Writing this in response to PaloAltoforaWhile‘s comment on my Admit Weekend Update: >> Hey Sri Lankan – Would love to hear more about your overall impressions about other admits, students, style of the weekend. Are you more/less excited about Stanford next year? Did the weekend get you excited about certain classes, activities, opportunities?
PaloAltofoaWhile, thanks for asking this. Hopefully a better update of my impressions of the admit weekend, below.
Overall Impression
I think the best way to sum it up is to say that I felt like I was joining a big family. A really close-knit community held together by the GSB’s unique down to earth and friendly culture.
Admits / Students
Although admits had not spent a lot of time at the GSB prior to the weekend, they were either screened very carefully during the interview process (for the ingredients that do best in the GSB) or took on the GSB culture very quickly. Everyone was super friendly, outgoing and there to make friends with everyone else in the class. When Derrick went through the profiles of some of the admits in the class it was definitely very humbling, admits who’ve started multiple successful companies, those who couldn’t be at the weekend because they are playing pivotal roles in the auto bailouts, submarine officers, bodyboarders, international consultants, successful traders, hybrid vehicle engineers, etc.
The common factor among those I met was that noone was looking to talk about their credentials or their backgrounds, they were all very down to earth and friendly, and eager to be a part of the GSB family.
Students: I didn’t really get to meet a lot of students except for the Q&A sessions on housing, leadership, global initiatives etc. Among those I met the easiest way to describe them is as really nice people. They were all very welcoming and I think great ambassadors of the Stanford GSB brand.
I think there was definitely an unusual mix of student and admit backgrounds, and probably fewer finance related backgrounds (than I expected).
Style of the Weekend
I think the weekend was organized around the theme that the fellow admits are the biggest selling point for the program. I think this worked very well although I was already sold. Every event, every meal was aimed at having each admit meet a new mix of people. There was no chance to stick with just a small group as you would meet a new group for the next hour, which was perfect.
I think the other theme was to convey the close knit community and family like feel at the GSB. This came through very well as well I think, from the hug that the first year student gave each admit and SO that she was hosting for dinner to the warm welcoming words and smiles from staff, students and alums and the words of support from the audience to student speakers at each event.
The Navy submarine officer (2nd year student) who spoke talked about his friendship with one of the three GSB students who died in an accident in Big Sur last year. He had just come from a swimming event that morning in honor of those students and was visibly in tears as he spoke about his feelings and the support he had received at the GSB when he lost his friend.
Lynn Utter the alumni speaker spoke of the GSB network as similar to the phone ads where theres an invisible group of people always behind you (referring to Verizon).
Excited about certain classes, activities, opportunities?
I think the most exciting for me were the global travel opportunities, the study trips and service learning trips. It was amazing to hear about the experiences of students and I think something that I had not thought about previously was organizing a trip myself. Since the weekend, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about organizing a trip to Sri Lanka for second year, assuming things quieten down in the next few months some more.
The opportunities to meet with entrepreneurs regularly, with VCs in the area etc were also definitely a big plus that was highlighted during my talks with students heading up student clubs.
More/less excited about Stanford next year?
Definitely much more excited than I was. I knew Stanford was the place that I wanted to be for the two years of my MBA before I left for the weekend, but I think the weekend really made me fall in love with the place, the culture and the people.
Sri Lankan at the Stanford GSB 