<p>How would you compare these three for MBA? Anything goes.</p>
<p>Stanford is the most selective, the most collegial, non-competitive experience with the most people heading towards tech/VC positions.</p>
<p>Harvard is the most competitive and confrontational with the case study method and forced 10% fail in each class. It probably has the most go to be eventual CEO and the most of the three that initially go into PE and MC of the three.</p>
<p>Wharton is in between the two in terms of competitive nature among students and is the least selective to be admitted among the three (it’s more in the general difficulty level of MIT, Tuck, Kellogg, Columbia). Wharton has the highest % interested in working on Wall Street in some capacity among the three.</p>
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<p>Uh, no, it’s not a ‘fail’. 10% of the class will get grades of a ‘III’, which I suppose is equivalent to a C. But that’s not a fail. You still pass. Heck, I’ve heard many HBS grads joke that they got III’s in certain topics yet still got top notch jobs in fields related to that topic anyway. </p>
<p>Now, a IV grade is a fail. But that’s practically never handed out; you basically have to never show up to class or show up but disrupt the class constantly to get a IV.</p>
<p>Most business schools make sure their students graduate. It’s very rare for an MBA student to fail out of a program.</p>
<p>Sorry, but what is PE and MC?</p>
<p>PE is Private Equity and MC is Management Consulting.</p>
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<p>I didn’t mean to imply that people were failing out of Harvard, just failing individual classes; although I guess Sakky is saying that’s not the case. I had just always heard their grading system referred to as “10% forced fail”. I know at Tuck, there is a 10% low pass (LP), but had always assumed the Harvard standard was more stringent, but it seems like it’s equivalent. I guess failing is a relative term. </p>
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<p>What % of students get a ‘I’ grade vs a ‘II’ grade?</p>
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<p>Between 15-25% of the class.</p>
<p>What is tech/VC position? Also, do you need to get top grades in graduate school to prove that you’re a worthy business/entrepreneur? Or simply graduating and knowing the right people will lead you to that position? </p>
<p>-kpsong87</p>
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<p>Starting tech companies, working for existing (often times startup) tech companies, or working as a venture capitalist who funds startup tech firms.</p>
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<p>Heck, not only do you not need top grades in grad school, not only do you not even have to go to grad school, in many cases within the tech industry, you don’t even need to graduate from college. Witness Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, etc. Like I’ve always said, if you have a business idea that you believe in, then you should just start your company. You don’t need graduate school.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, it is true that entrepreneurs can benefit immensely from a strong network, especially if they are trying to procure VC funding, and for that reason alone, an MBA is often times a useful tool for entrepreneurs to have.</p>
<p>The MBA should be used as a signaling device. IMO Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton (as well as several others) all send the same loud signal. Your experiences in each one will differ, and your network will be different, but for the most part the “success factor” will be about the same.</p>
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I agree with everything he said.</p>
<p>Assuming one was lucky enough to get into the big 3,</p>
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<li>If I was 100% sure I was going into finance, I’d go to Wharton</li>
<li>If I was 100% sure I was going into MC (or even industry – aside from tech), I’d go to HBS</li>
<li>If I was 100% sure I was going into something tech / VC or entrepreneur related, I’d go to Stanford</li>
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<p>All else being equal and I had a chance to “redo”? I’d go to Stanford. It’s the most exclusive, its relevance is growing by the year simply due to its proximity to Silicon Valley, it’s in Cali, it’s the most laid back.</p>
<p>And do they still have no classes Wednesdays at Stanford? When DH was there in the dark ages they did. Wharton grad here who would have gone to Stanford if I knew what was what back then. Access to all the tech CEO’s and casual atmosphere are just priceless.</p>
<p>And it boarders Sand Hill Road.</p>
<p>I worked in Palo Alto for 5 years, my wife ran a vivarian clinic for professors there studying downs syndrom. Nice area, great school.</p>
<p>Did you know Stanford is actually it’s own town? I didn’t until I moved away.</p>
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<p>I’ve heard that before…“if you want finance, go to Wharton. If you want entrepreneurship, go to Stanford. For everything else, go to Harvard.”</p>
<p>I actually know one of my Penn classmates (Class of '07) who was just admitted into all 3 (lucky SOB!)</p>
<p>He never really wanted Stanford, and between Harvard and Wharton he figured he already had gotten his fill of Penn–and keys to the Penn alumni network–so he may as well add a set of crimson keys…</p>