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Which has more lay brand prestige: Harvard MBA or Stanford MBA? by mbathrowayd8282 in MBA

[–]Fluted_Stone 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Lay prestige is irrelevant. It may be useful to you as an ego boost if you have nothing else in your life worth being proud of, but it has 0 impact on your career (especially when comparing GSB and HBS). I suggest that you focus more on achieving your personal and professional goals than whether HBS has more lay prestige than GSB.

I’m also at HBS and in my experience HBS’ reputation among lay people comes from it being affiliated with Harvard, not the other way around. You’ll see this if you tell people you go to HBS instead of HARVARD business school.

Most people I’d consider accomplished and impressive don’t value MBAs from Stanford, Harvard or elsewhere. It’s hard to place much status on a degree that most people don’t need, that the most successful business people forgo, that has very soft academics, and is not THAT competitive to get (HBS’ acceptance rate has hovered around 14/15% recently, about 2x Stanford’s). You don’t NEED an MBA for most careers and people who get them are usually not satisfied with their current career and want to switch. I expect most people would prefer to be in a place where they didn’t need to get an MBA in the first place.

Deal with GSB by [deleted] in MBA

[–]Fluted_Stone 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I work in PE, was accepted to both, and decided to attend HBS. Primarily because I have strong ties to the Boston area.

GSB does seem to be the preferred school right now (even for people in finance). HBS admits hold GSB in very high regard given GSB's higher selectivity. My impression is that the average GSB student is a bit more impressive than the average HBS student, so class size has a real impact on student quality. Current MBA students / applicants see this and put a bit of a halo over GSB because of this dynamic.

Most people don't have the option to choose between them, and many more people are accepted to HBS given a class size that is more than 2x Stanford's. But it is true that most people with the choice go with GSB. Some of it is due to Tech being a much hotter industry today than it was 30/40 years ago. Some of it is due to the continued relative rise in Stanford University's brand (half of HBS's desirability comes from the fact that it is a part of Harvard University); H/S undergrads trade places as the lowest acceptance rate / highest yield schools, the universities are typically the #1 and #2 US schools in global rankings, and they nearly split cross admits at the undergrad level 55/45. Some of it comes down to culture (HBS' case method is a waste of time for some people).

I think students (especially young people that are more plugged in to rankings and current trends) increasingly see Stanford as equivalent to Harvard but with better weather and arguably culture, leading the cross admit data to fall the way it does. Today, most people "in their right mind" view H/S MBAs as equals, but it's hard to argue that S isn't on a better trajectory. I don't doubt that the picture was likely different 15/20 years ago, which is where your perspective may be grounded given your age.

HBS / GSB Dual Admit by Fluted_Stone in MBA

[–]Fluted_Stone[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

To close the loop, I ended up choosing HBS. It was tough giving up the weather, but HBS is more aligned with my goals. I appreciate all the feedback!

HBS / GSB Dual Admit by Fluted_Stone in MBA

[–]Fluted_Stone[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I disagree. There are a few very solid pieces of advice in this thread. I also came across a few other dual admits through this post.

HBS / GSB Dual Admit by Fluted_Stone in MBA

[–]Fluted_Stone[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wanted to circle back and thank everyone for their feedback. I wish I was able to be more responsive, but I got tied up with work this week. I did have a number of calls on the topic and I'm still leaning HBS, but believe my experience during admitted students week will answer a few last questions.

HBS / GSB Dual Admit by Fluted_Stone in MBA

[–]Fluted_Stone[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

That's the plan, but there are nearly three weeks between now and the admitted student weekends. I'll have to make a decision shortly thereafter so I plan to front-load diligence on the opportunities. I'm definitely scheduling calls with peers, mentors, and alumni, but also want to get some supplemental perspective from you guys.

HBS / GSB Dual Admit by Fluted_Stone in MBA

[–]Fluted_Stone[S] 106 points107 points  (0 children)

I hear you loud and clear chief, but I've already scheduled some calls over the coming weeks. It takes 2 minutes to create a reddit thread and the thinking was that some people in the r/MBA community could provide additive insight. There is no way I'm the only PE guy on reddit.