What’s good, peoples. I hope you’re all having a nice weekend. The email below is from a reader with pre-MBA experience in consulting and private equity who wonders how well Stanford would set him up to return to PE. I’m far from an expert at the topic, but I did my best to give a response. He also asked me a question about my thought process when applying to Stanford which is something I’ve written about on here many times before…as I’ve said before, PLEASE read through the archived posts before sending me an email with a question. I’ve written about many things over the past five years and, chances are, a quick review of the archived entires could answer your question before you even have to ask it…
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RB wrote:
“Dear Marquis
Wish to thank you in advance, for the time and effort you are making to answer our (MBA aspirants) questions.
Just to draw a quick background before I shoot the question. I am currently working for Private Equity fund. By the time I get to any school. I would have 4 years of work ex – 2 yrs in consulting and 2 years in PE.
I am looking to continue in PE. I wish to understand how good a choice is Stanford keeping in mind my plans ?
Also irrespective of the above, could you share your thought process before you chose Stanford for your MBA degree ?. What do u think makes the place so special ?
Thanks again
Regards
RB”
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My response:
RB,
I hope this finds you doing well. I’m sorry that it’s taken me a while to respond to your email, but there were quite a few emails ahead of yours in the queue. Anyways, thanks for thinking of me as a resource for your questions. Based on what your email says about you, I’d say that you’ll have your choice of business schools once you apply. The combination of pre-MBA consulting and private equity work is a knockout background, so congratulations on your smart career choices thus far.
OK, let’s get right into your questions. Basically, you asked two things in your original message:
1. Is Stanford a good choice for staying in PE? –> I’m not an expert here, but, judging from the number of GSBers who end up in PE roles, I’d say that it’s a great option if you’d like to stay in that industry. Several of my classmates ended up at both small and large PE firms after graduation, including many who had no pre-MBA experience in PE. So, you’d be in a fantastic position to reach your goals if you were to attend the GSB.
2. Why did I choose Stanford and what makes it so special? –> OK, now don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve got to ask…have you taken the time to read through the entries in the archives of my blog? I’m asking because the first three years worth of entries I wrote were all about why I chose Stanford and what I found to be special about the place. So, if you haven’t read those entries, I’d suggest that you do so in order to get some great in-depth insights to answer your question. At a high-level, I was looking for the following things in a business school and Stanford offered all of them:
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a. Strong general management program –> My goal was to finish B-school with a strong overall understanding of business, so I targeted general management programs when selecting schools. Stanford is among the top general management programs out there, so it immediately make the short-list of schools for me.
b. Small class size –> I wanted a school where each incoming class was small enough for me to really get to know my classmates over my two years. I was trying to find a place that would allow me to be a name and not a number and Stanford’s average class size of 370 made it a great fit in this metric.
c. Strong “transformational” and diverse culture –> Every business school has a strong culture, but not every school’s culture will be a fit for everyone. I was looking for a culture that embraced diversity of thought, background, nationality, and perspective among its students. Even more important to me was finding a school whose culture left its students feeling like they’d reached their full potentials and had been transformed by their MBA experiences. As I researched Stanford and spoke to students, I learned that the GSB scored off the charts in both of these areas, cementing its position as my #1 choice school.
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Again, for more detailed info for your question, I’d suggest reading through the archives of older entries that I’ve posted already.
I hope the responses above are helpful. Take care and good luck on your business school applications. With your pre-MBA work experience, I have a feeling that you’ll have a lot of employers coming after you in a couple of years after B-school.
-Marquis
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