Stanford GSB: Class of 2017 - Calling All Applicants!

Congrats! I'm jealous

In with the jealousy too Congrats peeps.

I am curious how important these items are to Stanford Adcoms by rank: resume, essays, application form, recommendation, GMAT, GPA (and content of transcript). Any opinion, guys?

I'm an applicant myself, and definately no expert on this, but I'm not so sure it's a rank thing - I guess that the overall profile it's what matters, and all elements should lead to that.

Resume and essays should definately be polished as best as possible; GPA - it's probably too late to do anything about it anyways, and a good GMAT meas you're ready to tackle the academic level... but I doubt a good GMAT can diferentiate too much, as many people bring good GMAT scores, especially at a school like Stanford.

I would say almost for any school rank assuming no extremes should be the following

1. Resume
2. GMAT
3. Application form
4. Essays
5. GPA
6. Recommendations

Cheers!
J

I think that it is never that straightforward. They always look at the entire package, but I think here is how it works (at least this is my impression of the process):
1. They use GMAT scores and geographic locations to put people into buckets;
2. After they have their buckets organized they break them down into smaller "sub-buckets" based on industry and work experience;
3. If there is not enough prestige in your work experience, they might look for it in your academic background and GPA or extra-curriculars;
4. They want to know WHY you need an MBA. So they will read your essays. Your chances will be affected negatively if you have prestige everywhere, such as MBB consulting, HYP undergrad, but come off as an immature individual in your essays. And on the contrary, if you don't have prestige in your experience or education but have a unique story to tell, your chances will be boosted;
5. Recommendations are there for QA purposes.

Submitted woot!

Hope you make it!
Good luck

Cheers!
J

Hello everyone - I am a current student at the GSB and I am happy to extend myself as a resource to anyone who wants to learn more about the MBA program (culture, curriculum, etc.). This forum was a big source of help for me as I was applying, so I simply want to return the favor. If you want to learn more about the GSB, please feel free to PM me and we can get a conversation started. I'll try to steer clear of providing subjective advice on your profile / odds, etc., but would be happy to help you get to know the school better. Cheers.

How far back are you all going on the Professional Experience section of the application? I have had a job since I was 14, but I'm obviously not planning to go back that far. Maybe start with jobs while in college?

I'm in a similar situation, and I've approached it by picking out those jobs that are relevant for the story I'm telling in my application. The rest, that I did "just to make money" I didn't include (also not on my resume) since they're not things I absolutely want the adcom to know about (apart from the fact that I've always had jobs because I had to work myself through college, but you can already indicate that elsewhere).

Only thing I'm thinking is there will be a lot of repetition on my resume and the application form but I don't think there's a away around that...

I agree. I only included positions/jobs which are coherent with the overall story I talked about in the essays. For instance, I did 2 internships before my first real job after college, but didn't include those as the application was already pretty long, and they didn't add much value. I also tried as much as possible to avoid repeating the very same bullet points on the resume, and briefly add some further interesting and coherent stories on "accomplishment"/"challenges".

I agree completely. My main concern was regurgitating my resume and not adding anything new, although the adcoms probably don't need to know about my nannying experience and working on a strawberry farm when I was 14. I just need to take the time to respond to the accomplishment/challenge questions with something more interesting and new for the jobs I include on my resume. Thanks, NandoParrado and AylaSmith!

You make this job that you did "just to make money" sound like you danced around poles for some quick cash or something

Submitted!

Only to find out that we can "unsubmit"...anyhow. Good luck everyone!

Haha - adcom doesn't have to know everything....

Though it might make for some VERY interesting stories, having worked your way to success one lap dance at a time!

Good luck!