Top Ten Most Viewed Business School Stories Of 2015

4. Ten Movies Every Business Student Should Watch

You can only learn so much from case studies. Sure, the lessons may be grounded in the real world, with real people suffering real consequences. In the end, do these examples really stick with you? Do you mimic lines from a study to your friends? And do you occasionally return to a key person or decision in a study and think, “I can really see myself doing that.”  Sometimes, the best way to translate reality is through fiction. And no genre resonates more with people than cinema. Our guide to the top 10 must-see business movies was a big hit.

3. You Won’t Believe Who HBS Just Rejected

No one likes rejection, but you can certainly learn as much or more from failure than you can from success. This annual feature on Poets&Quants not merely identifies the scores and profiles of exceptional candidates, it also helps provide some insight on why they didn’t make the cut. Some had GMAT scores as high as 780. Or GPAs as high as 4.0 from the very best Ivy League schools. They worked for Fortune 100 companies and major global consulting firms, investment banks, and startups. We’re talking Goldman Sachs, Google, Procter & Gamble, and McKinsey, Bain or BCG. In fact, among 32 dinged candidates who provided stats, the median GMAT was an astonishing 750. It goes to show that high scores are no assurance of an admit at Harvard Business School.

2. The Most Lucrative Seven-Figure MBA Degrees

What’s an MBA degree really worth? And how much more money does an MBA from Harvard, Stanford or Wharton get you over a career than one from Texas A&M, Ohio State, or the University of Iowa? Those are questions that perplex and confound many who are deciding whether to get the degree and, if so, where to get it from. Poets&Quants engaged the consulting firm PayScale to provide some real answers. This study showed that the MBA–even from schools that lack global or national caché–delivers hefty seven-figure income over a 20-year period.

Stanford GSB Dean Garth Saloner on campus in August 2015 – Ethan Baron photo

1. Stanford Confidential: Sex, Lies & Loathing At The World’s No. 1 Business School

Our investigative story led to the resignation of Stanford GSB Dean Garth Saloner who found himself embroiled in a scandal that made headlines all over the world. First, the university reappointed Saloner after 46 current and former GSB employees charged that he had created a “hostile workplace” in which staff, particularly women and people over 40, were hounded out of jobs and roles. And then, it was revealed that the dean was having an affair with a GSB professor who was married to another professor. Even worse, Saloner did not recuse himself from harmful personnel decisions involving his lover’s husband but, in fact, signed off on them. To the great chagrin of many of the school’s alumni, the lame duck Saloner is still clinging to his job until the end of this academic term.