Meet The Cambridge MBA Class of 2016

Grant L. Stone 

Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

Hometown: Portland, Oregon

Undergraduate School and Major: United States Military Academy / Art, Philosophy, and Literature (with Honors)

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: United States Army (2007-2015)

• Rifle Company Commander (2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry)
• Battalion Logistics Officer (2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry)
• Headquarters Company Executive Officer (2ndBattalion, 75th Ranger Regiment)
• Rifle Platoon Leader (2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment)
• Stryker Platoon Leader (1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry)
• Assistant Operations Officer (1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry)

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE? Success on standardized tests largely comes down to preparation. Take a few practice exams and identify the subjects that you know intimately, those that you are familiar with, and those that you need to work on. Design a study regime that focuses on addressing your weakest areas while maintaining your strengths. Personally, I found that my verbal skills were strong, so I would use long car rides to touch up on vocabulary which allowed me to focus my dedicated study time on some of the math that I hadn’t used in several years.

Based on your own selection process, what advice do you have for applicants who are trying to draw up a list of target schools to which to apply? I started to narrow down the schools I wanted to apply to by establishing the criteria that was important to me. In particular I was looking for an internationally diverse population, a relatively small student body, and international exposure. Assigning a value of 1-3 to each of those criteria, I was then able to identify the schools that were the best match for me by totalling their scores.

What advice do you have for applicants in actually applying to a school, writing essays, doing admission interviews, and getting recommenders to write letters on your behalf? I felt that I could best communicate my strengths during the admissions interviews and so I used that as the focus of my applications. When answering both short answer questions and essays prompts, I always kept in mind the question, “Does this answer truly reveal my character and will it make the admissions committee want to know more about me?” 

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge really fit what I had in mind for an advanced degree. I felt that the small but internationally diverse student body would expose me to the global perspectives necessary to help me grow personally and professionally.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? Coming from a background in a single field, I would really like to use my time at Judge to broaden my perspective and to explore the different opportunities that are available.