Stanford MBA Program

We are excited to share with you that a group of first year Middle Eastern students have joined forces to establish the Middle East and North Africa Club (MENA) at the GSB.

Given the role the MENA region is playing in today's business environment, we felt the need to build bridges between the GSB and this region.

Accordingly, with the support of the GSB, we established MENA in January 2008 with the purpose of promoting the Middle East at the GSB through speakers and recruiting events, and promoting the GSB in the Middle East through admission and alumni events.

We welcome the Class of 2010 and the Middle Eastern admits in particular.

If you are a Middle Eastern admit or prospective student, we encourage you to contact us with any questions you may have regarding the GSB.

-- Marwan Bejjani, MBA Class of 2009
GSB Middle East and North Africa Club Leaders

I am a GSB alumna who works in admissions with Derrick, Rita, and the rest of the team.

In addition to reading your amazing applications, we're always looking for new ways to reach prospective applicants and let them know about our program.

Because attracting more women to the Stanford GSB has been a longstanding goal, we decided to launch a conference oriented to prospective women applicants.

MBA Admissions would like to invite you to join us on Saturday, May 17 for XX Factor: WOMEN+LEADERSHIP, and revel in a day of information and interaction.

After breakfast and a keynote address from alumna Trae Vassallo, MBA 2000, (she began her career as an engineer working for IDEO and ran a successful startup before becoming a venture capital partner), we will meet with recent alumnae and current students, engage in class simulations with GSB professors, and learn about admissions, financial aid, and career opportunities. There is no charge for this full day event.

XX Factor will focus on the value of the business school experience and the options available to women who have the MBA degree.

Whatever your background, whatever your dreams, the Stanford GSB will help you achieve your highest aspirations.

Yes, there are still a few glass ceilings out there, but the MBA education will equip you with the tools to break through those barriers and start to change the world.

Get more information and register for the conference at http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/mk/xxfactor_2008/index.html
And if you have any questions, email us at xxfactor@gsb.stanford.edu

See you there,
JoAnne Goldberg

The Arbuckle Cafe at the Stanford GSB will be celebrating Earth Day, 22 April 2008, as Low Carbon Diet Day.

In conjunction with Bon Appetit, a Palo Alto-based catering company, Arbuckle will be providing a low carbon menu all day.

You may be asking, "What is a low carbon diet? It sounds like a low carb diet...so does 'low carbon' mean fewer carbohydrates?"

No, not really. Actually, the menu won't change that much compared to other days, but the source of the food will be different. Usually, the cafe imports food from outside the Bay Area so as to be financially competitive. But on 22 April, the cafe will use local produce as much as possible to reduce the carbon emission from transporting the food.

We can cut carbon while enjoying seasonal fresh ingredients from local farms! It is great for our body and for the earth.

This is one example of the GSB taking small but firm steps to address environmental challenges, part of our commitment to helping change the world.

Tomomi D

Congratulations to Professor J. Michael Harrison, who was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his fundamental contributions to stochastic networks and financial engineering.

Prof. Harrison--the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management--has developed and analyzed stochastic models in several different domains related to business, including mathematical finance and processing network theory.

His current research is focused on call-center management, dynamic pricing, and revenue management.

This years' Entrepreneurship Week at Stanford University takes place from 22 to 29 February 2008.

The event is organized by the Stanford Entrepreneurship Network and was an enormous success in 2007, with standing room only at every event.

Almost all events are free and open to the public. For details visit http://eweek.stanford.edu

Ciao,
--Rita

Brianna from Maryland asked if I could post Dean Joss' interview because she (and probably many of you) missed the live broadcast (see my post dated 3 Feb 2008).

I'm happy to oblige. Listen to a streaming version of the show.

The list includes a great variety of music and during the interview Bob shares the story of how his piano teacher allowed him to play songs more appealing to a teenager such as "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie." During his 7 years in Australia Bob became very fond of Australian music and so "Waltzing Matilda" and "I Still Call Australia Home" made it on to his list as well.

Enjoy,

--Rita

I thought you might enjoy this short video (about 5 minutes long) which features several MBA students talking about their experiences during their Service Learning Trips.

Ciao,
--Rita

Tomorrow's interview with Dean Bob Joss should be a lot of fun. In addition to talking about his responsibilities and the new GSB campus, Bob will reveal just what he rocks out to on his iPod.

When: Monday, 4 February 2008
Time: 12:00 to 1:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Where: http://kzsulive.stanford.edu

Let me know what you think!
Ciao
--Rita

My name is Angie Wilcox, and I have the coolest job at the GSB.

As the Assistant Director for Student Activities in the Student Life Office, I advise all 60 of our student organizations, including the MBA Student Association.

Since I am the resident expert in all things extracurricular, I get to spend a lot of time with the leaders of the GSB Traditional and Featured Events--the biggest student-led events of the year.

The GSB hosts six Traditional Events annually:
--Black Business Student Association (BBSA) Conference
--Challenge for Charity (C4C) Weekend
--GSB Gives Back Charity Auction
--GSB Show
--Hispanic Business Student Association (HBSA) Latino Leadership Banquet
--Women in Management (WIM) Banquet

This year is a big one for the BBSA--it is the 25th anniversary of the organization and of their annual conference (the longest-running at the GSB). The student planning committee has been hard at work putting together an entire weekend of activities (25-27 April 2008) to commemorate this special occasion. It will include not only the annual conference, but also an alumni/student happy hour to kick off the weekend, and a gala dinner after the conference. It promises to be an educational, inspiring, and especially FUN weekend!

Featured Events are student-proposed and student-led conferences, symposia, or banquets that focus on a specific industry or topic of interest to GSB students and alumni. The events change from year to year, but one thing remains the same--they are always a great opportunity for our students to learn from and network with top business and management professionals (many of them GSB alumni!).

There are three Featured Events this year:
--Education Symposium
--Health Care Banquet
--Principal Investment Conference

The Principal Investment Conference is right around the corner (13 February 2008). The GSB community is really excited about it, and with good reason--over 45 senior investment professionals from leading hedge fund, private equity, real estate and venture capital firms are coming to campus for this event. The agenda includes a gala dinner, 2 networking receptions, 4 keynote speeches, 8 panels and over 35 roundtables. Check it out at http://sa-gsb.stanford.edu/clubs/pic/

--Angie

I'm very excited to announce a new fellowship opportunity made possible by the Mohammed bin Rasheed Fellows Program:

The fellowship--which will cover tuition, room and board, travel, and course-related fees--aims to support youth from across the Arab region who are interested in studying management, finance, or leadership at the graduate level. The fellowship stipulates that within 2 years of graduation, fellows are required to return to the Arab region to work for at least 2 years in the public or private sector.

Up to 5 fellowships will be awarded annually to candidates from the Arab region admitted to the Stanford MBA Program.

For complete information about eligibility and the application process, visit www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/financialaid/types_aid.html and www.mbrfoundation.ae

Ciao,
--Rita

Happy New Year! I imagine many of you are busy putting the finishing touches on your application for Round 2.

With the deadline for Round 2 rapidly approaching (7 January 2008) I wanted to let you know that the quickest way to get your last minute questions answered is by calling us at + 1 650.723.2766 (we'll be back from Winter Break on Wednesday, 2 Jan 08).

Best wishes for the coming year,
--Rita

Reading applications has been very exciting and I'm looking forward to Round 2!

First of all, reading applications is a thrill. You are sharing with us your dreams and aspirations and they are an honor to read. With particular regard to what you aspire to be, I would like to share some thoughts on Essay B, which asks: What are your aspirations? How will your education at Stanford help you achieve them?

While the questions appear straightforward, they seem to cause some angst and a bit of confusion amongst applicants. Essentially we want to know what your hopes and dreams are for the future, and then how an MBA at Stanford will play a role in helping you achieve these. In other words, what do you want to be when you grow up and how can the GSB help you make that a reality?

There are three specific points on which I want to focus, all of which fall under the prevailing theme of "there is no right answer."

1. Be authentic. Your answer's authenticity will be evident. We don't judge what you aspire to do. What we want to know is that you've thought about this and how Stanford could play a role in your life.

2. Think Cardinal. Each of you has a unique set of achievements and goals, and these inform your desire to attend Stanford in different ways. Be sure to present a thoughtful account of why you are interested in Stanford and what role the GSB will play in preparing you for the future.

3. Get to the point. Please don't feel you need to repeat or recap information already present in other parts of the application. Since you don't have much space, using a page to reiterate accomplishments from your resume is not recommended.

Remember, your answer is the right answer!

With best wishes,
Erin Kellerhals

I wanted to let you know the dates of our winter break:

The Stanford Graduate School of Business will close from 24 December 2007 through 1 January 2008.

We will try and answer emails during that time but it may take longer than one business day to get to your emails. We'll be back in the office 2 January 2008.

Best wishes,
--Rita

During a recent staff meeting we reviewed our experiences hosting information sessions in an ongoing effort to perfect them. While we made a list of things to consider for improvements, we realized that you, our audience, are key to the experience and hence you can play a major role in making the info sessions better.

The goal of our information sessions, whether they take place in China, India, Turkey, or here on campus, is to give you an opportunity to meet us in person so you may share your questions and concerns. While we give you an overview of the Stanford MBA Program, we usually encourage you to interrupt and to ask questions. However, we have found that the typical patterns is for you to wait with your questions until after the session has ended. As a result, we end up answering the same questions over and over (serially).

A much better system would be for you to pose your questions during our presentations so that the answer can be appreciated by the entire audience. This would allow us to actually cover more topics during the sessions as we get the most commonly asked queries out of the way for everyone.

We look forward to trying this new approach starting with your next info session.

Ciao,
--Rita

We've gotten lots of questions from you about exactly how many interviews we conduct.

Since 2002, we have extended between ~950 and ~1200 interview invitations annually. For the 2007 intake, we interviewed ~1,050 candidates. The total varies based on both the number of applications we receive and the quality of those applications.

We've provided a range of 800-1200 because I typically begin the year thinking that we should only interview about 800 (but fail miserably to do so, as you can tell from the previous paragraph). Since you typically use last year's figures to gauge this year's chances, I felt it would be misleading to say 1,100 or 1,200 when there was a chance we'd finish the year at only 800. Hence the range.

Why ~800? There's no magic to that number except that at ~800 interviews, we'd be able to offer admission to ~60% of candidates interviewed. When I talk to our students and alumni, they say it just feels better to know that you are more-likely-than-not to be admitted after the interview. So that's been my aim for the past couple of years. Your applications are so phenomenal, however, that we want to meet far more than 800 of you! And your applications always will determine the ultimate number of interview invitations.

Let me reiterate that the information in my 1 November 2007 post is accurate: we will send many interview invitations in December and even into January. If you haven't received an interview invitation yet, please don't worry. There's plenty of time.

Think of it this way: the period between 22 October 2007 (when applications were due) and 24 January 2008 (when decisions are due) comprises nearly 14 weeks. Subtract two weeks for the interviews to occur and you have 12 weeks. We're just finishing week six of that 12-week period and will be reading files well into 2008. As we read files we will continue to extend interview invitations. Some days we might invite only two or three people to interview, while other days we might invite 20 or 30. No matter when you receive your invitation, it means the same thing: we consider you a very competitive applicant.

--Derrick

First, congratulations to all of you who submitted your applications in Round 1!

Many of you have asked whether there is a relationship between the timing of your interview invitation and your chance of admission. You'll find the "what" and "why" of interviews on our website in Interviews and the Director's Corner, so I'll focus on the "when."

Please be assured that your likelihood of admission bears no relationship to when you receive your interview invitation; the timing of your invitation simply depends on when we review your file - and there is no pattern to application review.

Interviews for Round 1 applicants start as soon as possible after the application deadline - typically early November - and last through mid January. In fact, we began emailing Round 1 interview invitations yesterday.

We expect to send Round 1 interview invitations pretty regularly, every business day or so, through mid December. Even during Stanford's winter shutdown (24 December 2007 through 1 January 2008) we continue to read feverishly but tend to bundle invitations and send them every few days. (One reason for the bundling is that our building is unheated for the entire shutdown and we are thin-blooded Californians!)

We hope to send almost all interview invitations by 11 January, though some will go out later. We also may ask some of you to join the waitlist without an interview.

No matter when you receive your invitation to interview, you have the same chance of admission as any other candidate.

I hope this is helpful. Back to my files or 'flat friends'!

Derrick

We ask Recommenders to submit their letters a few days earlier than the actual deadline to help prevent system slowdown on deadline day. However, this earlier date is a suggested deadline only!

I know some of you are still fine tuning your application and you have until 5pm (Pacific Time) on 22 October 2007 to submit your application.

If you have technical problems, contact Technical Support (use the link in the application). If you need last minute advice, call the MBA Admissions Office during regular business hours +1 650.723.2766

Best wishes to all of you!!
--Rita

I can only imagine how busy you must be right now trying to finish your applications for Round 1. Your anxiety shows up in the number of emails we're getting and so I thought I'd answer some of the common questions:

Essay Length
When we say the number of pages for the essays must not exceed 7 pages total we mean 7 pages of text. In other words, if you took the continuous text for all your essays, it should not cover more than 7 pages.

In the example shown below, you can see that it would be ok to submit 8 pages, because if you took out the blank half pages you'd end up with a total of 7 pages of text.

Interviews
Many of you are concerned about when the interviews are scheduled and whether or not we will be able to reach you. Interviews are by invitation only and we will try very hard to connect with you. That's also the reason why we ask you to select an email address that you can check from just about anywhere, even while traveling.

Everything you ever wanted to know about interviews is listed on this page http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/admission/interviews.html

GMAT
Your application will not get reviewed if you haven't taken the GMAT (or GRE) by the deadline date of the round in which you apply. Your scores are valid for 5 years and must be valid on the deadline date. For Round 1 (22 October 2007) you may take the GMAT as late as 22 October 2007. In your application you would then record the test date as 22 October and self-report your scores (if you don't yet know your scores you would simply enter zeros). The testing agency will forward your scores to us and our operations team will match them up. Should there be any discrepancies, we will contact you directly.

Use the GMAT/GRE calculators if you're still confused http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/admission/test_results_calculator.html

TOEFL Waivers
Here are some examples to illustrate when the TOEFL is or is not required:

Xiaogu from China went to Bejing for his undergraduate degree. Since the language of instruction was Chinese, he is required to take the TOEFL.

Ning from China got her undergraduate degree in London and is not required to take the TOFEL because the language of instruction in London was English.

James from the United Kingdom went to Germany for his undergraduate degree and is required to take the TOEFL (even though he is a native English speaker) because the language of instruction at the university was German.

Suki from Japan received her undergraduate degree from an American college where the language of instruction was English and is therefore not required to take the TOEFL.

Fayza from Pakistan who went to school in Islamabad where the language of instruction at her university was English is not required to take the TOEFL.

The example below illustrates a situation where you may request a waiver of the TOEFL requirement:

Chin from China went to Bejing for her undergraduate degree but then went to London for a graduate degree. Chin may request a waiver of the TOEFL requirement because the language of instruction at the London university where she earned her graduate degree was English.

To request the TOEFL waiver, use the Additional Information section of the application and give a short explanation. You may assume this waiver is approved unless we notify you.

I hope this helps! Don't hesitate to contact us via http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/contact/ if you need additional help. You can also give us a call and talk to one of the admissions counselors at +1 650.723.2766

With my very best wishes! I too applied to grad school once and know what you're going through :-)

Ciao,
--Rita

Alicia from Brazil asks: I'm currently in Chicago on a short term assignment and was hoping to come to Stanford for a class visit and to check out the campus. If I can't squeeze this trip into my schedule before I return to Brazil will it affect my chances of getting admitted?

No worries Alicia. Attending any of our on-campus or off-campus events is not an admission requirement and we don't track who's come to visit and who hasn't.

If you have the opportunity to visit it might help you in deciding whether to apply. However, a visit is not necessary to demonstrate your interest in Stanford.

Thanks for your question!
Ciao,
--Rita

Natalie Portman is passionate about alleviating poverty, and that passion was evident in her inaugural address here at Stanford which launched the GSB's Center for Social Innovations Social Innovators Speaker Series.

Portman (slideshow) told the story of a woman in Uganda who received a loan from FINCA International--a nonprofit that provides financial services to the poor. According to Portman, the woman had been living on less than $1 per day, raising 10 daughters. "She was begging her neighbors for their dirty laundry water so she could wash her kids' clothes," Portman said of the woman's life before she started her own business. More than 10 years ago, the woman opened a roadside food stand with a loan from FINCA and by 2004, when Portman met her, she had expanded her business to a restaurant that employed other local people. All of her children were in school, with one daughter even attending university. "Her entire life was changed," Portman said.

Portman said seeing the psychological change in the women who are served is one of the most rewarding aspects of her work. "It's not charity. It's just widening opportunity," she said.

Natalie, who appears in The Darjeeling Limited (it's on my list of movies to see) and who gave a stunning performance in Closer, has worked with FINCA over the past 4 years, traveling around the world and meeting with recipients of FINCA loans.

Thank you Natalie for your social activism!!

Ciao,
--Rita