Academic Experience in the Stanford MBA Program

[MUSIC] I am Gabby D'Agosto.

>> My name is Cengiz.

>> My name is Oyinda Ajayi, I am a student here at the GSB.

>> I would describe the academic experience at GSB as truly multifaceted.

It is both theoretical and practical at once.

It is applied but also abstract.

It is scholarly, but at the same time quite feelings and emotions based.

>> The academic experience here really starts with building a foundation in core business skill sets, all of the things that will make you a much more successful manager in the end.

>> So I think one of the things that's really great about the Stanford Graduate School of Business is that we recognize that great leaders are both analytical and intuitive at the same time.

That to really build great organizations that are going to change the world, you have to be able to combine these two very different skills.

You need the rigor of a scientist.

You need to be able to break down the world into analytical pieces and understand how those different moving parts fit together.

At the same time, you need the creativity of the artist, and the insight and the vision that is required to see things that haven't existed yet.

>> I find it quite interesting because there's a lot of code switching going on, where in one class I might be using kind of the right side of my brain, and another class might not be really using my brain but using my heart instead.

And, kind of those codes switchings of what parts of my skill set and talents, and mental frameworks am I supposed to stretch, has been a really fulfilling an interesting experience in a way in which I didn't think that it would be.

>> At the GSB, we don't believe there's only one right way to teach.

In the classroom you're going to encounter lectures, you're going to encounter case studies, you're going to encounter simulations, you're going to encounter role plays, you're going to encounter experiential learning.

All of these different varieties of teaching and learning are such a critical part of what the GSB education is about.

>> Each professor approaches it differently.

So there are a lot of simulations, there are a lot of experiential courses.

There's also a lot of classes that focus on the case study.

And so each one pushes you in a different way.

>> The experiential side of it gives you an opportunity to now test out some of the things you've learned in class and speaking to people.

And then the small group allows you to get feedback, one on one from your peer, and be able to dig deeper into your own personal growth.

>> Who teaches you really matters.

You're going to learn from both world-class researchers, and from leading business executives.

And we're going to bring them together, and their interplay with each other is really what's going to make you understand the craft of leadership >> Here at the GSB we have both professors who are tenured professors, and professors who their career's really based on research.

As well as people who are coming in from the field that have companies, or they run funds.

And so having the two come together is hugely valuable.

>> I think learning from academic researchers is important because you see the numbers behind behaviors.

You see why the decisions are being made, and you're able to make certain decisions, or come to certain conclusions more concretely because you have information to back it.

>> On the practitioner side of the equation, I love to hear from the people who have been out there, and have actually done these things, to tell us about their mistakes and about their regrets, and about what they did best.

>> I think fundamentally, the experience of being a student here is transformational.

Students come in, thinking that they're going to do one thing with their lives, and they come out a totally different person.

And, that's a product of what they learn in the classroom, it's a product of what they learn from their fellow students, it's a product of what they learn from their faculty members.

It is an amazing, transformational experience to be here at the GSB.

You think about the world differently once you have been here, and you are positioned to go out and do really great things.

>> For students who are yet to come and be a part of our wonderful GSP community, the academic program is quite rigorous.

I would say coming in with expectations that you will be learning a lot, and it will be a lot in the best way.

>> For anyone thinking of business school as a next step, I would say absolutely do it.

You cannot imagine the amount of growth and opportunities that come with this experience.

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