Fortuna's Stanford Graduate School of Business expert, Rachel Erickson Hee, shares her insights on how to get into the GSB.

To talk about your chances for admissions at Stanford or you personal business school plans, book a time for a free consultation with our team: https://fortunaadmissions.com/free_consult/
_______________________________________________________
Transcript for Stanford Graduate School of Business, Insider Admissions Advice

JOHN - “Hello everyone this is John Byrne with Poets & Quants. Welcome to
our series on the inside story from MBA admission gatekeepers, sponsored by Fortuna Admissions.

“Today we're going to talk about the most selective MBA program in the country, actually in the world. Stanford GSB, stands for Graduate School
of Business, accepts only six percent of its annual applicants to its MBA program and today we have a perfect person to tell you exactly how you might be able to get in, or at least to shift the odds in your favor.

“We have Rachel Erickson Hee, who is a GSB alum and was an MBA admissions interviewer at the school for many years. She's now a coach at Fortuna Admissions, the sponsor of our series.
“So welcome Rachel.”

RACHEL - “Hi, it's nice to be here. Thank you for having me.”

JOHN - “Now as I mentioned before GSB is highly selective, the most selective MBA program in the world actually, so, so what is the school really looking for in a candidate ?”

RACHEL - “Stanford's academic work is actually very intense and quite demanding, and they want to make certain that anyone that they accept to the school
is going to be able to succeed. They want to set them up for success, so that's the first thing that you have to be able to show, and the others are more subjective, but more important. The first one, is they really want to see a demonstrated pattern of excellence. They want to see in your course work, in your professional life, that you've been in difficult and demanding and challenging situations, and that you have been able to handle them. That you have stood out in those situations. And then the next one is leadership potential. And they're looking at your past
leadership experience to try to see a pattern that will predict what you can do in the future. And finally, the last but not least, is that
they're looking for someone that they really want to have as part of the class, as part of the Stanford community. And that's someone who shares their values, who they feel brings the sort of good values to Stanford and ones that they support.
And then also someone that you would want to have as a classmate, that you'd want to work on a project with, that you'd want to just hang out with. I think that's also underrated in terms of its importance.”


JOHN - “Now a lot of people think that if you want to do tech, you go to Stanford, but Stanford is so much more than that.”

RACHEL - “Yes, I went to Stanford and I ended up working, I was interested
in publishing, and ended up working at Barnes Noble.com, which was peripherally tech but certainly not related to that, and I think any good
business school it really is just about teaching you how to think, so that you can do anything. And Stanford wants people to do everything.
They don't just want people who are interested in certain areas.”


JOHN - “Yeah, and in fact when you look at the employment report you find out that Stanford sends more people into private equity and venture capital
than any other leading business goal in the world, period. So how do you show the admissions committee that you're really motivated to come and
do the work, and do it well?”

RACHEL - “I would say that stay away from the ‘I want to go to Stanford because I want to do VC Silicon Valley, work in Silicon Valley, be an entrepreneur.’ They hear that all the time. You really have to get deeper than that because, at the end of the day, it is a school, the professors are actually very proud of their work and think it's important, and you are there to take classes, you are not just there to network and socialize.
And they want to see that that's important to you, and they want to see
that connection to the academic side of things and what you expect to learn at school there.”

JOHN - “Stanford also has one of the most iconic essay questions of any business school, and it's one that's been out there for years. It's “What matters most to you and why?” and I have to say that's a pretty
daunting question for a lot of young people.”


RACHEL - “This is where they really want you to show the admissions committee why it is important for Stanford to let you in. What you will bring to the community? and what you hope to do with that MBA? That matters.”