P&Q’s Must Reads: ‘WE’RE NOT LEARNING ANYTHING’: Stanford GSB Students Sound The Alarm Over Academics

Hello everyone  — Welcome back to Poets&Quants’ Must Reads, a quick, digestible recap of the top business school news, sponsored by CentreCourt, P&Q’s virtual admission events.

I’m your host, Kristy Bleizeffer, and I’ll be highlighting the most important P&Q stories you might have missed. So, let’s get to it. 

No. 1: ‘WE’RE NOT LEARNING ANYTHING’: Stanford GSB Students Sound The Alarm Over Academics

Stanford Graduate School of Business, long considered among the most elite MBA programs in the world, is facing a storm of internal criticism from students who say the academic experience has fallen far short of expectations. In a series of interviews with Poets&Quants, current MBA students voiced concerns about outdated course content, a disengaged faculty culture, and a broken curriculum structure that they say leaves them unprepared for post-MBA careers.

“We’re coming to the best business school on Earth, and the professors can’t teach,” says a rising second-year MBA student and elected member of the school’s Student Association.

This story details the student complaints as well as new dean Sarah Soule’s plans to address them. You can find it on our homepage.

No. 2: ‘If We Stay Silent, They’ll Leave Us Alone:’ Now Two Schools Have Ended Their Partnerships To Lift Underserved Candidates

University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business has confirmed that it has suspended its partnership with The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, which works to give more Black, Hispanic, Native Americans, and other underserved candidates a shot an elite MBA. Darden also suspended its partnership with the Forte Foundation, which does similar work for women candidates. 

Darden is the second member school this month to end its decades-long partnership with The Consortium, following University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. 

Both schools faced mounting DEI challenges from a Trump administration hellbent on upending higher education no matter what the cost.

This story examines the loud silence from most institutions in this moment. While the silence may be understandable, it likely bears some harsh consequences. You can find it in our trending tab.

No. 3: Trump’s Impact (So Far) On B-School Application Trends, Explained In 9 Charts

There’s a long way to go in Donald Trump’s four-year second term. But data collected in the first half of its first year by the Graduate Management Admission Council show that demand for graduate business education is increasingly shaped by politics. Trump’s return to the White House, in fact, is making international students think twice before applying to American business schools.

This story shows, in nine charts, how prospective MBA and management students are responding to the second Trump term. Find it in our news tab.

No. 4: Our Weekly Round Up of  News You Can Use

No matter where you are in your MBA journey, we bring several helpful stories for you this week.

First up: MBA Pay By Region: Here’s How Much You’re Worth. This story offers a school-by-school pay comparison across seven U.S. regions Find it on our homepage. 

Next: A CBS Insider’s Guide To Acing The Columbia MBA Essays. This article, also up on our homepage, Walks you through each question with a CBS alum and former AdCom turned admissions coach.

Finally: Can You Change A “Ding” Into An “Accept”? In this article, a former HBS AdComm director outlines the 4 pillars that matter. You can find it our admissions hub.

And, that’s it for this week’s Must Reads recap. 

I also want to alert school seekers to our events tab from our main menu. There, you’ll find all the upcoming admissions events for a range of degrees and programs including full-time and online MBAs, specialized masters, entrepreneurship and more. Registration is free.

Again, I’m Kristy Bleizeffer, and you can join me next week, right here, for a recap of what’s important in the world of business education. Thanks for listening.

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