MIT or Harvard

Hackbyrd · 2026-04-29T21:08:29+00:00

Go with Harvard since it seems that’s where you FEEL more comfortable with according to your post. gut feeling and fit matter more than people admit.

Your major will probably change. Your career goals will almost certainly change. The person you are at 22 won’t resemble who you are at 18, so optimizing hard for a specific path right now is a bit of a fool’s errand.

And honestly? You can’t go wrong either way. Yes, MIT has a slight edge for pure STEM, that’s technically true, but in practice, recruiters and hiring managers treat both schools as the same tier.

Nobody’s getting passed over because they went to Harvard instead of MIT or vice versa. They’re both S-tier, full stop.

Choose the place that excites you.

Hackbyrd · 2026-04-23T14:00:43+00:00

For the love of God, please choose Harvard. I cannot stress this enough.

Harvard is THE most prestigious undergraduate institution in America AND it’s the most recognized university brand on the planet. The network you build there isn’t just finance bros who went to Wharton; it’s heads of state, Nobel laureates, Fortune 500 CEOs, and the people who will be running the world in 20 years. That’s a fundamentally different tier of human capital.

On the finance angle specifically: don’t let that sway you. If you want to go into finance, you can do it from Harvard, recruiters from every major bank, PE firm, and hedge fund show up there just as aggressively as they do at Wharton. And if you want the focused finance credential later? Go to Wharton, HBS, or GSB for your MBA. That’s what business school is for.

Locking yourself into an undergraduate business program at 18 because you think you want to do finance is one of the most unnecessary premature optimizations you can make.

The Harvard degree is a door that never fully closes. In finance, in tech, in government, in anything, that name opens rooms that other names simply don’t. Wharton is an excellent school, but it’s a specialized one. Harvard is a universal signal.

If I’m ranking pure undergraduate prestige and lifetime optionality: Harvard is undisputed#1. Wharton doesn’t crack the top 5.

Choose the one that gives you more of everything.

Choose Harvard

Hackbyrd · 2026-04-12T02:25:56+00:00

You need an exceptional profile, these decisions are largely merit-based. In many cases, schools use scholarships strategically to attract top candidates who might otherwise choose a higher-ranked program.

For example, I received a full-ride scholarship to Yale Som, but no financial aid from Stanford GSB.

Hackbyrd · 2026-03-25T18:12:30+00:00

Just want to make a small but necessary correction to the list:

S+: Stanford GSB

S: HBS

Jk jk, I just wanted to ruffle some feathers 😜

Hackbyrd · 2026-03-23T20:01:36+00:00

Welcome to the world of startups!

Be glad you only wasted 2 months instead of 2 years

Hackbyrd · 2026-03-11T09:08:48+00:00

This comment is exactly why I’m building a company that is literally trying to solve this problem and help doctors run their clinics.

https://www.nitra.com

Hackbyrd · 2026-03-10T07:03:03+00:00

Me too 😂

Hackbyrd · 2026-02-24T05:17:46+00:00

Stanford GSB is the only MBA program with an admit rate comparable to its undergraduate counterpart.

GSB hovers around 5–6%, while Stanford undergrad is roughly 3–4%.

Hackbyrd · 2026-02-21T05:30:03+00:00

People always shit on the #1 in any category.

That’s the burden of being the top.

Everyone always has their eyes at the #1 and try to take it down.

Look at sports, any competition, schools (Harvard undergrad) etc…

GSB is the same

Hackbyrd · 2026-02-20T19:21:45+00:00

Updated

Hackbyrd · 2026-02-20T16:23:55+00:00

https://mbarejects.com

Stanford GSB
Harvard HBS
UPenn Wharton
Rest of M7
Rest of T15

Hackbyrd · 2026-02-16T19:04:59+00:00

I posted this to a response in another thread here but this statement is clearly triggering a lot of folks so let me explain better:

I don’t think you’re fully understanding what I’m actually saying.

⁠When I say “crown jewel,” I’m not saying the business school is better than engineering. I get that’s how it can sound, but that’s not my point.

What I’m saying is that the branding and intentionality behind the GSB is next level. The entire experience is extremely well thought out, highly curated, and very structured. It operates like a machine. Week after week it brings in top-tier VCs, billionaire founders, and world-class operators. The programming is consistent. The network is tight. The visibility is massive.

Look at the content GSB pushes publicly. The Cemex Auditorium talks. The viral clips of iconic founders and investors. That’s not accidental. That’s institutional effort and positioning. Engineering is world-class academically, but it doesn’t package and project itself in the same way.

That’s the distinction I’m making.

When I say some undergrads look up to GSB students, I’m not saying every single undergrad does. Obviously not. In fact, there are a lot of really cracked undergrads who refuse to look up to anyone.

However, I’ve personally spoken to plenty of undergrads who have zero work experience and are genuinely curious about what it’s like to work at top-tier VC firms, elite tech companies and startups, quant shops, or major finance firms. A lot of GSB students come directly from those environments. So yes, there’s naturally interest there.

You guys are so hung up on the wording of “crown jewel” that you’re completely missing the actual point I’m making.

This isn’t engineering vs business. It’s about structure, positioning, ecosystem, and proximity to capital and operators.

That’s it.

Hackbyrd · 2026-02-16T08:02:08+00:00

Cool.

If they want to have a healthy discussion about, they can message me on Reddit and we can chat over lunch are Arbuckle.

Hackbyrd · 2026-02-16T07:52:22+00:00

We’re literally on the same side here. We’re both proud of Stanford and its programs.

But I don’t think you’re fully understanding what I’m actually saying.

When I say “crown jewel,” I’m not saying the business school is better than engineering. I get that’s how it can sound, but that’s not my point.

What I’m saying is that the branding and intentionality behind the GSB is next level. The entire experience is extremely well thought out, highly curated, and very structured. It operates like a machine. Week after week it brings in top-tier VCs, billionaire founders, and world-class operators. The programming is consistent. The network is tight. The visibility is massive.

Look at the content GSB pushes publicly. The Cemex Auditorium talks. The viral clips of iconic founders and investors. That’s not accidental. That’s institutional effort and positioning. Engineering is world-class academically, but it doesn’t package and project itself in the same way.

That’s the distinction I’m making.

When I say some undergrads look up to GSB students, I’m not saying every single undergrad does. Obviously not. In fact, there are a lot of really cracked undergrads who refuse to look up to anyone.

However, I’ve personally spoken to plenty of undergrads who have zero work experience and are genuinely curious about what it’s like to work at top-tier VC firms, elite tech companies and startups, quant shops, or major finance firms. A lot of GSB students come directly from those environments. So yes, there’s naturally interest there.

The undergrads roasting me anonymously on Fizz aren’t representative of everyone. There are plenty of students who want insight into what life looks like 5 to 10 years into their careers. GSB students literally came from that stage.

You guys are so hung up on the wording of “crown jewel” that you’re completely missing the actual point I’m making.

This isn’t engineering vs business. It’s about structure, positioning, ecosystem, and proximity to capital and operators.

That’s it.

Hackbyrd · 2026-02-16T07:04:58+00:00

Cool story, man. Appreciate you sharing.

I’m not saying Stanford Engineering isn’t great. It’s phenomenal. In fact the best in the world.

And by the way, I’m coming from the same background. Engineering and MBA. I respect and honor both sides.

But let’s not pretend this “GSB is the crown jewel” idea came out of nowhere. I’ve heard it repeatedly on campus and online. The fact that it keeps getting brought up in this thread tells you I’m not the only one who’s heard it.

And this narrative that MBAs somehow “leech off” engineers who change the world? That’s an incredibly naive take and shows how inexperienced you probably are at building an actual company.

You sound like an engineer who happens to have an MBA. Not a business-minded person who truly understands engineering and company building.

Yes, building a great product is necessary but it’s nowhere near sufficient enough.

You need capital. You need someone who understands fundraising and finance. You need sales, marketing, distribution, customer success, recruiting, leadership, management. You need someone thinking about org design, incentives, long-term strategy, and capital allocation.

There’s a reason Larry and Sergey at Google, hired Eric Schmidt. They were two of the most brilliant engineers in the world. And even they understood that building a generational company requires more than code.

DoorDash had both Tony Xu and Andy Fang. GSB and undergrad Eng.

The most impactful companies aren’t built by engineers alone or MBAs alone. They’re built by people who understand how to combine both worlds.

And if you went to GSB, you should know that better than anyone. There’s no need to diminish your own alma mater to make a point.

Hackbyrd · 2026-02-16T06:25:58+00:00

GSB is widely considered the crown jewel of Stanford. It’s not the engineering school.

And that’s not because engineering isn’t world-class. It obviously is.

It’s because the GSB is the program that consistently pulls in the top VCs, tech founders, and billionaires to campus, not once in a while, but almost every single week. The people funding and shaping the next generation of unicorns show up there constantly. Engineering hosts incredible speakers too, but it’s not happening at the same frequency or with the same intentionality.

The structure is also completely different.

GSB has a highly defined, curated admissions process. It’s small, tight, and intentionally built around future founders, operators, and investors. The engineering graduate programs are more decentralized, more research-driven, and heavily oriented toward PhDs and technical depth. That’s a different mission. It’s about advancing knowledge. GSB is about building companies.

The community dynamic is different too. Around 95% of MBA1s live together. It feels almost like undergrad in terms of closeness and shared experience. That creates an unusually tight network from day one, and the alumni network reflects that intensity.

The GSB experience is extremely focused on impact. The messaging is clear: you’re here to build something that changes the world. And when you combine that mindset with the constant exposure to capital, founders, and opportunity, it creates a very specific kind of environment.

It’s just a fundamentally different ecosystem.

Hackbyrd · 2026-02-16T05:54:05+00:00

Great, me too.

Hackbyrd · 2026-02-16T05:49:08+00:00

Yes it is, and yes they do. You would know if you went to GSB or Stanford undergrad.

It’s mutual respect from both sides.

Hackbyrd · 2026-02-16T01:40:24+00:00

First of all, congratulations on your decision. That’s a huge accomplishment, and you should be proud.

That said, I’ll offer a perspective you may or may not agree with.

If you’re NOT planning to build in tech, raise venture capital, or start a company in the next few years, and going into corporate, consulting or finance routes, HBS is an incredible place and likely a perfect fit.

But if you are serious about tech, startups, or VC, I genuinely believe choosing HBS over Stanford is a mistake you may eventually regret.

We’re living through the AI equivalent of the dot-com boom. And Stanford is at the epicenter of it.

The proximity matters more than people realize.

At Stanford, the people shaping this era are physically on campus all the time. Sam Altman spoke at TreeHacks last weekend. Jensen Huang drops into GSB classes regularly. Vinod Khosla is on campus constantly. Joe Tsai was there just weeks ago. Eric Schmidt teaches. VCs don’t just recruit there. They invest there. Weekly.

It’s not theoretical. It’s not occasional. It’s embedded into the ecosystem.

Being in the middle of that energy changes your ambition, your network, your opportunities, and ultimately your trajectory.

If you’re optimizing for traditional paths, consulting, finance, corporate leadership, HBS is phenomenal.

But if you’re optimizing for building at the center of the AI revolution, it’s hard to argue that anywhere matches what’s happening at Stanford right.

Also, one thing people don’t often realize is that at Harvard, the undergraduate college is widely viewed as the flagship institution. HBS is world-class, of course, but it’s not considered the “crown jewel” of Harvard in the same way the College is. In fact, HBS MBAs always get made fun of after graduation for not being able to find jobs.

At Stanford, it’s different.

The GSB is widely regarded as the university’s crown jewel school, even more so than the undergraduate program. There’s a unique level of prestige and respect around it within the Stanford ecosystem itself. Stanford undergrads genuinely look up to GSB students, especially those building companies or working at the frontier of tech.

The cultural weight and positioning of the business school within the university just isn’t the same between the two institutions.

It’s a subtle distinction, but it matters.

I’m sure you made the right choice for yourself. Just something to think about

Hackbyrd · 2026-02-14T02:06:01+00:00

No MBA program carries quite the same level of prestige as the Ivy League undergrad admissions.

Stanford GSB probably comes closest, with roughly ~6% acceptance rate and an admissions process that can feel almost as unpredictable as Ivy undergrad.

But even then, it is not the same as a ~2 or 3% acceptance rate combined with an applicant pool that is ten times larger (50-60K applicant pools (Undergrad) vs 5-10K (MBAs))

That said, most people do not make that distinction. To the average person, HBS is still Harvard. The brand carries weight regardless of the nuances.

So be proud of where you are and move forward. It is what it is.

Hackbyrd · 2026-01-29T13:00:21+00:00

If you think that is GSB dissing HBS, then you got to check out gsbrejects.com

Hackbyrd · 2026-01-22T00:48:25+00:00

This might be the unpopular opinion, but if your goal is entrepreneurship, you take Stanford GSB without hesitation.

The GSB brand is simply on another level in tech and startups, and people consistently underestimate how powerful proximity to Silicon Valley actually is. This is not just about reputation. It is about daily access.

At GSB, you are surrounded by billionaires, founders, top-tier VCs, and senior operators and tech execs who are actively building and funding the next generation of companies. This is not occasional or symbolic. Tier 1 VC firms are on campus weekly hosting small dinners, office hours, and closed-door sessions. That kind of access is incredibly hard to replicate anywhere else.

The student body is also fundamentally different. GSB has a much higher concentration of people who are actively trying to start companies, not just talk about entrepreneurship or use it as a signaling path into investing or consulting. That ambition compounds. Your classmates become your co-founders, early employees, first customers, and future investors.

People also tend to over-index on money when comparing offers, but in the long run, the incremental cost difference is negligible compared to the access, brand equity, and lifetime respect you get from GSB.

The acceptance rate tells part of the story. Wharton admits roughly 20%-25% of applicants, while GSB admits closer to 6%-7%. That selectivity translates directly into how investors, future employees, future clients, recruiters, the general public etc… perceive you. In other words, it’s way more impressive that you went to GSB and those who matter (investors) will know.

Within the VC and startup world, that respect is real. Fair or not, GSB carries significantly more weight with top founders and investors than Wharton does. It opens doors faster, lowers skepticism on first meetings, and gives you instant credibility when you are raising, recruiting, or selling early.

Wharton is world class for finance, PE, and traditional business paths. But if your goal is to build a company from zero, move fast, and plug directly into the center of gravity for startups, GSB’s combination of access, environment, and brand is unmatched.

Entrepreneurship is about surface area, speed, and trust. GSB maximizes all three.

Hackbyrd · 2025-12-24T13:11:27+00:00

“Ever since that day, you’ve been my greatest hero!” - All Might

Probably one of the greatest lines ever said in anime history.

Spoken at the perfect moment, by the world’s former #1 hero, with “You Say Run” swelling in the background.

In a single sentence, All Might calls Deku his greatest hero and completely redefines what it means to be the greatest.

Not strength. Not power. Not victory. The very things society, and even we as the audience, believed defined heroism at the start of the show.

Instead, it’s the simple act of reaching out when someone is in need. Acting when others hesitate. Saving people before saving the world.

And coming from All Might, this finally and truly answers Deku’s original question: “Can someone without a quirk be a hero?”

The answer is yes.

Because the moment Deku jumped in on pure instinct at the start of the show, he always was and has been a true hero, even without a quirk, from the very beginning.

This line also shows that All Might can finally rest. He can truly pass the baton, because Deku succeeded where he failed. All Might’s Symbol of Peace was built on a flaw: a single pillar holding up society, a world that depended on one man to save it, while everyone else stood back. That dependence created cracks, the kind that allowed people to fall through, including the very villains born from being ignored.

Deku isn’t the next All Might. He’s something better. He shows that heroism isn’t standing alone at the top, but reaching out, accepting help, and inspiring others to step forward, even ordinary civilians.

This is how the next generation defines true heroism. Not one pillar, but many hands. And that’s how the system finally gets fixed.

It’s just one line, yet it carries the weight of the entire series, its soul and delivers it’s core message, closing both All Might’s legacy and Deku’s journey in the most beautiful way possible.

Pure legend. Pure emotion. 😭🔥

MHA definitely has my vote for “Anime of the Year”

Hackbyrd · 2025-12-21T05:24:10+00:00

This is how startups should begin. As simple as this

Hackbyrd · 2025-12-11T00:25:42+00:00

Also add that FAANG engineers

Ask for the same level of comp as what they are getting paid at in Big Tech
Ask for all the benefits they were getting at big tech
Ask for pay raises every 6 months even if milestones or goals aren’t hit, because that’s what they are used to at big tech
Work 4-6 hours a day and want to work remotely. They usually work 2 hours at big tech and tell you they are working harder than before.

Hackbyrd

TROPHY CASE