I will teach you how to bring your life stories to essays faster with F1GMAT's essay guides. Download below or subscribe to F1GMAT's Service and work with me - Atul Jose, Author/Editor/Founding Consultant, F1GMAT(16 Years of helping applicants gain admissions to M7 and Top 30 schools) Stanford MBA has remained the program with the best post-MBA salary despite the pandemic or shift in interest favoring entrepreneurship that typically brings down the median post-MBA salary. Consulting placements made up for the changes in the demographic.
In this application breakdown of the Stanford MBA program, we cover:
• Deadlines
• Background
• Application Information
• Education
• Test Score
• Professional Experience
• Activities and Interest
• Awards and Honors
• Essays
• Short-Answer Essay Questions
• Additional Information
• Recommendation Letter
Deadlines
Stanford MBA Application is accepted in three rounds:
| Business School | Early Round | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 |
| Stanford | 10-Sep-24 | 08-Jan-25 | 08-Apr-25 |
Background
The background information section captures all the typical personal information - name, gender, date of birth, US citizenship status, primary & secondary citizenship, and family details (parents, partner, children, if any).
The last question in the section asks if your relatives or a partner is currently admitted as a student or currently serving as an employee. It must be a family member(siblings, spouse, parents)
Contact Information: covers the permanent and communication addresses.
Application Information
In addition to choosing the type of the program, the admissions team also checks if you are a re-applicant, carry a criminal record, and are currently or previously employed by Stanford University.
The terms and conditions include rescinding offer if academic performance drops drastically/fails (early admissions candidates), misrepresentation of profile information, unethical behavior, or holding a position in another graduate degree program while applying, except for Joint Degree or Dual Degree program.
The details of your application would be used for the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program to avoid rework.
Education
The education section requires entering high school information (country, city, year), Bachelor’s degree (University/College, Country, City, Years, Major, Degree Name, Date Degree is conferred, Second Major if any).
The GPA scale includes a broad range of scales from the standard US-based GPA out of 4.0, % out of 100, Pass/Fail, Class/Division, and Grades – A to F, along with 10,12,15, and 20 point scales.
The applicant is also offered the option to enter a GPA score for each year from Year 1 to Year 4 (mandatory) and additional Years – years 5 and 6 if applicable.
Rank: We recommend that you enter the rank field that could be entered as 5/50 – 5th in a class of 50 or 10% to denote percentile (top 10 percentile). This data sets the expectations early of your potential to contribute to the class. If you have no means to know or find the data, leave it blank. Don’t guess.
Transcript: There is an option to upload the transcript. However, make sure that the file size is less than 2MB and translated to English if your university uses a non-English language in the transcript.
Colleges: Applicants have the option to add more than one college degree
Funding: After declaring no disciplinary actions or probation in school/college, applicants must pay attention to the funding part of the undergraduate degree where they must mention the % loan, %Scholarships/Grants, % Employer and % Family support they received to fund the education.
Languages: Once a language is selected, applicants must choose between five levels: Level 1 (Elementary proficiency), Level 2 (Limited Working Proficiency), Level 3 (Professional working proficiency), Level 4 (Full professional proficiency), and Level 5 (Native or Bilingual proficiency).
Test Score
Next is the critical test scores section that requires mentioning GMAT/GRE or Both.
For applicants whose undergraduate degrees were not taught exclusively in English, they must submit either their TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE scores. This is applicable even for those who are from commonwealth countries or even the US. The citizenship has no relevance to the academic requirement.
Professional Experience
Professional Experience is divided into two sub-sections: Employment Information and Employment History.
Employment Information
The section starts with a 255-character (40 words) question on what you aspire to do after graduating from Stanford GSB.
Mention only the role, responsibility, and preferred employer. The section also asks for the desired industry and function. Therefore, the space should be carefully chosen to highlight responsibilities and, if space permits, the role, and employer.
In addition to seeking permission to contact the employer and capturing the total years of experience, the school also wants to know whether you had gap months (more than four between) between jobs or since secondary school – includes gap year before joining the first job and between school and joining undergraduate degree.
The question is:
Q) Have you had any gap(s) of four months or more in your employment or educational history since secondary school? Let us know what you did during that period. (Limit 145 characters)
The 145 characters are close to 30 words. You barely have an option to explain the reasons for the gap. Directly list the gap months and dedicate the space for the reason.
If you are not currently employed, the school requires that you mention “College Senior” or “Graduate Student.”
If you are not currently employed, the school doesn’t ask the follow-up question to contact the current employer.
Involuntarily terminated: Another critical aspect of the application is the question about “involuntarily terminated.” This could happen in three scenarios – headstrong employees with ambitious goals – entrepreneurial or otherwise (ego clash), economic downturn, company restructuring (losing market share or failing to raise funds), or poor performance.
The explanation should be offered at the Additional Information section of the application, clearly indicating that your performance was not the cause for the termination. See how Mark Cuban explains getting fired. For help with framing the answer, subscribe to F1GMAT’s Essay Editing Service (1 Essay).
The Sub-section ends with uploading your resume in a 1-page format. The school recommends that format for anyone with less than 10 years of experience. Seek our help to convert your job resume into a 1-page format (F1GMAT’s MBA Resume Editing Service)
Employment History
The employment history sub-section requires adding all the employers – full-time and part-time, including internships. However, don’t list experiences before university.
The maximum allowed number of employers is 8. Plan accordingly and highlight employers in such a way the career choices clearly demonstrate your motivation and align with the post-MBA goals.
For each employer, you have to capture:
• Name of the Organization
• Nature of the Organization/Employer's activities
• How Many people Organization Employ (Approximately)
• Starting and Ending Date of Employment
We ask why you left your previous job(s) to help us understand your career path and what has motivated your decision-making.
Click on the Add Employer button to add your current and/or previous employers and organizations. After clicking on the Add Employer button, click on the Search button to look up the name of your employer or organization.
Activities and Interest
The activities and interest section asks for the Athletic, Social, Community, and Professional interests outside your work.
The school is clearly measuring sustained commitment to activity and requires a commitment to a minimum of five to six organizations:
Each activity requires the following information:
• Activity or Interest Name
• From and To Date
• Number of Members
• Typical Time Spent (In Hours) (Week/Month/Year)
• Role
• Describe Activity/Role/IMPACT (320 characters)
Ensure that the ‘Describe Activity ‘ section that has 320 characters (50 words) clearly highlights your IMPACT and leadership if the title of the role doesn’t indicate the contributions.
Awards and Honors
The Awards and section allow applicants to mention a maximum of five awards, with each award including:
• Award or Honor Received
• Date Received
• Basis of Selection (255 characters)
The basis of selection should be carefully crafted with the number of participants, or top percentile, or the total number of awards mentioned clearly in the description. If there were multiple rounds for the selection, clearly indicate them as well.
Essays
There are two required essays:
Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?
- Sample Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (613 Words)(Balance in Life)
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- Sample Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (649 Words) (Generative AI, Bias, and Safety)
- Sample Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (648 Words) (Truth from Interpreting Right, Left, and Centre Narratives
Essay B: Why Stanford?
- Sample Why Stanford MBA Essay (Consulting)(396 words)
- Sample Why Stanford MBA Essay (Tech Entrepreneur) (389 words)
- Sample Why Stanford MBA: Career Switching (Finance to Green Energy Consulting) (388 Words)
- Sample Why Stanford MBA: Career Switching (Private Equity to Operations) (384 Words)
- Sample Why Stanford MBA: Career Switching (Industry and Function – Oil & Gas to Consulting in Operations) (389 Words)
- Sample Why Stanford MBA: Career Switching (Design Engineer in Automobiles to Managing the Products of the Future) (391 Words)
- Sample Why Stanford MBA: Career Switching (Accounting to Private Equity) (395 Words)
- Sample Why Stanford MBA: Dual Degree (MBA and Public Policy) (380 Words)
- Sample Why Stanford MBA: Career Switching (Investment Banking to Venture Capital) (393 Words)
- Sample Why Stanford MBA: NASA Missions to Mitigating Risks of Global Flooding (393 Words)
For Essay A, you must reflect and highlight values, goals, and experiences that have shaped your worldview. Through the perspective of your worldview, you must narrate what matters most to you and why.
Essay B requires that you mention Why Stanford MBA is essential in achieving your goals. Include specifics about the courses.
For Sample Essays and a detailed breakdown of how to approach Stanford MBA Essay, Download F1GMAT’s Stanford MBA Essay Guide.
The combined length of the two essays should not be more than 1050 words, with an ideal split up of 650 words for Essay A and 400 words for Essay B. The formatting should be double spaced with the page number indicated in the essay.
Include just one document with all the essays. Preview the formatting before submitting.
Short-Answer Essay Questions
Stanford asks for two short-answer (optional) essay questions. Although they are optional, we recommend that you include them in the application.
Since Essay A is about your life journey and Essay B – Why Stanford, there could be several aspects of your journey that you might have to edit out of Essay A.
The optional short-answer essay questions become the space to include the narratives.
Optional Question A: In the Essays section of the application, we ask you to tell us about who you are and how you think Stanford will help you achieve your aspirations. We are also interested in learning about the things you have done that are most meaningful to you. If you would like to go beyond your resume to discuss some of your contributions more fully, you are welcome to share up to three examples (up to 1,200 characters, or approximately 200 words, for each example).
Think about times you've created a positive impact, whether in professional, extracurricular, academic, or other settings. What was your impact? What made it significant to you or to others?
- Sample Stanford MBA Positive IMPACT Optional Essay (Flexible Hours for Working Mothers)(200 Words)
- Sample Stanford MBA Positive IMPACT Optional Essay (Cross-Functional Collaboration to Mitigate a Toxic Culture) (192 Words)
- Sample Stanford MBA Positive IMPACT Optional Essay (Introduced Analytics for monitoring performance) (200 Words)
Guidelines
For Optional Question A, the first half of the prompt looks like a rephrased What matters to you the most essay. The second half contains the real question – “Think about times you've created a positive impact, whether in professional, extracurricular, academic, or other settings. What was your impact? What made it significant to you or to others?”
For Optional Question B, the first half of the prompt hints at using your unique identity – sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, skills, interests, and education to demonstrate the value such a perspective has provided in a subsequent project, interaction, or situation.
Optional Question A measures your IMPACT.
Optional Question B measures your ability to apply unique experiences to problems – professionally and in non-profits.
For Sample Stanford MBA Optional Essay Questions, Download F1GMAT’s Stanford MBA Essay Guide.
Additional Information
The additional information section offers applicants the option to upload a document explaining extraneous circumstances that led to their untimely departure in a job, gaps in employment, uneven academic performance, or details of personal circumstances (health/socioeconomic) that had an impact on their career and academic milestones.
Keep the section to 350 words and not more than 1-page.
Recommendation Letter
The applicant is required to facilitate two recommendation letters – one from a direct supervisor (current or previous) and the second from a supervisor/project manager who had overseen your work.
Click Add Register and enter their details, including title, contact information, and a small summary of how you know the person.
There is an option to evaluate the recommendation letter. You can choose to waive the right to read the letter by selecting yes for “Do you wish to waive your right to examine this letter of reference?”.
This is a tricky option, and most applicants choose – yes, trusting the recommender to abide by the rules of endorsement. However, we recommend that you subscribe to our recommendation letter editing service and allow us to act as an intermediary to ensure that the narrative is consistent with your story. We also would ensure that the tone is neutral and doesn’t sound hyperbolic – a tell-tale sign that the letter was written by the applicant itself.
You can include a personal 255-character note while notifying the recommender. There is also an option to set reminders – 3 days before the deadline if the supervisor has not yet submitted. With our recommendation letter editing service, we would ensure that the deadlines are met and address the challenges of answering the question by creating guideline documents for both the supervisors.
While adding recommender, you will be asked whether to notify now or later.
Once you ensure that the details are right, click Notify recommender.
Stanford MBA Recommendation Letter Questions
Q) Please comment briefly on the context of your interaction with the applicant. If applicable, describe the applicant's role in your organization.(Limit 320 characters.) *
Q) Did you use a translator? *
Q) If you are a Stanford GSB alumna/alumnus, please enter your degree class year
Q) How many candidates are you recommending to Stanford GSB this year?
From the typical questions – context of interaction with the applicant, the Stanford MBA admissions team would also like to see if the recommender is a university alumnus, uses a translator, and interestingly – the number of candidates they are recommending for Stanford GSB.
Leadership Assessment
Stanford doesn’t have a matrix system of rating (good, very good, excellent etc.) but chooses description of each leadership trait to measure Initiative, Results Orientation, Communication, Professional Impression & Poise, Influence and Collaboration, Respect for Others, Team Leadership, Developing Others, Trustworthiness/ Integrity, Adaptability/Resilience, Self-Awareness, Problem Solving, and Strategic Orientation.
If the supervisor is marking the highest rating for each trait, they should highlight the trait as a narrative in the recommendation letter.
Example: Strategic Orientation
• No basis for judgment
• Focuses on completing work without understanding implications
• Understands immediate issues or implications of work or analysis
• Develops insights or recommendations within area of responsibility that have improved near-term business performance
• Develops insights or recommendations within area of responsibility that have shaped team/organization strategy and will have impact on long-term business performance
• Develops insights or recommendations beyond area of responsibility with impact on long-term business strategy and performance
Each rating element starts with “no judgment” and increases in favorability as each option is parsed down.
It is ideal that you or a consultant like us discuss the option with the supervisor and specifically map the rating to an example. Our IMPACT table will help with the mapping.
Once the rating answer choices are filled, supervisors are required to submit an overall rating – Best, Outstanding (top 5%), Excellent (Top 10%), Very Good, Average, and Below Average.
The supervisor also has the option to recommend the candidate or recommend the candidate with reservation.
After the leadership assessment and rating, the supervisors must upload the common letter of recommendation addressing the applicant’s performance compared to peers and the person’s response to constructive feedback.
Each question has a 500-word limit. The third question is optional and should remain so unless the supervisor can include an example that covers a personality trait outside the realm of leadership and management.
Common Letter of Recommendation – Stanford MBA
Q) How does the applicant's performance compare to that of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? Please provide specific examples. (E.g., what are the applicant's principal strengths?) - Up to 500 words
Q) Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant's response. - Up to 500 words
Q) (Optional) Is there anything else we should know?
Related Services
- F1GMAT’s Essay Review Service
- F1GMAT’s Resume Editing Service
- F1GMAT’s Career Planning Service
- F1GMAT's Recommendation Letter Editing
Related Download
• F1GMAT’s Stanford MBA Essay Guide
Reference
