Stanford’s Secret Sauce For MBA Admits: Explained In A Recipe

Give me eggs, sugar, some vanilla, mascarpone (and ideally some dusted chocolate powder from Venezuela) and I can probably come up with a decent – though indulgently rich – Tiramisu.

During Day 1 of the CentreCourt MBA Festival with Poets&Quants yesterday I asked Kirsten Moss, Assistant Dean of MBA Admissions at Stanford University Graduate School of Business what are the four or five key ingredients that the GSB admissions team is looking for in great MBA applicants.

From having insights that others haven’t seen and the challenges you have set for yourself, to getting a group to operate together and how you are helping others to grow, her response is essential viewing for anyone applying to Stanford this year.

Moss was clear that the “flour” in her recipe for assessing talent is impact. “Our team is really looking for what this individual has done in the past to impact their communities and impact the things they care most about,” she says.

‘GREAT LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT GETTING A GROUP TO COLLABORATE TOGETHER TO REACH A COMMON GOAL’

The “sugar”? Strategic thinking skills. “It’s about having insights that others haven’t seen, being curious, having an open mindset, and taking that data in and bringing in a new point of view or convincing others of their point of view.”

The final two ingredients in the recipe? Moss says Stanford looks for “people focused on results” who set  “very high standards for themselves.” They achieve those standards “through girt and persistence. We look for evidence in the stories that we are reading of what challenges they have faced or what challenges they have set for themselves and how they have made sure those have happened.

“Great leadership,” Moss adds, “is about getting a group to collaborate together to reach a common goal. So really how do you get people to jump into the boat with you and work together toward this goal. We look at how people have convinced others, how they have gotten resources, how they have sold their vision as a way of engaging. Once folks are with you in the boat, how are you helping them grow individually so everyone in the boat be stronger together.” 

‘ARE YOU THINKING BEYOND YOURSELF?’

“If there is a secret sauce at Stanford, (something that) is most important to us, it’s, ‘Are you thinking beyond yourself and looking at how to strengthen that community or those around you? As a school that has a really small class size of 400, we hope that each person is coming in thinking how do I make this community stronger.”

The Admissions Director panel with Kirsten, Dawna Clarke from University of Virginia Darden School of Business, Naz Erenguc, Ph.D. from University of Florida – Warrington College of Business and Stacey Batas from Texas McCombs School of Business was yet another reminder of why Poets&Quants Founder John A. Byrne and I love hosting CentreCourt. We get to share incredibly insightful sessions with brilliant, warm, funny and dedicated admissions professionals who love their work and bring such joy and encouragement to the B-school journey.

JOIN US FOR DAY TWO OF CENTRECOURT AT POETS&QUANTS 

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