Application Week Features and What to Know

[WILL] Let's get started. So once again, I'm Will, part of the GSB admissions team. Over the course of this week, over application week, we've been collecting, myths, rumors, things that you've been hearing about the admissions process, specifically about Stanford, but maybe about just what's it like to apply to business school at large. And so what I wanted to do is collect some of those and help us unpack, because in many of those, there might be a kernel of truth, or if you took a step slightly to the left or slightly to the right or back or forward or however you want to think about that, there could be something productive there. So what we're going to do is We're gonna do this as an Application Week rewind.

We'll go over some of the big talking points from the different sessions, anchor our conversations there, because I really think now that we've established some of this common language, some frameworks, it'll be a little bit easier to answer some of these questions. And I have a feeling that if you've seen these videos, so maybe you're watching this in the future and not live during Application Week, if you watch them in order or if you've attended multiple sessions this week, you might already have an idea How I'm going to be answering many of these questions, and that's the goal. And then at the end, we'll do a little bit more wrap-up, and then I'll jump

back into the Q&A in case there's any additional questions there. So started every session with Let's get some grounding in how Stanford GSB does admissions. And so we think about it through a holistic application review. So I'm taking into account everything that you submit to get an idea of who are you? Who is this person that's going to show up in our classroom and our community? We're taking everything into account to understand the insights, actions, outcomes, the circumstances and the, quote, unquote, "so what" around why these are meaningful for you and the organizations that you've moved through.

And some of the highlights here is that no formula, no equation, no algorithm is part of our admissions process. There are no benchmarks, minimums, cutoffs, or quotas. And so even this one already is going to be the answer to a question you'll see later on No one part of the application is necessarily more or less important than the other, and context matters. There's no preferences on our end. There are no preconceived notions or expectations of who you are or what you wanna do. And so you'll be hearing themes of that throughout today's event. So, once again, no one part of the application is necessarily more or less important than the other.

So what are we looking for? Notice in these categories, they're very open-ended. They are industry, background, geographically agnostic. But earlier, as I mentioned, context matters. So the resources, opportunities, the ways we move through the world are informed by our environments But rather than Those being criteria in and of themselves, that's context, right? And so we're looking for evidence for how you think, academic preparation for the classroom, how you lead, and we unpack a little bit about what does lead mean, what are things, actions, behaviors, insights, what are things that help you get things done? Because leaders get things done. So for me mentally, sometimes I have some

Personal preconceived notions or mental blocks of who is a leader? Do I think I'm a leader? Um, maybe in some situations, maybe not. Um, more accessible framework for me is like, how do I get things done? And coming back to examples of things that I'm proud of, being able to tease that out, and ultimately those are the building blocks for effective leadership that is kind of reflective of who you are. The next is how you see the world. Again, that perspective that you're gonna bring into the classrooms, community, and for the MSx program Clarity of purpose, how you see your future.

And so all of these are important factors as we're thinking through, okay, what is Stanford looking for in the application? So we're gonna approach this through the MVP framework. And if you don't know what MVP stands for in this context, that's okay because I made it up last night. MVP is standing for myth busting, value identification, and pattern recognition. And this pattern recognition piece is one that I was inspired by our students actually in multiple conversations over the past few years, whether it is someone who is a budding entrepreneur who is talking about, "Oh, here's patterns in how my customers or the problem statement I'm looking to explore."

Okay, that could be where I'm keying in, right? How am I learning about that through other founders, experts in the field who I'm seeing how they're doing it, so this is helping me understand For folks who are interested in investing, finance, banking, like what does a good investment look like? How do I identify patterns there? For folks who might be thinking about leadership development, whether in themselves or as, as a leader, mentor, coach, sponsor, how do you advise and support the growth and development of others? It's identifying these patterns that, hey, this is when you might have been effective, or hey, here's where there might have been a stumbling block.

Now let's step back and think about how we might be able to grapple with that moving forward. And in that theme, where's momentum? Where are barriers? where might we be able to create some, identify some possible interventions and action items to address that? That's a theme that hopefully was also coming through in application week as we're thinking about skill building towards kind of this output, getting this idea from your head into an application, you know, a process that you're going to be able to use in multiple settings in business school and beyond. So Myth-busting, value identification, pattern recognition.

Let's start here. There are gonna be some themes that are especially connected to the admissions process that I will start with. So one big category is academic credentials, credentialing. And so, you're gonna see me looking up into the corner. That's where I have a second monitor. So I also am using initials, so I don't want to call anybody out, and I just want to say, this is our contributions and not necessarily the beliefs of those individuals. So thank you to everybody. I want to make sure that folks are getting credit, but framing this appropriately. So a myth I'd like busted, you should not apply to Stanford if you don't have a certain level of test scores, GPA, direct management experience, or a degree from a

premier institute. I love this question. It is such a rich text, so let's unpack a little bit. And so Higher level order of answer, the answer is myth. And so if you don't have a certain level of test scores, remember there's no minimums, cutoffs, maximums on the other end of the spectrum. We're looking at this as an individualized approach. There are many ways to demonstrate academic preparation for the classroom or the skill sets to demonstrate that you can develop those skill sets, right? So that's why the holistic review process can be such a powerful tool and why I believe in it so much. Same thing, GPA. GPA is a single data point.

It only tells you so much. I'm gonna go into your transcripts, look at what classes you've taken, how have you done in them. Also, GPA is an imperfect measure. I'm smiling because I'm, like, thinking of several folks in my head as I speak. If anybody has seen service academy, so one of the military academies' transcripts, you might say, "Oh, here's." here in the US, "Oh, here's a GPA." Oh, what's going on there? You go in the transcript and you see, uh, that maybe the D's or F's were in survival swimming, and so then it's just like, well, hopefully you're not going into

the Navy 'cause that seems like it might be a little bit more important in the setting. But zooming out, for business school, that might not be such an important factor, uh, but it is impacting GPA. So that's why I always use that example as kind of one of the extreme ends of this- kind of obsession, necessarily with GPA and how can we step away from it? because again, you are so much more than any one of these single data points. and so what I will say for test scores though is kind of yes, you want to put your best foot forward, and not everybody is skilled as a test taker. That's okay. A single test is not the fullest demonstration of your intellectual capabilities And for folks who might have academic accommodations,

maybe you have affirmation or documentation from your doctor, you are able to secure academic or testing accommodations from ETS or the GMAC, the folks who offer the GMAT. And so there is a process to request that. So I just want to make sure that folks are aware of that. It might take a little bit of back and forth to figure out what the appropriate documentation is. But end of the day, I want you to have every available resource to be able to do your best work. So that is one I just want to plug. So start that process early. Now, when it comes to direct management experience, we'll come back to this theme a little bit later on, but you can demonstrate leadership competencies and

character traits without having to necessarily manage a team. Management experience also in and of itself Maybe you weren't a great manager, right? And so even like what do we understand about this? Let's, uh, in removing that label but coming back to these competencies, um, maybe you were really great at identifying opportunities, developing strategies. Maybe you're, uh, you excelled in getting the work across the finish line or rallying folks around a cause or coaching, developing, mentoring others, right?

You can do all of that with or without direct management experience. So I think less about the title and the circumstances of where it's happened and more about what are the actions, behaviors, and then everything else is context. And the degree from a premier institute, also false, right? Everybody attends an institution that makes sense for them in the moment. Sometimes it's opportunity, access, maybe there are other lived circumstances, and we never wanna hold those choices against you.

What I care about is given these places that you move through, whether it's the places you've worked or the school that you went to, school or schools, because you might have transferred, there might have been multiple institutions there Maybe here in the US, you did a community college and then went to a bachelor's degree granting institution. Given the institution, how did you perform in the context of that space? So hopefully that unpacks a little bit more. The focus is on the individual rather than kind of on these other data points. Oh, and I might have got ahead of myself, so here's another one.

"I've heard that Stanford does not like to accept students who have transferred in undergrad. Is this true?" Not true. So again, everybody has a different path through. And a little snippet about my background, I actually started my admissions career in undergraduate admission, and so there are very real and very normal and very meaningful reasons people transfer from one institution to another. And so that is not anything that we would look down upon either. And to take this one step further, sometimes people When they start their undergrad career, maybe it's not the right thing for them at that point in time.

I know folks who did college in fits and starts. Maybe they failed out the first time, situations in life changed, re-engaged with higher education, kind of earned that degree, and then are now here at Stanford. So there are so many different paths. Again, help me understand the way you move through the world. And if there's circumstances like that and you're not already writing about it somewhere in your application, the additional information section can come in really handy in terms of clarifying that And it doesn't have to be a full essay, but maybe it's bullet points, maybe it's a chronology, whatever makes the most sense to help you convey, okay, what was going on in your life to help situate kind of some of these pieces in your application.

And that will be generally kind of the recommendation and tip that you'll hear from schools across the board Okay. The next theme is personal information. And so these first two are kind of similar, of the same ilk, so we'll share them. So first, I heard that GSB in particular highly prefers younger applicants under 30 for the MBA program. Is that true? And another one is that the MBA applicants above a certain age are automatically disqualified for admission. So two things are happening here. First, Age is not a factor in the admissions process, and it won't be because age here in the United States, kind of our legal process, is a protected class. So, if this were happening, if there was any kind of

automatic disqualification based on age, that would be considered discrimination. And so kind of tactically, practically, just know that you are protected under that realm. And now productively, the next thing you might think of, well, if not age, maybe it's notions around work experience, or here the YOE is years of experience for the myth-busting session that the GSB has specific years of experience they are targeting So I'm going to, again, in this moment of stepping back, in school class profiles, oftentimes there is a years of experience data point. I am not seeking to hit that number or any other number. That is a byproduct of who is entering that class that year. And so rather than that being something we're

trying to key in on Flip that around. Given where you are in your career or life, What have you done? How? What's normal? What does performance at your level look like? How have you been able to take advantage of the resources? Are there moments when you've gotten above and beyond, right? So this is another one of those subtle shifts. So do not worry. We are not looking down on folks Based on when in your life you're applying, everybody has a different reason, comes to the realization, and their purpose for business school differs. And that also means kind of where you are kind of

chronologically in the span of life, and that's okay. As long as this makes sense for you And you're able to articulate that, awesome, then it makes sense for us. And then the other end of the spectrum, I've also heard that you have to have at least blank number of years of work experience to get in or have to be blank years old to get in. Also Fallacy just from the other direction, given where you are in your career. We're never gonna expect somebody who might be in their first or second year of professional experience to necessarily manage a team, whereas somebody who might be later on down the line, especially if they were on a management track, that might be more,

quote-unquote, normal for them. And again, even later on in your career, if you're an individual contributor role, that doesn't mean you haven't been demonstrating leadership capabilities, qualities, and character traits. So again, kind of taking a step back Who are you? How have you been able to make positive imprints in the spaces you've been? Take me to those insights, actions, behaviors, contextualize those outcomes to help me understand. All right. So kind of in this broad category, I heard that you only take blank from my company, industry, country, et cetera, a year. And you might already be seeing kind of a pattern here in the way that I'm phrasing this.

In any of these brackets where there's you only take blank or you can substitute any one of these characteristics, there might be something there that invites you to think, oh, let me unpack this a little further. And many of this in- some of this information is because of, yes, things that we're putting out in class profiles, but misinterpretations of what that information means. And folks, again, based on, hey, here's what I'm seeing especially is like there's some similarities over time, that's not something that we're kind of using as a guide for who we're trying to admit next year.

We're looking at you as an individual in the context of that application year. And so things like class profiles, that's who was coming into the class, kind of a demonstration of the breadth of experience that hopefully you're also going to be able to engage with as you're meeting your future classmates kind of once you begin your program, so Moment of pause. All right. The next theme is professional background, and so here, "I heard that I'm at a disadvantage because," and oftentimes it's in this context of I'm at a disadvantage because dot. And this is gonna be another one of those pairings.

And so here, even in this discussion of pattern recognition, if it's a situation that feels very much the grass is greener on the other side, and you can make the argument or ask the question both directions, that is an invitation to automatically step back, and let's unpack what we're thinking about here. So first, dot, I'm at a disadvantage because I'm a, quote-unquote, traditional applicant And I'm a non-traditional applicant. And so rather than thinking about these from kind of this like deficit mindset, that there is some disadvantage given the pathway you've taken, take a step back. I do not use the terms traditional or non-traditional kind of as evaluative criteria.

Again, the places that you move through inform the types of opportunities, resources, the types of impact that you're, that Might be characteristic of your field, industry, geography. So these are all kind of context. The next is even for two folks who might have superficially similar pathways, so let's say consultants, not picking on you and consultants, it's just because consulting has a culture of Encouraging folks to go into business school programs after the first two or three years earlier on in the career and then inviting people back. So you'll see many folks from this field go into business schools.

One factor in why you see so many of them in our class profiles, there's a lot of them. I can't admit who's not applying. So if a lot of people are applying, it kind of makes sense that there's more folks who might be joining our classes. But even if you think about that, two consultants You're more than just that single data point. Maybe you're from different firms, or even if you're from the same firm, maybe you're on different teams. You have different project sets. The ways that you are effective as an individual might be very different from each other, even if it all rolls up into the career category or pre-MBA career category of consulting.

So take me to your life and help me understand how you've moved through the world. And so just did a little bit of unpacking there. And when it comes to this value identification I like to approach this from another perspective is, okay, so what does this all mean? If I'm a non-traditional applicant, I don't see a lot of examples of myself where I've been in kind of communities writ large, not just business school, but hey, that's a perspective that can help other people see the world through new ways, and that's a potential contribution If I see myself represented in a certain space as well, okay, there are other things that I also bring to the table.

Or given this experience and familiarity with this context, I might be able to help others into it, right? There's always something that you can understand about yourself. So I encourage you to take that strengths-based approach, and rather than feeling limited by categories, labels, or kind of titles, things like that, who are you because of them? How do they inform the way that you show up in the world? And how might you be able to articulate and contribute in a way that elevates dialogue no matter where you are?

Okay, and this one, this, you see it's a part one. We'll revisit part two in a later section, but one perception I often hear is that GSB primarily admits founders. So another answer in two parts. If you go to our class profile, so what is a productive way to look at that? So the information there actually doesn't say that we have a lot of primarily founders. There's a lot of folks from consulting, finance, tech, broadly defined. And so That is not something we're seeking. Again, that is context and not an evaluative criteria.

I know that the question marks about Stanford entrepreneurship founders, there's a lot of misconceptions about that, so don't worry Right. And on the tactical practical front, C asks, "Is round one really the only round worth applying in? I've heard it's better to wait a full year and reapply in round one than to apply in round two or round three." Let's unpack this. There's a little bit of nuance. And so if you're applying for deferred enrollment, so you're a current college student, you're looking to apply in the future and join the class two to four years in the future, you can apply in any round.

Round three actually tends to work really well because it's your final year of study. Oftentimes that's when leadership roles and you have things to speak about, and many other schools are also doing deferred enrollment programs or their version in that spring timeframe, so it makes sense to prepare kind of at the same time If you're applying to start the next year, now this is where the nuance comes into play. Round one or round two are the way to go. We always admit people in round three, but it tends to be a smaller number because many of the seats of the class have been filled at that point.

Now, as you're considering round one or round two, something you do not have to worry about is financial aid. We practice need-based financial aid, so no matter when you're admitted, whether it's round one or off the waitlist in the summer, if you have demonstrated financial need, we will meet it. So you don't have to worry about, will I get more funding or do I have to like strategize around that. Not at Stanford. That might be different at some of the schools that you're looking at, and so that's why I want to make sure that you take that into consideration as you're doing this application process Okay.

The one time where you might want to consider round one or, where this might have a little bit more truth to it is if you're interested in the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program. So that is a pan-Stanford program, so it's not a GSB-specific offering. So it has a separate application process and application date. And so their deadline is typically in the October timeframe. To be eligible to apply for the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program, you do have to apply in round one or the consortium early round. So that would be the nuance of this question. If that is the critical moment for you of whether or not to apply to Stanford, that would be the one time to think about Okay, I missed round one.

I might need to apply round one next year to get to do and apply for Knight-Hennessy. But otherwise, round two, round one or round two, no major difference. Times you might want to also think about round one is if you like to have a longer runway to prepare for business school. and in this kind of climate. As an international student also, if you're thinking about visa processing, round one will give you a little bit more time and opportunity to receive your I-20 and some of the documentation, so a little bit longer of a window to process and get the visa to be able to attend as a student, so.

Some things to consider. Again, up to you. Okay. Application week paradigms. And so here's some of the ways that I've been thinking about application week and kind of our workshop offerings. So different things click for different people, so I've been trying to stack it and toggle back and forth So if something clicks for you in one setting and not another, we have at least one framework to refer back to. So paradigm one, this is the one that is most commonly discussed, kind of parts of the application. And so we've been referring to them obliquely, but this has not been the focus in and of itself of application week, though inherently tied into the conversation Paradigm two, this is one that I started playing with a few years ago,

application states of mind. So even if there are similar experiential touchstones for us, so where we are today, wanting to go to business school in the future, career or organizational or club activities in the past, extracurriculars, the choices, school, like bachelor's degree. So even if there were Kind of experiential touchstones many of us have, the way that we engage with them is gonna look very different. The application is asking you to think about this in three kind of non-mutually exclusive buckets, because oftentimes they do and will inform each other. So this retrospective, looking back, at your past experiences, introspective,

understanding who you are, and then how that informs the things that you want to do in the future. Right? Some of these questions, forward thinking, if you could do anything, what would it be? That's gonna probably sound familiar if you've been attending application week. Introspective, who are you? What matters most to you and why? And then retrospective, tell me about a time when. These three big buckets kind of cover the span of what a lot of the questions and types of things that you're gonna be reflecting on in the application. And so that's where we come to this year, where I took it a step further and was like, "Okay,

what's another way for us to frame potential learnings and ways of engaging with this process to find value in it beyond?" So it takes us to application skill build, life skills And skill building. Sorry, I'm very excited about this if you can't tell. So over the arc of this, we did school research, exploring fit, articulating your why, academics, extracurricular activities, and work experience. So even in these first two, okay, why business school? Why now? How do I explore and articulate my short-term, long-term goals? Maybe talk about why Stanford for me? Again, echo, resonance across some of these other things and the application.

Tell me about a time when behavioral-based questions that might show up in your application or interviews, skill sets around that, letters of recommendation, but also positioning that under the broader experience of Who are folks that are along with you for the professional ride that you're taking? How can we learn from each other? Think about mentors, sponsors, advocates, champions in ways that don't necessarily include those titles, but those are kind of figures in your life that can really help shape kind of what tomorrow looks like. And then coming back to that, what matters most to you and why, and thinking about writing, yes, through the lens of that question, but also more broadly, and how can you

effectively communicate your point of view with the world? So we'll kind of do a high-level overview, and I'm going to be dropping a lot of links in the chat, so prepare yourselves. The first is to learn more about both the MBA, MSx programs, so as a resource, as well as the MBA Application Essentials page, which will link you to many of the things that I'm referring to. just pop those into the chat. Uh, but In this research process, the overarching theme was do your research as a common kind of piece of advice. You can also learn a lot about yourself in this process.

We did a two-minute timed exercise about if you could do anything, what would it be? And then taking a moment to examine what was the process like, what was the outcome of the thing that you wrote, what do you do with that next? Then this iterative process around life design and how do we start to get a little bit closer to this idealized version and aspirational version of who you wanna be. In the chat, I just shared some resources that will take you to Stanford's Life Design Lab, which offers some classes in the space. There's also a GSB. Course, Engineering Extraordinary Life, I believe is the title or some iteration of that. And so these are folks that you could be taking class with, which is also incredible.

And then finally, some resources to help you along the way, including gems where I find people don't always realize you can learn a lot about a school and opportunities even if you don't have immediate access to someone in your network or aren't able to visit campus. Kind of high on that list are school YouTube channels and then also talking to us admission officers. Lots of different ways to learn about programs So that takes us back to our MVP framework. There's a lot of themes around aspirations, and myths in this space. So one, I heard it's looked down on if I want to go into consulting or something, quote unquote,

"more traditional." Not true. I heard that admissions frowns on big pivots. Let's do a little bit of nuance here. So for the MSx program, it's that one-year master's, how you see your future, that clarity of purpose is important. It's a one-year program, so you want to be able to understand, given what you want to do, how does this fit within that structure? There might be work that you need to do before, a little bit after, but just having some of that and being able to talk through it is incredibly helpful. And kind of where just some of this additional nuance is,

at Stanford, that's not as, at least at the MBA program, if you're willing to put in the work, take advantage of the resources, I've seen some very big pivots happen. It's not up to me to determine that is that realistic or is that not. Also, once you're on campus, you might discover new things. So I will never hold you to what you wrote in your application. So this is an opportunity to, okay, who is that idealized vision of me? Let's put words around it. I know people who've gone from military into private equity. There have been other big transitions in life as well. So know that this is an open space, no judgment,

preconceived notions or expectations, at least on the MBA admissions side. And then I've heard I have to prove I'm employable or that I will be employable in the field that I want to go into. Those two go hand-in-hand, right? I heard admissions frowns upon big pivots. Kind of on the other side of that, I need to demonstrate or have a little bit of experience in that space. Again, that could be something other schools might be concerned with, but not us Business school could be the way that you're using to pivot because you don't have access to these industries' resources

by way of kind of your career path so far, geography, right? And so that is, again, not something we want to hold against you. We're thinking about, okay, given where you've been, the spaces you've moved through, insights, actions, behaviors, because all of those things are some of these fundamental pieces of leadership competencies that will then be translatable as you're making these pivots and as you're making career pivots throughout your life and beyond. So this is the part two of one of the questions from earlier.

One perception I often hear is that the GSB primarily admits people who already know they want to start up companies. What advice do you have for applicants who are excited about innovation but may pursue it in other ways? I think you already started to answer your question here. So part one, not true. We are not looking primarily for people, or there's no tip on the scale for folks who want to go into entrepreneurship or startups. There is a wonderful ecosystem for folks who do want to go into that space here. But I love that you used the word innovation, right?

Innovation can happen in any space, even in areas that might seem more, quote-unquote, "traditional." And anytime that there is change in the environment, And as we're thinking about things as AI in and of itself isn't innovation, but the way it's shaking up industries, fields, even the social movements that are happening in the world, independent of AI or technology, these are landscapes of change. And change is an opportunity for innovation and ways to do things maybe a little bit better, maybe a little bit more effectively or efficiently Right? These are all things that you as leaders will be engaging with no matter what spaces you go through. And so I love that you named innovation and decoupled it,

because sometimes we kind of use it as a catch-all and unintentionally connect innovation to startup and entrepreneurship. innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, here's an opportunity. I think it's important. It's not being addressed currently, or I think there's a different way to be able to do it. How can I, right? It's a mindset and not necessarily a career path. It can be a career path, but more importantly, it's the mindset that allows you to explore things from different directions. So Thank you for asking that question.

Clearly, I feel very strongly about this. And then one more myth, you have to want to change the world to get into Stanford. Change lives, change organizations, change the world is a motto in many ways, but it's not the path. Changing the world is an outcome, right? And so Think about what is it that you really want to do? And it doesn't have to be changing the world, but what types of change do you see yourself kind of productively engaging with? It could be changing the way that we're tackling a problem because maybe you are interested in innovation in a space like venture capital or banking or hedge funds and kind

of in doing so, there is gonna be a ripple effect. And if you change the life of one person, support them, you're changing their world, right? So there's lots of different ways to interpret, reinterpret, and process this. That motto is aspirational, not an admissions criterion. All right. So next up, if past behavior is one of the best indicators for future behavior, tell me about a time when. And this is getting us to some of the behavioral-based questions that you'll likely see in either application questions, more commonly in interviews We did a little bit of an arc around storytelling, understanding STAR, situation, task, action, result, as a very

common heuristic here to help guide folks in structuring what they're talking about and how they're telling stories. But I added that S to help you, especially in this reflective process to think about what's the so what? Why is this example the one that we're raising here? Help me understand what some of these ripple effects are or why this was meaningful. What was that significance? Another S word that you can easily plug in if that feels more appropriate for you, or you can engage with the word significance more than so what.

Right? And again, centering yourself in this process, kind of in this broader dialogue around communication as a fundamental leadership skill that you can practice, and I encourage you to practice in the admissions process. A few more resources here, including from Matt Abrahams, a strategic communications lecturer at the GSB, some great resources that can help you even today We did a behavioral-based prompt to also think about identifying some of the patterns that you have exhibited over time. Where are times you felt more effective? How can we recreate those moments, including in the application process, to help you maintain that momentum to pressing that submit and hopefully

accepting a space at the GSB or other institution or opportunity that makes the most sense for you in the moment? And then it took us on a little bit of a tangent. We talked about social cognitive career theory, something that is very near and dear to my heart. It's based off of Albert Bandura, so a researcher's social cognitive theory. We learn from the people around us. We learn from engaging with the environments that we move through. And based off of those learnings, they shape our interests, our goals, the actions we take towards those goals,

and then the domain attainment and achievement. So what are the spaces where, like, industries, education, majors, and what are we able to accomplish and learn within those spaces? This is all a cycle to help us think through- A, what are some of the factors and forces that help shape who we are? So this is a framework, if you haven't stopped to think about it, that could be helpful. And looking forward, where are opportunities to use some of the language from kind of academia where you can stage an intervention or you can deploy a small intervention?

Maybe it's surrounding yourself with other people who are going through this process so that you can then talk about it, share learnings, kind of change the way that you see your ability to submit a strong application that, and by strong, one that you feel accurately depicts who you are, right? These are ways to also think about, okay, what are ways that I can move and kind of push the trajectory that much more in the direction that I hope we go? And so here are some of the big MVP themes. Performance domains and attainment, again, coming back to use language from social cognitive career theory. Is it true that to be competitive Stanford MBA applicant, it's more important to demonstrate a

commitment to social impact than entrepreneurial ambition? Two things are happening here. One is this notion of a false binary that you have to do one or the other. Maybe you do both. There is an overlap between social impact and entrepreneurship. Sometimes it's called social entrepreneurship or social innovation. Lots of different ways to think through that. So kind of removing ourselves from this either-or conversation where one is necessarily better than the other and putting them at odds with each other. And then the important context,

if it's important to you, it's important to us, right? Rather than- Stanford has preferences for these buckets. We don't. And so kind of this is another one of shifting it. You're gonna hear that if it's important to you, it's important to us, come through in multiple stages, kind of if you ever hear me talking. And another common myth is that applicants need impressive quantitative results such as revenue growth or P&L, profit and loss ownership, to demonstrate leadership and impact. So Let's unpack this one. This one's a really interesting one. And so it's less that you need, quote unquote, impressive quantitative results.

Quote unquote, let's just say results can be both quantitative as well as qualitative. There's different ways to describe that. And these outcomes are kind of situational, right? So impressive is context dependent. And so let's say, if you were ready to secure a $2 million client If you are working at a $57 billion revenue organization, $2 million, okay. If you are part of a nonprofit organization and you're volunteering and you were able to secure $2 million, could mean something else, right? And so again, context dependent and It's not just the what, but how did you get there? What were the insights, actions, behaviors?

How did you get, secure those things? So it doesn't matter is what impressive or not, but hey, maybe there was additional challenges. Maybe this is the way that you work with others, right? There's ways to document impact and situational things like that, that can be as important than just the outcome. Remember, it's what are some of these leadership competencies, behaviors, because those are the things that you're gonna be able to demonstrate, right?

These quantitative, qualitative results, whether it is in numbers, profit and loss figures, revenue growth Achievements and awards even, or maybe it's sponsorship, maybe your company is going to be paying for you. Okay, that is signaling that you did something to earn it. Help me understand the actions, impacts, the things that then resulted in award. Because again, not every institution, not every organization has awards, has those types of recognitions. Later on, I kind of cropped it here, but if you're in a firm or industry or space that doesn't lend itself to revenue growth or P&L ownership, that is not something against you.

Rather, in the space you're in, what does kind of impact look like? That's what I and my team are kind of parsing out. Letters of recommendation. You know your world best. Who are the people who can speak to working with you, how you've moved through these spaces? Uh, who can be partners in your broader journey beyond? And so here I shared a couple of links, again, from the Stanford Life Design Lab. Around these notions of informational interviews and networking reframe. And even though the video for the informational interview is geared more specifically towards, like, if you're learning about potential career outcomes,

there's a lot of really great learnings for, like, how do you just learn and quote-unquote interview people about their lives to learn from them using curiosity as a connecting point and figuring out, okay, how might we be able to support each other kind of in our future endeavors? So we ask all of our recommenders the same few questions paraphrased here. How has this person performed relative to equally qualified peers? Tell us about a time when there was feedback. Is there anything else we should know? With some of the folks who might be best positioned, the ones who can speak with examples, anecdotes, and that quote-unquote evidence to substantiate

their endorsement of you, knowing again how people talk, the effusiveness, that might be contextual to the organizational culture or other things like that. I care less about how they're saying it and more about the content and the evidentiary pieces, insights, actions, behaviors You know that mantra by now. You've heard me say it multiple times, so hopefully it's starting to resonate and click, not just in letters of recommendation, but as we're thinking about your application as a whole. And then we also separate it out into some tips,

best practices for recommenders No surprise here. Examples and anecdotes, context and significance, and their observations and assessment of their interactions with you. Myths here tended to be a little bit more straightforward. So should you ask somebody who is recognizable in a senior role or connected to Stanford or the school that you're applying to? Notice some of the bracketing here already unpacking that. Does it matter? I care more about what they're able to say about you, evidence-wise, how they're able to speak to specific examples. That's gonna be more helpful to me than a title or the

individual's prestige And then another one. Myth: recommenders from supervisors have to be from those who supervised you within the previous three years. So untrue. So correct, it is a myth, and there is a little bit of unpacking that might be helpful in kind of grappling with this question In admissions, we're trying to get an understanding of who you are and who that person is going to show up in our classroom and community. So having a fresh take on it is going to be very helpful. So recency can play a factor in that. That said, everybody's life is different. That's where you know your world the best.

Maybe there are circumstances where you can't ask people that you've worked most closely with, whether it could potentially jeopardize a promotion or bonus. Maybe you are self-employed or work with family. And so again You understand, figure out who can best answer those questions with examples. And in terms of like how long is too long, I never want to put a specific X amount of years is too long because, hey, five years ago, you might have worked really closely with that person, but maybe you're still in the same organization and you work with each other obliquely.

You know, there could still be great fresh takes and understandings of who you are. Conversely, that five, six years ago If you are early in your career, that five, six years ago person might have been someone who knew you early or kind of during college. And think about the growth you've had over time. And if you haven't been in contact since then, they might have a very different perspective than who that individual joining us on campus will be. So, take a moment to think through that. Again, you know the people in your life best. That person five years ago, even in college, could still be a very great recommender.

Everybody's situation is going to be different. And I encourage and empower you to make these choices. We trust you. We hope you're able to trust yourself. All right. What matters most and why? And so this is where there are a lot of themes, anxiety, and I feel like sometimes this is where some of the kind of biggest worry can be. But much of it actually boils down to a couple of different themes. So we started with an exercise. We did the five whys, and so this is kind of a relatively common, It's out there in the world, ways that people will often dig through to figure out some of these deeper or more embedded themes, maybe it's higher level

orders of significance. We applied it here in the admissions process, and then I asked folks to think about what was your process like as well as the outcome, what you wrote, and how do we take that into this kind of forward momentum I also shared a little bit about resumes, and writing in that space. So in the chat box, I will share the link that we have to the sample resume that we provide on the MBA Essentials webpage. You don't have to use it, but it could be a good starting point if you haven't engaged with this process before. And here are the big themes.

What to write about? So I've heard that successful Stanford applications often include a deeply personal story about a hardship or adversity. Is that true? Or can applicants demonstrate authenticity, growth, and self-awareness without centering their essays on a traumatic experience? This is another one of those questions that I really appreciate because you started with what the word on the street is, and you actually already started heading towards a really productive answer. And so the answer is you do not have to write about something

that is traumatic or hardship or adversity, right? Not everybody's lived experience kind of tailors that. That's okay. We have no preconceived notions, expectations. You can demonstrate authenticity and even unpacking what does authenticity mean. The ability to speak your truth, your observations, kind of how you move through the world in a way that really reflects you. Growth, self-awareness do not necessarily require traumatic experience. Learning can take many different forms. So don't worry about that. If it's important to you, it's important to us.

What is it that you're trying to convey to us? That's what we, we care about on this side. One of the pieces of advice that I hear out there, I've heard it a lot more on the undergrad admission side than I do on the business school side, but I still hear it, is if you printed out your essays at work and you left it on the printer at, like, right before you left, you would run back and, grab it from the printer because you don't want anybody to see it Well, okay, you might be writing about something vulnerable like that, and that is okay, and kind of in that context. Who are you because of this situation?

All right? And if I'm learning more about you, you're headed in the right track. That said, maybe the thing that matters most to you is something that you talk about all the time. It's something you lean into. Maybe it's this feeling of joy, right? And so I don't want you, don't want anybody to feel like you have to write something or your essays have to be necessarily, quote-unquote, vulnerable or, um, kind of secretive or have some dimension of shame or guilt associated with that, right? Kind of- My guideline, the way I reframe that is, if you have some connection to that piece of writing, you're headed in the right direction because it

means that it has that kind of a dimension of your truth in it. And so just unpack that. And the other is this notion of the full package and needing to strive for quote unquote perfection Um, one of the things that I try to encourage folks, it's less about perfection and more about the process. As you're understanding yourself, as we engage with this iterative process, we can continue to be better, find ways to improve. And it's not always a straight line trajectory of growth. Sometimes there's fits, starts, steps backwards, but hopefully, overall, we're headed in this forward direction. Um, so there is no expectation of quote-unquote perfect because what even is that, right?

Understanding who you are is going to be the most powerful lens and what that means for you, not just in this business school application, but why should someone want to follow you? In understanding how you move through the world, the forces that shape you, and then being able to use that and adapt in real time to be able to connect with those around you, to take a goal and have it turn into realistic outcomes Like that is an incredible process, and that doesn't require perfection. It requires this understanding, this kind of, of the authentic you. And I don't use the term authentic that frequently. I, I feel like even that word can feel very charged.

Kind of know yourself, know yourself in the moment, and being open to understanding that sense of curiosity, the world around you As you engage with this process, reflect broadly, understand who you are, but bring it back 'cause that can feel like a big thing. How do I fit all of this into an application? You don't have to. Use the questions in our application or wherever you're applying as the guide for the details that we're trying to source, 'cause we're trying to guide you towards the things that are helpful to us, so that could be a great place to kind of, kind of catch yourself in the moment and answer and engage with the question that's being asked. And I say engage intentionally

to include word count because that could be a great guide for kind of Hey, it's a longer essay, more chance to explore. For shorter answers, hey, maybe it's succinct. How can I be crisp? Knowing that you're gonna be sharing similar stories in different audiences, being able to adapt and navigate that fluidly is always gonna be a great skill. One more time, if it's important to you, it's important to us. So, so what? Once you've filled out your application, you're making progress, think to yourself, "Okay, so what is important to me?

Have I been able to share it in a way that is productive for what I'm trying to communicate by way of this anecdote or insight? Where in the application makes the most sense for that?" When I am reading your application, you are the most interesting person in the world to me. So know that the effort that you are investing into this, we are also investing into understanding you. The question of how do I stand out? Resist the urge to over-engineer. There's a lot of people out there, these myths of you have to be X, you have to be Y.

There has to be this thing. It has to be, quote-unquote, perfect That is not by any means the way that we think about admissions at the GSB. Everybody has a unique path. Just by being yourself and understanding that and contributing your perspectives inherently, like, is adding to dialogue. So who are you? What are your experience? What are the things that you care about? And being able to articulate that in a way that feels true to who you are, and I want to say that very intentionally. Because in this world of AI, it can be a tool,

but it can easily, it's a slippery slope where it's a crutch, and over-reliance on it can tend to flatten kind of the voice and our understanding of who you are, because it'll regress to some mean of data inputs that it's kind of taking up and trying to guide everything towards. So use it as a tool. Be a critical and conscientious consumer of the information out there. At the end of the day, it all starts with you, and hopefully through this, you can find these moments where you can be unapologetically you. And so with that, this moment of peace, sunrise at GSB's campus. Hopefully we'll be able to engage with you, not just through the admission process, but kind of continue to encourage you in

business school, in career, and life beyond. Thank you for joining us for application week. Hopefully there were things here that might resonate with you and that you can take it into whatever tomorrow brings. I'm gonna turn camera off. I'm gonna go through the Q&A box, pull out things that we might be able to use to help continue to improve the resources and things that we provide to help close the gap between knowledge and the ability and belief in your ability to create and submit an application that you can be truly proud of. Thank you, and here's to Application Week 2026. Take care, everyone.