The mbaMission Podcast

Ep 22 | Five Minutes on the Stanford GSB

• mbaMission • Season 1 • Episode 22

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In this episode of the mbaMission podcast, Harold Simansky and Debbie Choy discuss the unique aspects of the MBA experience at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Debbie shares her insights on the intimate and collaborative environment at Stanford, highlighting the strong relationships formed during her time there. She also reflects on the challenges of time management and the need for more career counseling to help students navigate their career paths effectively.  

Takeaways

  • Stanford's small class size fosters strong relationships.
  • The collaborative culture at Stanford enhances learning.
  • Time management is a challenge in MBA programs.
  • More career counseling could benefit incoming students.
  • Exploring different career paths can be overwhelming.
  • Friendships formed in MBA programs can last a lifetime.
  • Stanford is known for its exclusivity and difficulty to enter.
  • The two-year MBA experience can feel rushed.
  • Electives could help refine career interests.
  • Support from professors is crucial in career exploration.

Learn more about the Stanford GSB by downloading our free Insider's Guide.

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Harold Simansky (00:18)
Hi, this is Harold Simansky with the mbaMission podcast. I'm here once again with Debbie Choy, one of our managing directors. Hi, Debbie. Good. How's everything with you?

Debbie (00:25)
Hello, Harold. How are you? Good, thank you. Glad to be here.

Harold Simansky (00:31)
We're so happy for you to be here today. And Debbie, I know you're a Stanford graduate and Stanford, as we all know, is one of the most exclusive, hardest schools to get into. Obviously no school is perfect. So we'd love to hear from you. What did you really love about Stanford and what was a little bit less lovable about Stanford?

Debbie (00:51)
Good question, Harold. What I really loved about Stanford was just how intimate the college or the school felt. It was a small class and that was the perfect size for you to really get to know a lot of your classmates. I got to form a lot of strong friendships and relationships. A lot of my classmates I'm still in touch with today. just a great opportunity really to get

people's different backgrounds and industries. It was a great collaborative environment as well. It really felt that it felt like everybody wanted you to succeed and you know I think the collaborative culture was really permeated through the all the classes and all of the activities that we had. I that was the part for me that was my one of my favorite experiences.

Harold Simansky (01:46)
Sure. Sure. Sure. That makes sense. I do hear about just what a great environment is there, how supportive it is there. You just have some great people, some real rock stars there to spend some time with. And, and as we know, no school is perfect. And without putting you on the spot or some of the things that you found less compelling about Stanford.

Debbie (01:56)
Yeah.

Yeah, you know, I think if there's one thing that I could change is...

And I know this is not a real flaw, but to maybe have more time. And it almost felt like those two years went by so quickly. And there were so many classes that were interesting to me that I wanted to take, but just couldn't fit it into my class schedule. and thinking back, and obviously nobody wants to spend the rest of their lives in business school, but thinking back as to perhaps one thing that could have helped,

is maybe have a little bit of more career counseling for students coming in. And I know that, you know, through writing the essays, you're supposed to, you know, think about what career path you want to take and so on. But also note that myself included, a lot of my classmates went to business school to pivot, to explore different options. And I think if we had maybe a little bit more counseling at when we first got to school

Harold Simansky (03:06)
Yep, right.

Debbie (03:13)
Okay, how do you pick, you know, because obviously there are, you know, 20 different career paths that you could take, go down the direction here, but you don't have enough time to explore everything. So how do you narrow it down? I will say that I do remember we had Myers -Briggs test. We did have, you know, professors kind of, you know, helping us through the, at the beginning of helping us think about trying to refine those career

Harold Simansky (03:40)
Yeah.

Debbie (03:44)
And I think complementing that with perhaps classes that you can take, the electives that you could take down the road would have been a tremendous help. think it was great, but could be made maybe a little bit more robust for me. But again, that was because I wanted to go in and I just wanted to explore so many different things that sometimes it felt a little bit overwhelming.

Harold Simansky (04:09)
Oh, that makes sense then. Great, great, great. Well, Debbie, thank you very much for that. And anyone who wants to spend a little time talking to Debbie or me or with one of our 25 other consultants, by all means sign up for a free mbaMission consult, free 30 minute consultation. You can do, we'll talk to you about whatever you want.

You can do that by going to our website, MBAadmission .com. Debbie, thank you very much again. And I know we did a few podcasts, so I encourage everyone to scroll through iTunes and join Debbie, me, and a bunch of our other colleagues just talking about the MBA admissions process. Bye, Debbie. Have a great day. Bye -bye.

Debbie (04:42)
Great to talk to you, Harold. Bye. You too.