impossible to find. I am frequently asked for advice about careers in finance and can do some of this in person or over the phone, but nowhere near as much as I'd like or as often as I'm asked. Finance Career Launch fills this void.

• Good for: exploring careers in finance
• Each episode gives an insight into what it is like to work in or recruit for traditional jobs in finance. Worth listening to as you do your due diligence on the future career you want to have.

HBR IdeaCast

A weekly podcast featuring the leading thinkers in business and management from Harvard Business Review. Produced by Harvard Business Review. (~15 min per episode)

• Good for: interview prep, understanding the state of business research, due diligence on Harvard Business School
• Articles from the acclaimed (and expensive) Harvard Business Review magazine come to life as the staff of the publication sit down with the authors and thought leaders behind the main articles of each issue. Topics are wide ranging, but can veer on the dry and academic side of things. These podcasts are great for finding topics to bring up in your MBA interview, especially if at HBS. You'll have a great answer if you ever get asked about the research you've done on the school.
• Great for plugging in on long commutes.

a16z Podcast

The a16z Podcast discusses tech and culture trends, news, and the future -- especially as ‘software eats the world’. It features industry experts, business leaders, and other interesting thinkers and voices from around the world. This podcast is produced by Andreessen Horowitz (aka “a16z”), a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm. Multiple episodes are released every week; visit a16z.com for more details. (~30 min per episode)

• Good for: understanding the VC, tech, and start-up industries. Specifically, what are the latest ideas, companies, and concepts circulating around Silicon Valley
• Not so much journalism as advocacy, but you're getting it from a market leader in the VC industry. At the very least, it is worth knowing what Andreessen Horowitz is thinking about, especially if your stated goal involves working in the San Francisco ecosystem.

Bigger Pockets

Imagine you are friends with hundreds of real estate investors and entrepreneurs. Now imagine you can grab a beer with each of them and casually chat about failures, successes, motivations, and lessons learned. That’s what The BiggerPockets Podcast delivers. Co-hosted by BiggerPockets’ founder & CEO Joshua Dorkin and active real estate investor Brandon Turner, this podcast provides actionable advice from investors and other real estate professionals every week. The show won’t tell you how to “get rich quick” or sell you a course, boot camp, or guru system; instead, the BiggerPockets Podcast will give you real strategies that work for real people. 

• Good for: personal finances, understanding real estate and investing.
• Solid tips and advice presented in a no-frills way. Little frills, little fluff. Mostly conversations with those who have made it in the real estate industry. Criticisms include that the hosts talk too much relative to the guests and that the level of sarcasm becomes grating.

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders

The DFJ Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar (ETL) is a weekly seminar series on entrepreneurship, co-sponsored by BASES (a student entrepreneurship group), Stanford Technology Ventures Program, and the Department of Management Science and Engineering. (~60 min per episode)

• Good for: those who live on the east coast but want to speak the language of technology, entrepreneurship, and venture capital spoken on the west coast.
• A good blend of thought leadership, high-information/low-noise conversation, and questions asked by an intelligent business school student body. Packed full of good lessons for tech entrepreneurs and inspiring anecdotes to motivate them when times get tough.

How long should I study for the GMAT?

Many people ask how much time they should budget to study for the GMAT. How much time is too little? How much is too much? Is there such a thing as too much?

Yes. Remember: always in moderation.

Turning to the makers of the GMAT is itself informative. According to the official website of the GMAT, the average test taker spends 4 to 6 weeks studying for a total of 21 to 50 hours. Four out of five test takers study for fewer than 10 weeks and 100 hours.

The bottom line is that if you want to apply to schools Round 1 this year, you have plenty of time to study if you start now.

I like to think of the process of studying for tests like the GRE and GMAT as progressing through four major phases:

Phase 1: Test discovery – This is your first practice test, taken cold. You learn what kinds of questions you will get in each section, get a feel for the pacing required to advance through each section, and condition yourself for the marathon experience that is taking the GMAT, in full, in a single sitting. For many, this experience is a wake-up call to prepare. But for you, this should be your first dip into the waters to understand the feel or the stroke, the temperature of the water, and the distance you will need to swim.

Phase 2: Audit of Weaknesses – In this phase you go through each of the different types of questions in each of the sections to understand where you are strong and where you are weak. Once you’ve separated them, you should start by trying to improve your weakest subsection first. To do this, you should employ a mix of authentic practice problems and mental exercises that touch on adjacent skills – for example, speed algebra problems, geometry exercises, and vocabulary flash cards.

Phase 3: Gaining a “Feel” for the Test – Once you cross a certain threshold of studying, you will see how the structure of problems will repeat themselves. Usually most problems have a fast way of solving them, and one or two slow ways of solving them. Once you reach this point, you should be able to recognize how a problem is similar to one you encountered in the past, and apply the “fast” solution that you learn by checking the answer previously.

Phase 4: Test Day – There is a wealth of science on how mental acuity is affected by sleep, diet, exercise, environment, and time of day. In the lead-up to test day, you should work to give yourself an advantage on every one of these dimensions. Why would you not? Normally, you do not want to cover any new study material on test day. Instead, you should just practice by solving a few easy problems of each type with which you are already familiar. This will boost your confidence and set your brain back in that “groove” you got a feel for in Phase 3.

Should I take the GMAT or GRE?

There are a growing number of business schools that now accept both the GMAT and the GRE -- HBS, GSB, Booth, Wharton, and Tuck, to name a few (click here for the full list).

Many students ask, which should I take?

• Amazing at math? Take the GMAT.
  • The quantitative portion of the GMAT covers a broader set of mathematical topics and offers more complicated problems than the GRE. Additionally, in the GRE you can use a calculator--not so for the GMAT.
  • However, because those who take the GMAT (namely, business school students) score higher than those who take the GRE (general graduate school students), it is harder to get a high percentile math score on the GMAT than on the GRE.
  • For example, a scaled GMAT quantitative score of 51 (i.e. no wrong answers) puts you in the 97th percentile and a score of 50 (only one wrong) puts you in the 87th percentile. On the GRE, a perfect quantitative score or one off would both put you in the 97th percentile.
• Bad with time pressure? Take the GRE.
  • In the GRE you are given a certain time allotment per section (30 minutes for 20 Verbal Reasoning questions or 35 minutes for 20 Quantitative Reasoning questions) and you are free to go back and forth answering questions within a section. The GRE even has a function that allows you to "flag" questions that you would like to return to. This allows you to calmly budget your time according to the difficulty of the questions and not waste your time on one impossible one.
  • The GMAT on the other hand only presents one question at a time. You can't go back or advance to the next question until you answer the current one. The test does this because the difficulty of later questions depends upon how well you answer earlier ones. People who stress out on standardized testing may spend the GMAT fretting about each question they get and second-guessing their previous answers if they see an easier question later in the test.
• Not a native English speaker? It depends. 
  • The GRE has a very heavy emphasis on vocabulary. Even native english speakers have to build up decks of flashcards to study the arcane words that the test loves to use.
  • The GMAT emphasizes grammar logic. Pick your poison.
• Bad at test taking in general? Take the GRE.
  • Some business schools, usually the ones who are fighting to maintain or move up the MBA rankings (e.g. Wharton, Columbia, and Yale), place more emphasis on the average GMAT score of their incoming class, since publications such as U.S. News & World Report and The Economist use that statistic in their annual rankings of business schools.
  • If you are going to get an equivalently low score on your standardized test, it is better to do so in the GRE since that statistic is not as closely tracked and a school may have less hesitancy in admitting you for fear that you will bring down that average.
• Not 100% sure about business school? Or want to do a Joint Degree Program? Take the GRE.
  • The GRE will get you into any graduate school, and leaves you some optionality.
  • However, certain joint programs (such as the JD-MBA at Kellogg) require you to take the GMAT, so do your research.
• 100% sure about business school? Take the GMAT.
  • If you feel you're equally equipped to take both the GRE and the GMAT, and you're serious about business school, take the GMAT. It can signal to the Adcom that you're serious about business school, and can even qualify you for some merit-based scholarships. However, if you know the GRE plays to your strengths, go ahead and take it. Your score matters!

At the end of the day, our advice is to take the test where you can score highest. Take practice tests to figure out which is best for you.