The message below is from a prospective Stanford GSB applicant who is seeking guidance on some specific items including how to address the “What matters most and why?” essay question and how Marketing is viewed at the school. To me, the most interesting part of the reader’s message is the third question about how a career in the art industry is viewed in the business world. After answering that question, I realized that my perspective may not be shared by others, but I guess that’s why I do this on my own site, right? 🙂 I hope my words provide some sort of clarity to this person as he moves into the MBA application process.
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H in Hong Kong wrote:
“Hi Marquis.
I found your awesome blog in searching for ‘Stanford GSB’ information. I read many of the entries in one sitting and it helped me a lot. Thank you.
I am now preparing the application package to apply this fall (I am planning to go for the 1st round) and extremely interested in Stanford.
I’d like to ask you some questions if that’s ok with you. Thank you for your time in advance.
First of all, Let me introduce myself first, so that it can help you to understand me better.
I am a senior consultant in strategy consulting firm (‘associate’ in Mckinsey term, worked for 2.5 yrs after undergrad) , Korean, liberal art background, many expriences in Marketing (projects, internships) and..GMAT score is 740
Here are my questions.
1. As I spend really painful but surprisingly enjoyable time thinking about ‘What I really want, What has driven me so far, what I want to achieve’ these days, I reached this 1st cut conclusion that I am genuinely interested in understanding human needs and the differences of what human wants in different culture/society. To understand human better and deliver them what they want has been the pure joy and driver for me to move forward so far. – in business terms, I’ve been thrilled in matching the demand and supply in different markets. Do you think this idea/value/passion is too general to be the ‘what matters most to me’ topic? I don’t get the sense of abstract level of what matters most quite well. Is this should be more specific, ‘goal’ driven theme? (e.g., Helping people suffereing from poverty is the most important to me and that is my life goal) or can pure passion inside can be the topic too? (e.g., intellectual curiosity has been the driver that made me excel in everything)
It would be great if you can give me some sense..
2. How is ‘Marketing’ area viewed in Stanford? I hear some people say Marketing is the least ‘well-treated’ field in business world from many MBA graduates. Do you think it would not be helpful if I write that my career passion lies in Marketing/strong marketing background entrepreneur? I read one entry in your blog that your good friend had a great passion for Marketing and opened a blog to share his knowledge and I wonder how he developed his dream while studying in Stanford. To sum up, I want to know how Stanford GSB view marketing field, and the balance of their programs between different functions.
3. This is the most difficult question, at least to me and as a realistic MBA graduate, I’d like to hear your honest opinion. I also have one more final goal aspiration which is working in ‘ART business’. I’d like to either run an Art investment fund (similar to private equity fund) or run Art dealing company (such as Christies, Sotheby’s) followed by establishing an institute for the talented yount people. I know this is a very rare idea and I want to know whether this would sound ‘less serious’ than other applicants. I know I have a passion for this industry but ‘art industry’ was not viewed as an important one in business world and thus, my dream may sound like a very nonsense, immature, idealistic one. What do you think about this? Even though I do not write about this aspiration in my essay, this topic is very important for myself, building my career goal and I’d like to listen to the honest opinion from a person who has more experience and deep insight…
Thank you for reading my long email. I think you putting all your ideas to the blog to share with others is a really great thing to do. It is very helpful and inspiring. Thank you so much. I will spend more time to read your past entries going forward.
Thank you again and will be looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
H in Hong Kong”
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My response:
H in Hong Kong,
I hope this message finds you doing well. I know it’s been a while since you emailed me and, unfortunately, I’m getting this response to you after the GSB’s first-round deadline. I’m not sure whether you decided to stick with Round 1 or pushed back to Round 2, but, if it’s the former, then I apologize for getting this to you so late. There’s a chance that this reply won’t be helpful to you, but I wanted to follow-up anyway to make sure I answered the questions that you have about the school.
In the interest of time, we might as well just get to it…Let’s tackle your questions in the order that they were posed in your email:
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1. “To understand human better and deliver them what they want has been the pure joy and driver for me to move forward so far. – in business terms, I’ve been thrilled in matching the demand and supply in different markets. Do you think this idea/value/passion is too general to be the ‘what matters most to me’ topic? I don’t get the sense of abstract level of what matters most quite well. Is this should be more specific, ‘goal’ driven theme? (e.g., Helping people suffereing from poverty is the most important to me and that is my life goal) or can pure passion inside can be the topic too? (e.g., intellectual curiosity has been the driver that made me excel in everything)” –>
My answer to this question is going to be VERY non-specific, but I’d say that you should write about what you truly feel…what TRULY matters to you. Over the years, I’ve helped over 100 kids put together their B-school applications and the biggest problem that I’ve seen comes when people write essays based on what they think the Admissions folks want to see. In these cases, the message either doesn’t “pop” off of the page in the essay (because the applicant doesn’t truly “feel” it) or doesn’t come across well in the admissions interview (again, because te applicant doesn’t truly “feel” it). B-schools pose these questions to find out what really makes their applicants tick, not to read a bunch of essays that were based on what the applicants thought they were “supposed” to write.
Don’t get me wrong…I’m not saying that a person should be 100% honest if the thing that matters most is getting blunted off of weed and getting slizzered off of Grey Goose vodka. That sort of thing would be just plain silly. But, if the person has a reasonable and valid subject of his/her passion, I believe the person should just write about it and let the chips fall as they will. The business school application process is a time for people to reflect and, in most cases, learn more about him- or herself than he/she ever recognized before. In my opinion, writing from the perspective of what a person thinks the Adcoms want to see lessens this opportunity for self-exploration and learning.
As such, I always advise people to answer the “What matters most and why?” question on paper EXACTLY as they would when talking about it to their family and friends in person. That way, the applicant can hang his/her hat on having been completely honest to what he/she really believes. Others may think about this differently, so please don’t take my perspective as the gospel on this topic. But, when i was applying to B-school, I wrote about what I really felt because it was my hard-earned money going toward those application fees and I figured that I owed it to myself to write about what was real to me.
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2. “How is ‘Marketing’ area viewed in Stanford? … Do you think it would not be helpful if I write that my career passion lies in Marketing/strong marketing background entrepreneur?…To sum up, I want to know how Stanford GSB view marketing field, and the balance of their programs between different functions.” –>
Once again, I would advise you to say what you feel and, in this case, that would mean stating that your “career passion lies in Marketing”. Why craft your MBA story around a central idea about your goals that isn’t 100% accurate? There are probably a lot of folks out there who would disagree with me on this, but, to me, honesty is always the best policy when it comes to this stuff.
To answer your initial question here, the Marketing area is looked upon very highly at the GSB. A strong proportion of every incoming class has an interest in pursuing a career in Marketing and others (like myself) come in knowing that Marketing is an important component in any General Management curriculum. The Marketing professors at the GSB are all top notch (I’m an especially big fan of Prof. Jim Lattin, who heads the Marketing department and was one of my top five favorite profs) and the courses offered are both informative and interesting (Prof. Heath’s “Making Ideas Stick” course was especially fantastic and really changed the way I think about communicating messages). Stanford GSB is truly a General Management program and, as such, gives strong treatment to all of its business programs. Even though it doesn’t have majors, the GSB provides a great foundation to kids interested in just about any sub-sector of business, from Marketing to Strategy to Finance.
My man Detavio (http://www.detavio.com) walked into the MBA application process knowing that Marketing was what got him excited and he stated that in all of his essays…and he was doing this as a young applicant too. In the end, he was a MONSTER in the MBA application game and came out with several acceptances, including the Holy Grail of MBA acceptances, the good word from the GSB. I never read his essays, but, knowing him, I’d guess that his key to success was standing behind his passion and crafting a strong MBA story around it. I would advise you to figure out a way to do the same thing in your B-school applications.
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3. “I also have one more final goal aspiration which is working in ‘ART business’. I’d like to either run an Art investment fund (similar to private equity fund) or run Art dealing company (such as Christies, Sotheby’s) followed by establishing an institute for the talented yount people. I know this is a very rare idea and I want to know whether this would sound ‘less serious’ than other applicants. I know I have a passion for this industry but ‘art industry’ was not viewed as an important one in business world and thus, my dream may sound like a very nonsense, immature, idealistic one. What do you think about this? Even though I do not write about this aspiration in my essay, this topic is very important for myself, building my career goal and I’d like to listen to the honest opinion from a person who has more experience and deep insight…
“ –>
I’m going to sound like a broken record here, but, once again, I’d say to write about what you feel 🙂 You might think that the art industry is not seen as an important one in the business world, but I wouldn’t agree with that. Sure, some people might not take the arts seriously, but others (including myself) would say that the arts are an important part of any culture and should be taken seriously. Plus, have you thought about how much money/value is associated with art around the world? I’ve heard stories of rich folk who have a high percentage of their net worth tied up in paintings, sculptures, and other types of art around the world. Some people might sleep on the art industry because they don’t understand the dollars and cents behind it, but there really is a lot of value in it. Furthermore, it sounds like you have a genuine passion for art and, as my man Jullien (http://www.julliengordon.com/) says, anyone who pursues his/her passions will eventually find the success that he/she seeks.
The only issue that I can see with your proposed path into the art industry is that I can’t figure out how you’d go from business school to eventually running an art investment fund or an art dealing company. There are a series of steps that you’d have to take to get from Point A to Point Z and, being completely ignorant of how the art industry works, I’m unclear as to what your path would be. I’m not telling you to explain that to me in a reply to this email (because I wouldn’t have time to address or give feedback on it), but, if I don’t get it, I’d guess that others might not get it either. So, it’ll be your job to explain that path in somewhat specific detail because most of us in the business world don’t have the context to understand what you’re trying to do. I’d recommend coming up with a 20-year plan with a series of actions and milestones listed along with timing and dependencies as a way to crystalize your story. If you’ve already done this, please accept my apologies for stating the obvious, but, if not, this could be a great way for you to make the Admissions teams understand how an MBA will help you achieve your career goals.
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I don’t know if I covered your questions in as much detail as you were seeking, but I hope my answers were able to give you some of the insights you wanted. You might want to find some other GSB alums to get their reads on these questions because, as mentioned on my blog several times before, I’m just a data point of one and it makes sense for you to get other perspectives in order to form a more informed view.
Take care and I wish you the best of luck in your business school applications. And, I’m really pulling for you to get into the GSB…it truly is a special place to spend two years.
Marquis
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