Stanford 2006 MBA Application Toolbox

Stanford

Official website
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/admission/index.html

Class Size:
Approximately 370

Admission Criteria

What are we really looking for? We're looking for outstanding individuals, and the very qualities that make you different from all of our other students are the qualities that make the GSB a stimulating place to learn.

We evaluate all applicants in three areas:

Intellectual Vitality
The idea or theme that is primary in our minds as we evaluate an application is your intellectual vitality. You can demonstrate this in many ways, not simply through grades and test scores. In other words, your attitude toward learning is as important as your aptitude. Because the Stanford community believes in the power of ideas, we want to see your passion, dedication, and genuine interest in expanding your intellectual horizons throughout your application.

We look for evidence of the kind of curiosity and passion that will allow you to spark a lively discussion in class and continue that conversation during coffee with a faculty member, walking back to the Schwab Residential Center with a classmate, or over dinner with alumni.

Another consideration is the initiative with which you seek out opportunities that enhance your knowledge.

We want to understand your willingness to "suspend disbelief"—to master concepts that may not be immediately relevant to your intended career, to carve your path in ambiguous environments, and to support the School's goal of developing knowledge that deepens and advances the practice of management.

Demonstrated Leadership Potential
Another factor that is foremost in our minds as we read your application is your demonstrated leadership potential. In short, we try to understand your character and your professional competence.

Your personal character matters not only because integrity is the cornerstone of any academic community, but also because of the vast responsibility our society reposes in leaders of business and social-sector organizations. As a result, we look for evidence of your behaviors consistent with your ideals, even under difficult circumstances—a sort of directed idealism.

We want to understand your personal motivation and convictions, and your ability to confront complex, unfamiliar issues with good judgment.

We envision you defending your position with vigor and respect to a peer advocating a different view.

We also try to uncover the ways in which challenges to your beliefs may have changed some of your perspectives and reinforced others.

In understanding your competence, we look for both leadership experiences and potential. In doing so, we don't limit ourselves to your professional life. Neither should you.

We look comprehensively at your background for evidence of your impact on the people and organizations around you, and the impact of those experiences on you.

Learning about your activities, experiences, interests, and aspirations helps us discover your potential contributions to Stanford and to society.

We envision you working with a group of students and faculty to design a new interdisciplinary course on ethical issues in life sciences or leading the Sports Business Conference.

We imagine you building a legacy in the organizations you serve throughout your career, inspiring and motivating your colleagues.

We consider your awareness of what you do well and the areas in which you can improve; group and interpersonal skills; and commitment to utilizing fully your opportunities and available resources. These qualities will help you to shape your own experience as a student, and will influence your ability to make a difference as an alumna or alumnus.

Personal Qualities and Contributions
A third factor that we consider is the perspective that you bring to the Stanford community—your personal qualities and contributions. In a world that often emphasizes conformity, the Stanford community thrives only with the unique perspectives and interests of our students.

So the strongest applications we see each year are those in which your thoughts and style remain intact. To understand how you will contribute to and benefit from the Business School community, we want to know about you: your beliefs, your passions, your hopes, your aspirations, what matters most.

Will you revolutionize the Energy Conference, take the Global Management Program in a different direction, or be the dissenting voice in a classroom discussion?

Think carefully about who you are, and have confidence in yourself. We always remember that there is neither an "ideal" candidate nor a "typical" Stanford MBA student. You should remember this, too. Yes, our community includes students who have pursued incomparable opportunities. But this doesn't mean that something remarkable (either positive or negative) must have happened to you. In fact, most Stanford MBA students have excelled by doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.

It is what you make of an experience that matters to us, not simply the experience itself.

Essays & Activities
Essays
We read the essays to get to know you as a person and to learn about the ideas and interests that motivate you. Because we want to discover who you actually are, resist the urge to "package" yourself in order to come across in a way you think Stanford wants. Such attempts simply blur our understanding of who you are and what you can accomplish.

Essays A & B
You must complete two personal essays.

Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?
Essay B: How do you plan to achieve your learning objectives at Stanford? How do you see your career developing?
In other parts of the application, we learn about your academic and professional accomplishments (i.e., what you have done). It is through your personal essays that we learn more about the person behind the achievements (i.e., who you are). This is the time to think carefully about what matters most to you: your values, your passions, your hopes and dreams.

We want to hear your genuine voice throughout the two essays that you write. Truly, the most impressive essays are those that do not begin with the goal of impressing us. Begin work on these essays early, and feel free to ask your friends and family members to provide constructive feedback. When you ask for feedback, ask if the essay’s tone sounds like your voice. It should. Your family and friends know you better than anyone else. If they do not believe that your essays capture who you are, how you live, what you believe, and what you aspire to do, then surely the Committee on Admissions will be unable to recognize what is most distinctive about you.

However, there is a big difference between "feedback" and "coaching." There are few hard and fast rules, but you cross a line when a piece of the application ceases to be exclusively yours in either thought or word (excluding the letter of reference, which should be exclusively the recommender’s in thought and word).

Appropriate feedback occurs when you show someone your completed application, perhaps one or two times, and are apprised of errors or omissions. In contrast, inappropriate coaching occurs when either your essays or your entire self-presentation is colored by someone else. You best serve your own interests when your personal thoughts, individual voice, and unique style remain intact at the end of your editing process.

Additional Information

If there is any other information that is critical for us to know and is not captured elsewhere, please include it in this section of your application. Please do not include additional essays.
Use this section if any of the required essays exceeds 10 pages and cannot be uploaded completely in the appropriate section of the Online Application Form. Upload the remaining pages to this section.
Examples of pertinent additional information include (10 page limit):
Extenuating circumstances affecting academic or work performance.
Explanation as to why you do not have a Letter of Reference from your current direct supervisor.
Explanation of criminal conviction, academic suspension or expulsion, and/or failing grades.
Any other information that you did not have sufficient space to complete in another section of the application. Please begin the information in the appropriate section.
Additional work experience that cannot fit into the space provided.

Required Format for All Essays
Double-space your work and make sure that it is easy to read. We suggest at least a 10-point font.
Number all pages.
The length of your responses is up to you. You should feel free to take the space you need to answer the questions fully.
Most applicants find that three to seven pages each for Essays A and B is appropriate. If your essays are longer than 10 pages each, you may upload the remainder into the Additional Information section.
After you upload your documents to the Web application, please preview each document to ensure that the formatting is true to the original.
We suggest that you save a copy of your essays.
We expect that the work contained in your application essays is exclusively your own. It is a violation of the spirit of the Fundamental Standard and Honor Code to have essays written by someone other than yourself for your Stanford MBA Program application. Such an act will result in denial of your application or withdrawal of your offer of admission.

Activities
You have an opportunity to describe your extracurricular activities in your application. This is an excellent way for us to understand your unique experiences and insights and to come to know you personally. No club, community, or professional activity is more important than another. With activities, a sustained depth of commitment in one or two activities may demonstrate your passion more than minimal participation in five or six organizations.

Please note that there are separate sections in the online application for you to report activities during and after university/college. Examples of activities in which you are/have been involved may include charitable, civic, community, and professional.

Letters of Reference

Qualitative accounts of your intellectual and professional abilities are essential to us. As we read your letters of reference, we hope to discover specific descriptions and examples illustrating your potential to lead.

We require two professional/workplace recommendations and one from a peer/team member. Choose individuals who know you well, and who will take the time to write thorough, detailed letters with specific anecdotes and examples. We are impressed by what the letter says and how it reads, not by who writes it.
We require three Letters of Reference

Two Professional/Workplace References
You must obtain at least one recommendation from your current direct supervisor. If you are unable to provide a letter from your current direct supervisor, we expect that you will include a brief note of explanation in the Additional Information section.
College seniors may use a direct supervisor from a summer, part-time, or internship experience. Alternatively, you may ask someone who oversaw you in an extracurricular, volunteer, or charitable activity.
One Peer Reference
An individual with whom you have worked on a team or on a project, in a position equal to your own, should complete this recommendation. This person should not be a supervisor or subordinate.  You may choose this person from any of your team experiences: extracurricular, professional, charitable, or other.

Interviews

At Stanford, we have found that specific information derived from interviews helps us to better understand candidates. Most interview feedback confirms the impressions we formed from reading the written application; a few interview evaluations contribute new information that may not be captured easily on paper.

Interview Process
All interviews are by invitation only and are conducted by alumni. Candidates invited to interview have been reviewed by the Committee on Admissions and are considered competitive for admission.

We do not have resources to interview every applicant to the Stanford MBA Program, but we will interview every candidate who is offered admission to the class. We expect to interview between 800 and 1,200 applicants this year.

The interview focuses on past actions rather than on hypothetical situations. The primary questions revolve around behaviors, skills, and attitudes that we believe are key to good citizenship in the Stanford community and vital to high-impact leadership post-MBA. We ask you to reflect on your personal and professional experiences, what you’ve learned about yourself, and how best to lead people and manage situations. You’ll probably surprise even yourself with the many ways you’ve demonstrated leadership in your life; take advantage of this opportunity to think about the people, situations, and events that have shaped you.

The interview is both evaluative and informative: it is not only an opportunity for us to learn more about you, but also for you to learn more about Stanford. Our goal is for the interviews to be a positive exchange of ideas and information. We use the information derived from the interview in context, just as we use all other information in the application process.

If you are invited to interview, the MBA Admissions Office will contact you via email or phone.

Please do not call or contact our office to request an interview.
The interviews are conducted exclusively by Stanford MBA alumni. MBA Admissions officers do not conduct interviews.
We do not provide interview feedback.
After you receive an email invitation, you and your alumni interviewer will set up a mutually convenient date and time to meet.
If you submitted a Self-Reported Transcript, you are required to send an Official Transcript as soon as you are invited to interview. Please review the Academic Transcripts section on page 5 of the Application Instructions.

Approximate Interview schedule
Round 1 Early November - Mid-January

Round 2 Mid-January - Late March

Round 3 Late March - Mid-May

If you are waitlisted without an interview, you will be interviewed after you accept your place on the waitlist.

GMAT Calculator

Use the GMAT and TOEFL Calculators below to determine if your test scores will be valid for the application round in which you plan to apply.

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/admission/tools.html

Fees & Test Scores

Application Fee
The non-refundable MBA Program application fee is $235.
You may pay via credit card as part of the online application.
If you pay by check or money order, please make your payment in U.S. currency and payable through a U.S. bank. Submit the payment with your supplemental application materials packet.
If someone else writes the check or money order for you, please ensure that your name appears on the front of the check.
Make the check or money order payable to the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Fee waivers are granted only to university/college seniors receiving financial aid. If you are requesting a waiver, please send a copy of your school's Financial Aid Award Letter as part of your supplemental application materials packet. We do not grant other fee waivers.
If you do not pay the application fee, we will not review your application.

Test Scores
While we know that scores on standardized tests do not always portray a student’s abilities accurately, they still play a helpful role as one piece of an application. As such, we require every applicant to submit results of the GMAT.

International students without a degree from a university at which the primary language of instruction is English must submit results of the TOEFL as well.

We consider your test scores within the context of factors such as the resources available to you, the educational procedures within your university and country, etc.

GMAT
There is no minimum GMAT score for graduate study at Stanford University.
GMAT scores are valid for five years. The scores must be valid on the deadline date of the round in which you apply.
You must take the GMAT before submitting your application. If you do not take the GMAT prior to submission, your incomplete application will be reviewed as is.
Please self-report your scores on the Application Form. These are the scores we will consider in our initial evaluation of your application.
You must instruct the testing service to send your official GMAT scores directly to the Stanford MBA Program. Educational Testing Service (ETS) administers tests taken prior to December 31, 2005; Pearson VUE administers tests taken on or after January 1, 2006. The Stanford MBA Program school code for ETS is 4704 and for Pearson VUE is L9R-KW-09.
If you have taken the GMAT more than once, please report only the score that you wish us to consider while reviewing your application. We do not average scores.
If you retake the GMAT after the application deadline, we will not consider your new scores in our evaluation.
If your AWA (Analytical Writing Assessment) score is not available, please leave this question blank.
If the computer-adaptive test is not available in your area, you must take the paper-based version of the test prior to submitting your application. Since paper-based test scores are not available immediately, please leave the GMAT test score section blank on your Application Form but report the date of the test.

TOEFL
The minimum TOEFL score for graduate study at Stanford University is 250 for the computer-based test (CBT), 100 for the internet-based test (iBT) or 600 for the paper-based test (PBT).
TOEFL scores are valid for two years and must be taken before submitting your application. The scores must be valid on the deadline date of the round in which you apply. If you do not take the TOEFL prior to submission, your application will be reviewed as is.
The Educational Testing Service (ETS) will administer the new iBT beginning in the U.S. in late September 2005, and then Canada, Germany, Italy, and France in late October. Other countries will follow in 2006. We will continue to accept valid CBT and PBT test scores during the implementation phase.
You must instruct the Educational Testing Service to send your official TOEFL scores directly to the Stanford MBA Program school code 4704.
If you have taken the TOEFL more than once, report only the scores that you wish us to consider while reviewing your application. You may take the test only once in a calendar month.
If you retake the TOEFL after the application deadline, your new scores will not be considered in our evaluation.
If the computer-adaptive test is not available in your area, you must take the paper-based version of the test prior to submitting your application. Since paper-based test scores are not available immediately, please enter the date of the test and report test scores as zeros.
If scores are reported to you as a range, enter your test date and report scores as zeros. Please explain this in the Additional Information section of your application.

Deadlines

Academic Record
There is no recommended curriculum for undergraduate study, but we expect you to challenge yourself throughout your academic career and to do well. If you have earned academic honors, we give you the opportunity to list them in the application.

Many applicants worry that we may not know that lower grades in one concentration (or university; or, for international students, educational system) may be equivalent to the strongest at another. We do. But remember, it is not a grade point average (or rank in class, or actual grade) that is of greatest importance. By focusing on your achievements within context, we evaluate how you have excelled within your individual academic environment and how you have taken advantage of what was available to you in your school and community.

Transcripts
Please submit unofficial transcripts of your academic work via the Self-Reported Transcript Template, which can be found in the online application. The Self-Reported Transcript Template is in Microsoft Excel 97 format and speeds the processing of your application. Please do not send a hard copy of your transcript with your application.

If you are invited to interview, an Official Transcript will be requested at that time.

Please note that any discrepancy between the Self-Reported Transcript and the Official Transcript could result in the denial of your application or withdrawal of your offer of admission.

Academic transcripts are required from each college and/or university you have attended for one full academic year (two academic semesters, three quarters or trimesters) or more, regardless of the number of credits received.

Transcripts from year-abroad programs are not necessary if the grades are included on your undergraduate transcript.

Do not include transcripts from secondary school.

U.S. Schools Only
If you attended a program for more than four years, please report subsequent annual GPAs in the Additional Information section of the application.

Non-U.S. Schools Only
When filling out the Self-Reported Transcript, please list classes and grades exactly as they appear on your transcript. Do not translate grades into U.S. equivalencies or fill out the GPA section. Please list the official degree, diploma, or title as it is known in the country of origin, not in U.S. terms. However, please be sure to enter degree conferral and attendance dates in U.S. terms (i.e., MM/DD/YYYY).

Official transcripts are required ONLY if you are invited to interview. Please note and ensure the following:

Complete the front page of the International Transcript Request Form (part of the Online Application) and send it to your school’s Registrar. Ensure that the issuing office includes degree conferral documentation, if applicable, and that all documents issued by the institution bear its official stamp as well as the signature of the appropriate administrator. In some countries, this process can take several months so we advise that you begin securing your records as soon as possible.

All documentation must be in the original language and be accompanied by an English translation prepared by the issuing institution.

A photocopy is generally not acceptable unless it is properly certified by an academic or government official who has personally compared the original with the photocopy and verified that it is a true copy of the original.

It is very important that Official Transcripts remain unopened. If the seal has been broken you will be required to provide new ones.

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