tl;dr - I think all b-schools can be roughly similar when it comes to hard skills, curricula, and academics (honestly, not that great, or very single-tracked). GSB is an experience. Classes like Touchy Feely, the Art of Self Coaching, and various design thinking classes, surrounded by the atmosphere and environment of Stanford, really altered my life and made me into a better person. The culture prizes support and collaboration over competitiveness, though this can lead to a kind of cockiness around job searches.
Needs: All I knew is that I wanted to transition into a PM role from government. I got to take design thinking classes, entrepreneurship, and CS classes that enabled this. Stanford probably does this better than anyone else, but I do think focus and effort at any school would have enabled that to happen. What made me into a much better person were the soft skill classes, which came as a nice surprise. The tightness and small student body size, as well as messages hammered into our heads by professors, also ensures that alumni will respond to your cold calls very quickly.
Goals: Transition from public sector to tech/entrepreneurship. These goals were exceeded.
Expectations: I thought academics would be much better.
You can get through Stanford without learning a single thing if you wanted to. You can also work really hard, especially with across-the-street classes, and get one of the finest technical trainings possible, but at the cost of getting to know classmates better.
Stanford opens all doors and GSB HBS grads standout even for recruiting at my company.
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