Harvard MBA vs Stanford MBA https://gmatclub.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/hbs-vs-stanford3.png This comparison is done as part of the project wSTAT . For more Business school comparisons, check wSTAT Learnings 1. Harvard admitted 930 students out of 9886 applicants with an acceptance rate of 9.4%. Stanford admitted 419 out of 7797 applicants with an acceptance rate of 5.3%. Harvard's acceptance is considerably higher than Stanford’s acceptance rate. 2. The application process looks very similar for both Harvard and Stanford. So, the average number of days to work on the application should be approximately the same. 3. Regarding undergrad majors of entering class, Stanford’s class comprises 48% of Humanities and social sciences while that of Harvard is 17% 4. Regarding undergrad majors of entering class, Harvard’s class comprises 46% of Economics and Business while that of Stanford is 18% 5. 62% of Stanford’s class locates to Western united states post MBA while only 25% of Harvard’s class moves to Western united states. 6. 44% of Harvard’s class locates to Northeast united states post-MBA while only 16% of Stanford’s class moves to Northeast United States. 7. So if location post-MBA is your priority, you have a clear choice to make 8. U.S. News ranking in Accounting for Harvard is 21 while that of Stanford is 6 9. U.S. News ranking in Supply chain/logistics for Harvard is 21 while that of Stanford is 8 Note Please reply on this topic if you find any new learnings that we might have missed from the following comparisons Comparison 1) Application process Application process Harvard Stanford Round 1 Deadline - Notification Sep 5th 2018 - Dec 11th 2018 Sep 18th 2018 - Dec 13th 2018 Round 2 Deadline - Notification Jan 4th 2019 - Mar 26th 2019 Jan 10th 2019 - Mar 28th 2019 Round 3 Deadline - Notification Not Applicable Apr 3rd 2019 - May 16th 2019 A 4-year undergraduate degree or its equivalent Required Required. Only under rare circumstances Stanford will consider exceptions to this policy. GPA No minimum GPA No minimum GPA Number of Letters of reference 2 2 Number of Essays 1 2 Resume Required Required Application fee $250 $275 Exam Harvard Stanford GMAT Accepted. No minimum requirement Accepted. No minimum requirement GMAT Range 610-800 Median 730 600-790 Average 732 GRE Accepted. No minimum requirement Accepted. No minimum requirement GRE Verbal Range 147-170 155-170 GRE Quant Range 151-170 152-170 GRE or GMAT do not have a bias toward one test or the other 85% of the class reported GMAT 15% of the class reported GRE no preference for one test over the other 16% of the class reported GRE TOEFL or IELTS or PTE Required for students who did not attend an undergraduate institution where the sole language of instruction is English Required for students who did not attend an undergraduate institution where the sole language of instruction is English TOEFL iBT minimum score requirement HBS does not have a minimum TOEFL to apply, however, the MBA Admissions Board discourages any candidate with a TOEFL score lower than 109 on the IBT from applying 100 for the internet-based test (iBT*) TOEFL iBT Range and Average Not Available Range 101-120 Average 113 IELTS minimum score The MBA Admissions Board discourages any candidate with an IELTS score lower than 7.5 from applying 7.0 overall band score PTE minimum score The MBA Admissions Board discourages any candidate with a PTE score lower than 75 from applying. 68 overall score 2) Financials Financials Harvard Stanford Tuition(1 year) $73,440 $70,590 Cost of Attendance Single $109,124 Married $126,928 Married with one child $142,318 Married with two children $151,128 single(on campus) $115,797 single(off campus) $118,146 Married(on campus) $133,650 Married(off campus) $136,014 3) Financial Aid Financial Aid Harvard Stanford Summer Stipends Yes. Funds students pursuing an internship in arts & culture, community development, education, environment, human services, international relief, nonprofit consulting, government, and other social enterprises. Yes. Stanford GSB provides resources for those who wish to pursue a summer internship in nonprofit, social impact, government, or entrepreneurial organizations. Tuition assistance. Need based aid. HBS Fellowships are entirely need based, with the majority of fellowships in the $30,000–$50,000 range. Stanford GSB fellowships will be awarded based solely on your demonstrated financial need. The average Stanford GSB fellowship is approximately $35,000 per year or $70,000 in total awards Tuition assistance. Need based aid. 50% of HBS students are eligible for need based aid. Approximately half of Stanford MBA students receive fellowship funds. Full-Tuition Fellowships Please search on HBS website Stanford Africa MBA Fellowship Charles P. Bonini Partnership for Diversity Fellowship Stanford Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowship Stanford USA MBA Fellowship External scholarship limit so that Fellowship amount will not be reduced $30,000 $20,000 Average student loan at the time of graduation $87,000 $86,929 Africa Fellowship Global Opportunity Fellowship(GO:Africa The Stanford Africa MBA Fellowship Program pays for tuition and associated fees (approximately US $170,000) for citizens of African countries with financial need. 4) Class profile class profile Harvard Stanford Total applicants 9886 7797 Class size 930 419 Acceptance rate 9.4% 5.37% Women 41% 41% International 37% 42% U.S. Minority 26% 27% Average GPA 3.71 3.72 Undergrad Majors Humanities and social sciences 17% 48% Undergrad Majors STEM 37% 34% Undergrad Majors Economics and Business 46% 18% From U.S. Institutions 134 81 From Non U.S. Institutions 154 91 Countries represented 69 63 Average age 27 Not available Average months of work experience 54 52 5) Pre MBA Industry Pre MBA Industry Harvard Stanford Consulting 16% 19% Governement/Education/Non-profit 8% 10% Military 5% 2% Venture capital/Private equity 16% 21% Financial services 11% 6% Clean Tech/Energy 6% 3% Industrial/Heavy manufacturing 4% 3% Consumer products and services 6% 7% Health care 7% 4% 6) Post MBA career(Class of 2017) Post MBA career Harvard Stanford Size 937 392 Median base salary $135,000 $140,000 Median signing bonus $25,000 $25,000 Median other guaranteed compensation $25,000 $50,000 Job offers 95% received job offer 88% of students received a job offer by 90 days post-graduation. 6.1) Post MBA career(Industry destination) Industry destination Harvard Stanford Technology 16% 25% Finance 31% 32% Consulting 23% 20% 6.2) Post MBA location Post MBA location Harvard Stanford Western United States 25% 62% Northeast United States 44% 16% International 13% 11% 7) Ranking Ranking Harvard Stanford GMAT Club user rating 4.7 out of 5 (36 reviews) 4.7 out of 5 (15 reviews) U.S.News ranking in Best business school #1 #4 U.S.News ranking in Accounting #21 #6 U.S.News ranking in Supply chain/logistics #21 #8 * U.S.News ranking in the remaining sub categories are approximately the same. Source: The above data has been collected from websites of Harvard Business school and Stanford business school.

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Harvard MBA vs Stanford MBA

Nikhil

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Harvard MBA vs Stanford MBA

This comparison is done as part of the project wSTAT. For more Business school comparisons, check wSTAT

Learnings

1. Harvard admitted 930 students out of 9886 applicants with an acceptance rate of 9.4%. Stanford admitted 419 out of 7797 applicants with an acceptance rate of 5.3%. Harvard's acceptance is considerably higher than Stanford’s acceptance rate.
2. The application process looks very similar for both Harvard and Stanford. So, the average number of days to work on the application should be approximately the same.
3. Regarding undergrad majors of entering class, Stanford’s class comprises 48% of Humanities and social sciences while that of Harvard is 17%
4. Regarding undergrad majors of entering class, Harvard’s class comprises 46% of Economics and Business while that of Stanford is 18%
5. 62% of Stanford’s class locates to Western united states post MBA while only 25% of Harvard’s class moves to Western united states.
6. 44% of Harvard’s class locates to Northeast united states post-MBA while only 16% of Stanford’s class moves to Northeast United States.
7. So if location post-MBA is your priority, you have a clear choice to make
8. U.S. News ranking in Accounting for Harvard is 21 while that of Stanford is 6
9. U.S. News ranking in Supply chain/logistics for Harvard is 21 while that of Stanford is 8

Note Please reply on this topic if you find any new learnings that we might have missed from the following comparisons

Comparison

1) Application process

Application process
	Harvard	Stanford
Round 1 Deadline - Notification	Sep 5th 2018 - Dec 11th 2018	Sep 18th 2018 - Dec 13th 2018
Round 2 Deadline - Notification	Jan 4th 2019 - Mar 26th 2019	Jan 10th 2019 - Mar 28th 2019
Round 3 Deadline - Notification	Not Applicable	Apr 3rd 2019 - May 16th 2019
A 4-year undergraduate degree or its equivalent	Required	Required. Only under rare circumstances Stanford will consider exceptions to this policy.
GPA	No minimum GPA	No minimum GPA
Number of Letters of reference	2	2
Number of Essays	1	2
Resume	Required	Required
Application fee	$250	$275

Exam	Harvard	Stanford
GMAT	Accepted. No minimum requirement	Accepted. No minimum requirement
GMAT Range	610-800 Median 730	600-790 Average 732
GRE	Accepted. No minimum requirement	Accepted. No minimum requirement
GRE Verbal Range	147-170	155-170
GRE Quant Range	151-170	152-170
GRE or GMAT	do not have a bias toward one test or the other 85% of the class reported GMAT 15% of the class reported GRE	no preference for one test over the other 16% of the class reported GRE
TOEFL or IELTS or PTE	Required for students who did not attend an undergraduate institution where the sole language of instruction is English	Required for students who did not attend an undergraduate institution where the sole language of instruction is English
TOEFL iBT minimum score requirement	HBS does not have a minimum TOEFL to apply, however, the MBA Admissions Board discourages any candidate with a TOEFL score lower than 109 on the IBT from applying	100 for the internet-based test (iBT*)
TOEFL iBT Range and Average	Not Available	Range 101-120 Average 113
IELTS minimum score	The MBA Admissions Board discourages any candidate with an IELTS score lower than 7.5 from applying	7.0 overall band score
PTE minimum score	The MBA Admissions Board discourages any candidate with a PTE score lower than 75 from applying.	68 overall score

2) Financials

Financials
	Harvard	Stanford
Tuition(1 year)	$73,440	$70,590
Cost of Attendance	Single $109,124 Married $126,928 Married with one child $142,318 Married with two children $151,128	single(on campus) $115,797 single(off campus) $118,146 Married(on campus) $133,650 Married(off campus) $136,014

3) Financial Aid

Financial Aid
	Harvard	Stanford
Summer Stipends	Yes. Funds students pursuing an internship in arts & culture, community development, education, environment, human services, international relief, nonprofit consulting, government, and other social enterprises.	Yes. Stanford GSB provides resources for those who wish to pursue a summer internship in nonprofit, social impact, government, or entrepreneurial organizations.
Tuition assistance. Need based aid.	HBS Fellowships are entirely need based, with the majority of fellowships in the $30,000–$50,000 range.	Stanford GSB fellowships will be awarded based solely on your demonstrated financial need. The average Stanford GSB fellowship is approximately $35,000 per year or $70,000 in total awards
Tuition assistance. Need based aid.	50% of HBS students are eligible for need based aid.	Approximately half of Stanford MBA students receive fellowship funds.
Full-Tuition Fellowships	Please search on HBS website	Stanford Africa MBA Fellowship Charles P. Bonini Partnership for Diversity Fellowship Stanford Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowship Stanford USA MBA Fellowship
External scholarship limit so that Fellowship amount will not be reduced	$30,000	$20,000
Average student loan at the time of graduation	$87,000	$86,929
Africa Fellowship	Global Opportunity Fellowship(GO:Africa	The Stanford Africa MBA Fellowship Program pays for tuition and associated fees (approximately US $170,000) for citizens of African countries with financial need.

4) Class profile

class profile
	Harvard	Stanford
Total applicants	9886	7797
Class size	930	419
Acceptance rate	9.4%	5.37%
Women	41%	41%
International	37%	42%
U.S. Minority	26%	27%
Average GPA	3.71	3.72
Undergrad Majors Humanities and social sciences	17%	48%
Undergrad Majors STEM	37%	34%
Undergrad Majors Economics and Business	46%	18%
From U.S. Institutions	134	81
From Non U.S. Institutions	154	91
Countries represented	69	63
Average age	27	Not available
Average months of work experience	54	52

5) Pre MBA Industry

Pre MBA Industry
	Harvard	Stanford
Consulting	16%	19%
Governement/Education/Non-profit	8%	10%
Military	5%	2%
Venture capital/Private equity	16%	21%
Financial services	11%	6%
Clean Tech/Energy	6%	3%
Industrial/Heavy manufacturing	4%	3%
Consumer products and services	6%	7%
Health care	7%	4%

6) Post MBA career(Class of 2017)

Post MBA career
	Harvard	Stanford
Size	937	392
Median base salary	$135,000	$140,000
Median signing bonus	$25,000	$25,000
Median other guaranteed compensation	$25,000	$50,000
Job offers	95% received job offer	88% of students received a job offer by 90 days post-graduation.

6.1) Post MBA career(Industry destination)

Industry destination
	Harvard	Stanford
Technology	16%	25%
Finance	31%	32%
Consulting	23%	20%

6.2) Post MBA location

Post MBA location
	Harvard	Stanford
Western United States	25%	62%
Northeast United States	44%	16%
International	13%	11%

7) Ranking

Ranking
	Harvard	Stanford
GMAT Club user rating	4.7 out of 5 (36 reviews)	4.7 out of 5 (15 reviews)
U.S.News ranking in Best business school	#1	#4
U.S.News ranking in Accounting	#21	#6
U.S.News ranking in Supply chain/logistics	#21	#8

* U.S.News ranking in the remaining sub categories are approximately the same.

Source: The above data has been collected from websites of Harvard Business school and Stanford business school.

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Great summary. I also remember seeing a Businessweek statistic that students who received an admit in both Harvard and Stanford MBA overwhelmingly chose Stanford. Harvard's core is Wall Street and Stanford's core is Silicon Valley, and more students choosing the latter may be a reflection of changing aspirations from Gordon Gekko to Steve Jobs.