Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton:
Navigating the Business School Trilogy
Dilini Fernando: Welcome to MBA Pod TV. I’m your host, Dilini Fernando.For many students, Harvard, Stanford and Wharton represent the dream business schools.  They offer the allure of prestige and professional promise.But of course, these schools are also very hard to get into as there are thousands of students applying to them every year.So you want to find out to get into one of these programs?  Stay with us as we show you how.

Today, we’ll hear from Graham Richmond, co- founder and CEO of Clear Admit, an MBA admissions consulting company. He’s going to analyze each of these schools and help you devise an application strategy so stay with us as we share with you how to navigate the trilogy.
Graham Richmond: On the one hand, you could say it doesn’t make sense to apply to all three because they really are different, and it’s unlikely that a candidate would have goals that fit each program. Having said that, they are so superb, if you just look at the caliber of students that attend, and if one were to argue that, your goal in going to an MBA program is to go to the best program you can get into and to be surrounded by the brightest possible peers, then clearly you can argue, “Well, I’m going to apply to those three.”

Dilini Fernando: Doing research behind the business program, and yes, a little bit of homework is going to take you a long way in creating that perfect application.  Say for instance, you’re looking at Harvard, you’re going to want to know more about their program so not only create a better essay, but also demonstrate how you’re a good fit.  Let’s do a little bit more research behind Harvard.

Graham Richmond: With HBS, it’s a very large program.It’s a program that focuses on the case method.  They pretty much exclusively use the case method in their instruction.It’s also a program that is very choreographed, meaning the first year is planned out for everyone. You don’t waive courses.  Everyone takes the same thing.  And just to really kind of describe that that means that someone who’s an investment banker or a CPA is still taking kind of Accounting and Finance 101. And Harvard’s concept there is that that person has a lot to contribute in class discussion in that course and that that will help the other students, and so everyone has something to contribute.

HBS also has a really strong focus on communication skills and leadership development.And I think that’s evidenced by the case method as well where candidates or students rather are required to share their views and constantly kind of being put on the pedestal to argue their case.

Emily Minkow: Everybody here is a kind of person who wants to get involved with everything, so they want to be reading their cases and they want to do a good job in class the next day, but they also want to be involved in clubs, and go to activities, and go here as speaker, and then they want to go to a recruiting event because they’re already starting to think about this summer or after graduation.And then there’s are a lot of social events too.So, I think the people who really thrive like being busy and like having a lot of different activities in their day.
Graham Richmond: At Clear Admit, we’ve never been a company that sort of has said, “If you’re applying to Harvard, this is the mole that you need to fit into.”It always starts with the candidate.Having said that, you may promote certain aspects of your background in different ways, or so, I mean, if you’re planning to HBS, you probably will look at to what extent you’ve been a leader, to what extent you’ve impacted the organizations you’ve been involved with.

And you may not emphasize the fact that you were very shy in college and had to learn how to be a great public speaker or something.  You might focus more on your charisma and then the fact that people tend to follow you and the impact that you’ve had.So, just knowing that HBS uses the case method and really values class discussion and input should impact the way that you focus on the essays or the way that you go about having your interview and showcasing your personality.

Dilini Fernando: Now, one of the things you’re going to want to think about is the curriculum at the business school program you’re looking at.  How you want to study and how you want to learn are really important factors when creating that MBA experience.  When I was looking at Chicago booth, one of the things that drew me the most was its flexible curriculum.Now, Wharton offers a very different type of curriculum than Harvard.  Let’s hear more from Graham Richmond.

Graham Richmond: Wharton I would say, again, a very large program with an enormous number of electives.Principal differences there though are that it’s a flexible program; it’s a program where the students are kind of in-charge.At Wharton, it’s called kind of the co-production model, where students are very active in determining how they’re going to go through the program, what electives should be introduced, or designing their own majors, et cetera so very different from HBS where, again, a kind of a rigid, fixed first year.  Whereas at Wharton, if you already know finance, you can wave out of it and start at the next level.  If you already feel that you’ve grasped statistics, you can take an exam, show them that you know it and move on.

Elan Wang: I would describe the culture at Wharton as very engaged.  I don’t think I’ve been anywhere where so many people care so much about what they’re passionate about and also care about what others are passionate about.  I think there’s not a single student here who was not engaged in some way on this campus.And when you take 800 plus people who are all active citizens of their school, it’s an amazing experience.

Graham Richmond: The other thing about Wharton that I think is really distinct is it’s a very international place.It’s a kind of a real focus on kind of global business and that’s evidenced by the fact that you can go and do exchanges at a number of campuses across the globe.  The alliance that stands out is obviously their alliance with INSEAD.And it’s also a place that values work experience in a way that I think perhaps their peers may not.The plurality of students at Wharton has like five or six years of work experience and that’s a lot of experience that’s coming into the classroom.

Dilini Fernando: Thinking about what you want to do after your MBA isn’t easy.  There are so many choices and so many directions.Thinking about where you want to go and how you’re going to get there is going to be important.

Stanford is probably one of the most distinct out of the three schools, given its West Coast location and the unique opportunities that come with it.

Graham Richmond: It’s a program with some strengths in the usual suspects, if you think about where they’re located. Entrepreneurship and private equity venture capital are strengths for them.  It’s a program that due to its West Coast location places a lot of graduates on the West Coast, more than half of the class, like graduates from Stanford typically will wind up working on the West Coast.

Everyone knows that these three programs – Harvard, Stanford, Wharton – are very difficult to get into.  But actually, to be fair, you almost need to put Stanford in a category on its own and that’s because their acceptance rate is usually several percentage points lower than Wharton or Harvard.

I attribute that to that fact that it’s a smaller school and yet, they have a lot of interests so they just – they don’t have the slots.  They don’t have 900 students coming in every year the way HBS does. And so because of that, the stakes are raised with Stanford and what that means is, you know, where you might be able to get away with one weakness or two weaknesses, if you’re applying to a large school, forget it with Stanford.  You’ve got to be in pretty good shape overall.

I guess another thing about Stanford, I think, is that it’s a program that looks for candidates that are sort of on a mission.  It’s not just about getting the MBA and getting job X – it’s more. They want people who are passionate about something who ideally will implement some kind of a change. They’ll change in industry or they’ll change the way that a certain process is done, and that’s reflected in their essay questions as well. I mean they’ll ask an essay question that is what matters most to you and why.  I mean it’s a question that keeps most applicants up at night because it’s a challenging question to answer, but I think it gets at the core of their process, which is about figuring out what is this kind that really passionate about, who are they, what sort of mission are they on in life, and how can we maybe help them get there?

Each school set of essays, to some extent, will help guide you, right?I mean, they’re asking question, and if you respond to those questions very directly, you’re going to be part way there, in terms of focusing on what they’re interested in.  I mean they’ve asked these questions for reason and so I think the number one mistake that people are applying to all three programs make is they try to just cut and paste across the three because it is a lot of work to tailor your application.  And that’s the kiss of death. I mean you’ve got to tailor your application.  Cleveland actually spends a lot of time publishing extensive guides to every leading MBA program, and we do that so that people will do their homework.  And I think if you do your homework on the schools and get to know what their offering is, you’ll be better at addressing their questions and getting at what they’re looking for.  I also think that if you do your homework, you may find that you don’t want to apply to all three and that it was maybe just the rankings that sort of brought you to this place where you want to apply to all three but that your time would be perhaps better serve focusing on the two that you really the better fit for, and then adding a third school from – there are many other schools out there and you could add one that sort of fits your plans a bit better.So, again, it can be done.

We’ve worked with people who applied to all three and get into all three. It’s just – it’s rare.  I mean you have to work very hard and get to know each school and give each application its own deserve amount of time.  I mean my philosophy is, imagine that you’re out on a date with the school, just focus on them, spend a week or two on that application alone. Don’t think about anyone else and just keep the focus there, and you’re more likely to get ask back for that second date which an interview or getting an acceptance offer if you do that.

Dilini Fernando: Well, I hope you’ve learned a little bit more about each of these three distinct programs and how to get those applications ready.  We wish you the very best of luck.  That’s it for today on this episode of MBA Pod TV.I’m your host Dilini Fernando.  Visit us at mbapodcaster.com, where you can register at the weekly audio and video shows.  Join us on Facebook and Twitter so keep up-to-date with latest news and insights on your MBA application process.