Friday, June 09, 2006

Stanford GSB Info Session

Well I had my first "official" info session at an MBA school. I have the sneaky suspicion that after every info session I am going to proclaim my love for that particular school? Anyway, Stanford GSB...

I Live near by Stanford so it reallyis not a problem for me to get there. However, I am directionally challenged and ended up passing up turns in my car while blabbing away on the phone. Once I found visitor parking ($3 for two hours), I ended up running from one end of campus to the other as to not make a late first impression! I walked into the classroom and immediately felt uncomfortable in my incredibly casual attire. I was wearing a tank top, cargo capris, and my flip flops. I live in Cali, I blend in with the general public! There were already 6 or 7 people seated in the exaggerated oval classroom (not sure I like this classroom set up? I'll have to see a class in action to see how the interaction is) and all of them looking quite professional in slacks and shirts. Oops, strike one for first impressions! Then walked in the Assistant Director of Admissions to give the power point pesentation.

She had us all introduce ourselves and a bit about our background. During this time about 5 people walked in late...all of them in casual attire. WooHoo! I wasn't the latest nor the most casual one there!! She began the presentation and I started to fall in love. Is this going to happen everytime I visit a school? Ugghhhh! So these are the immediate things I liked about Stanford:

Small Class Size
Location (I already own a duplex here. I wouldn't have to move. I have friends and family close by to help me take care of Rico, my dog, when need be).
Emphasis on team work and not a competitive environment (this is very important to me since I am extremely competitive. If I were in a competitive environment I imagine I would be less focused on actually learning and more focused on doing better than the guy next to me.
It's Stanford for goodness sake! need I say more?
Access to Professors there are no office hours, just open door arrangements between students and professors.
New Curriculum is more flexible I imagine this can be a negative as well as a positive considering next year's class will be the guinea pig?
Mentor. They are introducing a new mentor program with a second year as well as with a faculty member.
Emphasis on a community and not "networking" I hate that word and apparently, so does Stanford.
Heavily Quantitative based program. Although I don't necessarily want to be an engineer, I am. And I like Quant!

I'll have to make a more comprehensive list as the info sessions continue at different schools. And I'd also like to go back when class is in session to sit in on a class and meet with current students and discuss the environment a little more. I didn't expect to like Stanford all that much but their marketing campaign has dazzled me a bit. But there's always more research to do!

Am I a complete dork for getting so excited about this? Or maybe it's my hangover high from a good night of salsa dancing last night? Who cares, either way there will be a smile on my face all day today!

1 comment:

FSM said...

comment on your previous post .. checking out schools is a great excuse to some traveling, so go ahead and hit the east coast! BTW I plan to ride my motorbike from South Michigan to visit Columbia, MIT, Harvard and Tuck in the first week of July. Too bad there won't be any students around, but I won't have time to visit after July. So July it is!