MBA Student Insights: Q&A with the Hispanic Business Student Association
You. Hello. And welcome to our webcast MBA. Student insights a Q&A with the Hispanic, business Student Association my. Name is Ana Leyva and I'm a first year MBA student here at the GSB and. Co-president. Of Hispanic business Student Association I'm joined, by Danny Reyes Madison. Oba though my, clan is sagasta me and David, Vasquez who, are also MBA, students here and members of the Hispanic business Student, Association we'll. Be talking about our journey to the GSB the, student experience here on campus and. HBS. A of course and, answering as many of your questions as, we can to. Submit a question to s simply, click on the Q&A button, at the bottom of your screen. Please. Note that we won't be answering questions about admissions, the application, process or financial aid so, if you have questions about those topics submit, them directly to admissions, by, emailing MBA, admissions, at, GSB, stanford.edu. We'll. Be starting with some introductions, Danny. Matteson my son and David please, start by sharing a little bit about you, where you're from what, you were doing before the GSB, and what your plans are for after graduation Danny. Let's start with you sure, so hi, everyone I'm Danny Reyes I am. From Miami Florida come. From Cuban human immigrant, parents, before. Before, the GSB I I, was I started business undergrad. At Penn and then, I worked in consulting at, BCG, out of their Chicago, office. Spent. Two years there and then, worked. For a year at the PGA Tour, where, I spent another. Year and. After. That came to the GSB and then after GSB, I'm looking. To stay. With BCG in consulting, and. Work. On some long, term plans to to work in the sports industry, thanks. Jeanne Madison. I'm. From Dallas Texas my. Dad is a second generation American from. His. Family's originally from Mexico northern, Mexico specifically. I studied, ethnic studies at Brown with the focus on migration studies after, biz sorry after Brown I went, on a Fulbright to Mexico where I worked with nonprofit, organizations and taught, English the law school after. I did a hard pivot to the private sector with crisis, PR at a small firm in New York after. The GSB, I'm hoping to go into consulting for a couple of years and longer term start, my own nonprofit focused, on immigrant. Communities in the u.s. thanks. Madison Benny. So. I grew up in Mexico City until, I was 18 I did. My undergrad, in the, UK, I studied. Politics, philosophy and, economics at, Warwick and then subsequently. I joined the financial, services industry. Working. For a bank in Asia and the Middle East and. Then the, GSB of course now I'm, not exactly sure what I wanted to do afterwards, so, I'm experimenting, with like different industries, in locations, to kind, of define exactly what's, the next step. David, hi everyone my name is David Vasquez, I'm from Brooklyn New York where I went to Columbia, for undergraduate, economics. After, Columbia I went to Investment, Banking then, I did some stint in private equity than, I actually pivoted, to nonprofit, and did that for two years, at.
The GSB I'm also a joint degree student with the master's in public policy and long, term I'm hoping to do social, impact investing and hopefully. Pivot my career between public and private sectors. Awesome. As, for me I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area my, mom is from Mexico my dad's from Nicaragua, and, before. Coming to GSB I was I studied international relations, at Princeton undergrad and, then worked in Enterprise tech sales, and. After. The GSB I will. Probably be running my family business, okay. So. Now that we have introductions, out of the way let's, start with your questions. Question. One what, made you decide to apply to, and attend Stanford over other schools. So. For me the. First the first thing that cannery. Caught my attention, was the, how. Dynamic the, environment. Was here being close to a, you. Know the tech. Space but. The more I started to know, the community here what, really made, my decision, to come, here was just being. Aware of how like supportive the community was about, how. That people had done like really interesting things but like also not, so conventional, or at least not, in my industry and. Just how welcoming, it was to different, perspectives. Yeah. That, resonates with me I was attracted to Stanford primarily, because of the Center for Social Innovation I'm, hoping, to graduate with a certificate in, public management and, social innovation and there are so many resources and, courses here that, attracted me to the school initially and then similar to what my Tony is saying after conversations, with friends who've gone to other business schools the, culture of Stanford really attracted, me and kind of reminded me of the, culture of brown which I enjoyed. Yeah. That can second that as. A joint degree student I was really looking for a community, that would be multidisciplinary and, I think Stanford. More than most other business schools is exactly that I also. Wanted to I don't. Think I'm a very entrepreneurial, person or big risk-taker but I definitely wanted to be exposed to those type of individuals. And those type of ideas and you know I've, been here for what about six months now I already feel as if you, know I'm. Thinking a little bit more outside the box I'm, collaborating across different, disciplines and. Again. Like like Madonna said it says the community is amazing, and extremely. Supportive. Throughout the entire journey yeah, I think my. Points are kind, of in covered but as someone who didn't come from tech didn't, come from the. Startup, world grew, up in the East Coast worked in the Midwest I. Was, really looking for something to push me out of my comfort zone and, that's something that I think has been fulfilled here and happens over and over again. Depending. On which class I'm in there which which group, I'm with. At the moment and. I can definitely echo I've I feel, like I'm so, much more up to speed on you. Know tech, and-and-and. Entrepreneurship. And all that kind of stuff. Awesome. Thank you. How. Certain were you on the career you wanted to pursue prior to starting your MBA I. Had. No idea. Consulting. Kind of fell into my lap naturally. The. Thing I enjoyed most about my last job it was similar it was Client Services they're advising people on communication, strategies, and really mission, critical moments. I realized I liked, the dynamic, environment and, exposure to different different, industries so consulting. Seemed a natural fit in terms of getting exposure to more quantitative, analytical, problems. While still maintaining those client relationships, and exposure to different industries though I no longer term nonprofit. Social sectors where I'd like to end up, for. Me I came. In knowing I wanted to work, in sports long term and. That. Was great because. Ahead. Of time I was looking at you know which professors, do I want to make connections with. You. Know which which alumni do I want to potentially create, connections with but.
As I've been here I've. Been I've. Been tempted so many times to to, change, my path drastically. Because it you just get exposed to so many different industries, in, so many different areas that you. Know Stanford, can kind of help. You. Work. Towards that I, even. Though I was set going in I had I've, had so many times, so many times where I've been challenged, on that and have, thought about so many different industries. And areas. So. Like I said I I'm, still figuring that part out but what I what, I've really enjoyed about the process, is that I think I think a lot of the resources and a lot of the mindset at Stanford is to really work with your, type of time right so people who know exactly what they want to go into and. They're they're super. Super, focused, they'll get the right resources to to get there you know as efficiently and, as far as possible, whereas. You, know for other people who are exploring different like locations, or different industries. There's, also that you know that, other approach. To to career, management and career finding, and. So you, know right now I'm just looking. At the different opportunities there is to explore locations, and industries, and really making the most out of it because you do have a lot of exposure to learn about different, things here. Definitely. I definitely second, what Danny was saying I came in with a pretty clear mindset of what I wanted to do I had done finance, I had. No idea whether I want to do that again I drastically. Left and went to you know the public sector worked in non-profit and. I found myself wanting to marry the to in some way so social, impact investing kind of just made sense but, you know as I've been here and I've as, different paths and what I think Stanford does a really good job of is showing you many different paths making them very tangible, so you kind of know exactly what to do if you want to get to different directions and you get to talk to a lot of different people especially your classmates, about, what they did before so you see yourself taking, kind of the passions that you think you had coming in but finding other places to set them so, you know now I'm still, considering different options in, fact magic sauce is something I want to try out but I'm definitely not more open than I was coming on and, to that point, talking. To classmates has been probably the one, of the best resources. You. Know in terms of figuring out careers and figuring, out you, know what industries, might suit you best. And everyone. I don't know if you guys feel the same but I feel like everyone here has been so open and so. Welcoming. About, like sharing their experience, and like grabbing coffee with you for for thirty minutes to talk about their, what, they've done in the past and all that kind of stuff which is been really helpful. You. Get a lot of people who are super sure about what they wanted to do but just going through that process that you talked about of like being, exposed to a whole. Range. Of different things just get them, to be like super sure about it or like, it really does like spark something new and there's people who like make. Pivots and just change completely where they thought they would go into coming in here that's, very cool until. Like after that really briefly you, know I think the, coolest part too is that everyone's going through the same journey here so, maybe yeah in your old jobs you feel like you, were outlier, cuz maybe you weren't sure if you fit and you wanted to pivot maybe you're the only one that goes to business school but, here everyone's, going through the same journey so it's really cool to kind of go to that journey with other people so even if you feel like there's never enough time to go through everything you can see other journeys and see if they actually fit with you and it's just a great experience. One. Quick thing a plug for sort of the institutional, resources at Stanford beyond the Career Management Center, you also have access to schools across the street which, are the other grad schools at Stanford so like the design school for instance can really help. Shape your thinking around like visualizing, the life that you want and I think that's really unique to Stanford as a business school student. Absolutely. I can echo, that I've felt so inspired here, and yeah. At, times even a bit distracted like oh maybe you should do that or that sounds interesting because. There's just so much going on and we know that the MBA is a general degree right and a degree where leadership.
The Leadership skills that we're learning here are really going to be applicable to many different career, paths. One. Of our questions is what. Have you learned about leadership that you didn't already know so what have you learned here at Stanford, that you didn't already know about leadership specifically. I'll. Start again. So. To, give a little. Background on. Kind. Of a class we, all take first quarter called, leadership. Labs so. You work in a small team of five, or six students. You. Know that typically, come from a, wide, variety of backgrounds and, you. Work through different, role plays and through different exercises. You, give each other all kinds of feedback you, have an MBA too who's, been trained on leadership. And in these topics that's. Kind of overseeing the group and. Its. Really a crash course on leadership is the way I look at it throughout, the whole first quarter and to. Answer your question I think, the the one thing I learned was, how, to strategically. Bring. Out how. To strategically facilitate. Bringing out the best of everyone. On your team and making. Sure that. You. Know one person isn't taking up too much space or one. Person you know who may. Not may not be as inclined to interrupt someone or. You. Know speak, their mind extremely. Openly how, to bring out. How. To bring out and kind of balance the conversation, to make, sure you're getting diverse, perspectives, and the, best out of everyone. In. Terms of leadership labs those are really inspiring. And also transformative, course for me today. But I took away from it is that anyone, can be a leader you can come in and be more introverted, more extroverted, but it really provides people with a platform to experiment, with different styles, which, I thought was an awesome opportunity and one. Other thing is we're filmed a few times in that classroom it's very fun and grah humbling. To see yourself on the screen with. Classmates so. Yeah. I've learned not. To continue. The lovefest on lead labs but I completely let go everything here so you. Know for some context lead labs you provide, feedback with each other and I found, very similar to what Madison said that, anyone could be a leader and I found myself actually you, know pivoting. My own leadership style based on the things that I saw and others that I really, admired so, for example there was someone who was quiet, confident, more laid-back, I'm more of a leaning kind of louder person, and I - I found myself really wanting to spend time with this other person to learn how. Do they manage the stressful environments. When they're leading back, and the, cool part was he was like hey I actually really wanted to learn how you lean in and you know just learning how to adapt, yourself to two, different situations and, really start to read the rooms and understand, okay, this is you. Know leadership is all about adaptation. So you. Know when when to be that quiet leader when to be that that louder leader wants to be a listener when to be a questionaire so. All that kind of adaptation that kind of comes through Lee Labs was a great place to kind of you know to. Experiment. Yeah. I'm not going to talk about labs. So. I think I think would you learn a lot, here I mean you learned a lot about yourself I think that's true of a lot of, programs but I think what's unique here it's, dad. The. When, we speak about the culture, I think it has a lot of emphasis on, not, only your self-awareness, but also in, having, other people participate. In that transformation, right, so so when we talk about how, do you provide a feedback how to help.
People Along their journey, and how to like also bring in your your own journey to other people, I. Think that's what's really important, I think Stanford really tries to make. You kind. Of cross, certain, like, boundaries. That you may have set for yourself like fake boundaries, that you're like oh I would never tell this to someone or I would never have this conversation because it's very difficult and then, all of a sudden you find yourself in, situations where, you are going to cross that line but it is in a really positive way right in a positive way that makes you grow, and really makes you work. Better and and just be more aware of how, you interact, with others so I think for me that's been the biggest like parting, like Leadership Development. Yeah that's, awesome thanks for sharing and. Another. Question we've received is about. A best, or most memorable course and you already mentioned lead, labs at depth at length so maybe, beyond lead labs at best, or most memorable class that you've taken so far I've really liked, information. Of new ventures here. So the. Format of the class is, that you have so the objective, is that you're going to learn. About the different, the. Different ways that startups. Underwent. This this whole like a journey, from idea to to. Financing. To setting up their teams to everything that set them up either first success or not. Success and. So what, the professor's do is they bring in the entrepreneurs, right so the people who actually went, through this will, come to class and then you'll, they'll, talk about you, know how they, set up their teams what was important, what, did they learn what, were like tough moments, and then you get to interview so I like, an entrepreneur, of your choosing so. It's a really it's a different format of class and I really enjoy the fact that the. People, who. Actually you. Know we're, in the case studies would come to class and talk to you about their experience. Sort. Of mirroring that I took formation, of impact ventures which is the same model but focused, on social impact organizations. Which was amazing so, I won't repeat too much because it sounds like the same format, which was incredible, but, I really enjoyed product launch which is the advanced marketing class it was a nice opportunity to, apply what we have learned in the Fall Quarter to, just. In terms of strategy financials. Etc, to, figure out a how a. Product goes from again idea to, an actual company so I enjoyed that. Yeah. So I would say for me and my favorite class was so far fiscal policy so, as someone who's doing public. Policy master's I have no policy. Experience so I was actually with my first like four year into policy, and it's, taught by Keith NSE who was you, know pretty high up in the Bush administration has, tons of real life experience, and the way he ran the class was, almost like a mock, Senate. Or, a mock, Congress where you, know it was a lot of cold calling kind of nervous at first but, you, know you find yourself speaking, you. Know as if you're a congressman, or your you're, pitching an idea or a policy and you leave class late like wow like I learned a ton and you. Know I just think the the way that the class was set up and the, fact that it was not necessarily, something that was business, specific. But kind of out of the realm just made me appreciate the classmates that I had even more like all the experience, we brought in that. Had nothing to do with the kind of traditional business finance.
Or Something like that awesome. Yeah I've heard great things about all those classes, but I haven't taken any of them so gotta, get him on my list for next year. So my. Favorite class so far without a doubt has been, the. Sports management class so. It's taught by, George. Foster as well as to, practitioners. So the way that works is we. Have a regular. Stanford, professor. Accompanied. With one. Or two. Industry. Leaders so, that that'll happen in. A. Bunch, of classes especially in electives, and. Our. Two practitioners, were Dave cavil who's the president of the Oakland A's and Sam. Hinkie who's former. General manager for the. Philadelphia, 76ers and, what. I like so much about the class was so, aside. From having these people who have done so much in the industry and are, such. Big names, was. It, was really guest speaker led so we'd have a different guest speaker or two every week. We. Had people including, the president of the San Francisco Giants we, had, leaders. From the WNBA, leaders. From, really. All the major sports in, the US and some. Internationally, and. The. Class was almost just a conversation, between the students, the, professor, the practitioners, and our guests and it really. Gave. Us an. Inside, look into all these different industries and if, you're interested in the sports industry it's such. A no-brainer class, and if, you're just interested in sports in general it's just a fascinating. View. Into the world that you just typically just, don't get. That's. Great yeah and I'll add that I think it's funny that we're all all our favorite, classes are so tied to the things that we're interested in one. Of my favorite classes that I've taken so far is called family business and it's by just be grabbed leo, lynn beck who flew, out from texas, every week to teach this test and. What was really interesting for me was that his, perspectives, were so different and you. Know it's. Like a different vantage. Point from tech and so it was really fun to hear his, take on how you run, and grow family businesses. So. Pivoting. A little bit away from the classroom setting. Another. Question has come in about beyond. The HBS a what. Types of organizations and. Our resources are available at. Stanford for Hispanic, students let's. Speak a little of that. Yeah. So I mean for me there's there's a center on campus Oh Santa Roach economy, Latino so it's. It's for the general, community at large so. There they have tons of events cultural events it's. A space that you kind of just use go and hang out you'll, meet a ton of folks from other programs. So, I mean I I think maybe I met two other MBAs, and everyone, else was from other programs so, it's just another space, and another avenue, to explore, to, get to know the broader community at Stanford, the, Latino community at Stanford, so that that's one thing I would definitely say was a was, a good find and a really cool place to be.
From. My experience, being. From Mexico City just the joint the, joint collaborations. That there are between HPSA. And last I which is the Latin American Student Association are. Just a great way of kind. Of understanding, those two different perspectives and there are two communities that are really supportive with each other so those, things I think are also, great, resources to you. Know make, advantage oh yeah. And then I know HPSA, last week had a mixer, bringing, together different, Latino, groups, from different grad programs so, that was a fun way to meet people on I think we're planning to do more of those events this, year yeah and I couldn't, make it but I know that students. From the law school were there the, medicals. Awesome. I love that okay. Next question is, about. Sanford. And how. Sanford. Helps, foster diversity and inclusion can, you guys speak to that. Sure. I mean. So, starting I believe in week zero there's a kickoff event, called. Engage which, brings together practitioners. Who. Do diversity, equity. And inclusion work outside. Outside. In the Bay Area they're consultants, for different companies so that's a day-long presentation. Where you're with your section and you go through different exercises just. To establish a. Culture. Of inclusivity in your section and then hopefully that extends to your class I'm. A member of the Diversity, Committee as, part of the Student Association so, I have a vantage point our planning, for next year so we're planning to continue, that program and build upon it and some exciting ways beyond. That there. Are numbers student identity groups like HBS a like Los like, be BSA which is the black business Student Association so. I think that those groups all run, fantastic. Events that recur throughout the year so you get a consistent feeling, of inclusivity, and belonging throughout, your class but also between. Classes and day ones and a twos we're. Also working with the administration to. Push. Different, initiatives, forward to recruit even more diverse few, points and students, to come in to future classes. Yeah. And I I wouldn't, give another push, towards, kind of the, admissions process. I've, been blown away by the diversity. Of our class both. Physical. Diversity, ethnic, diversity diversity, of thought diversity a background, really. Any anything. You're interested in, mabye. Crown-piece anything, you're interested in there's magically. Someone who has, that as deep knowledge in that specific area which always. Blows my mind. But. I really, think that that, the admissions, team does a fantastic job, of bringing in people. From all over the world with, with, all different kinds of experiences. All. Different kinds of strengths, weaknesses. And and and career plans and aspirations. And. I think that makes for, really. You. Know. Really. Strong group. Dynamics, and kind. Of a safe. Space to kind of be, different and have different ideas different thoughts. And. Just just to add on that I, also. Think that if you, find that the group, an identity group or something doesn't exist on campus you, can create it and you'll find the, people that fit that group so I'm, working with some students here to start the first-generation low-income group, we haven't had one before we, weren't sure exactly what the interest, would be we sent out an email we, got about 50 responses back and. Over, one hundred over a hundred oh yeah there it is so over a hundred now of, people who either you, know identify, such or want to be advocates, of such a program so, you, know just.
Just The fact that we were able to do that just put it in place you. Know it was it was a fairly, smooth. Transition, between us and administration. And. You. Know just this again its diversity, continues. To change and evolve I think, you'll. Be you'll be able to find a place on campus to, create what you want, I. Think. What I would add is just outside the formal structures, of like clubs and, societies and, associations I think, there's a real interest, in from. People who. Just. To understand, other perspectives right, so like for example I, think I, see, here more than in, other, schools or perhaps just. In other experiences, I've had like that people will really you know go above, and beyond to you to. Understand. The different perspectives so they'll be like okay let's organize like small group dinners to talk, about this, particular topic that perhaps. We're not really, you, know digging deep enough to understand. It or. Let's organize ask me anything or let's, do X. Type of event or can you share with us what it's like to work, in this, country or this other country and I think that interest, in that how. Yeah. Like how curious. And how open the community is and, how. Much it translates, that, curiosity, into something. Tangible that people can take away with them really helps with diversity and inclusion just on you, know bringing all these things together into. Your. MBA experience, absolutely. And, can you just expand on what ask me anything czar for audience, that you know sure, um so it, is like, it's an informal, session where you know somebody will volunteer, and you. Can ask them anything for, about nine. Minutes. And. So it's just enough, you need to get to know people better like, I think I've, been as really interesting questions from my background from, places I've lived in and, I've, also you know unexpectedly. Found out something, really random about a classmate, for example, one. Of my classmates it, turns out he used to play a classic. Music like professionally, and we had no clue he he was a musician so, you'll always find out something really interesting and really fun about someone but also like you can you, can really you, know understand, a perspective when, it comes to diversity a lot better. Absolutely. And one of the favorite questions for AMAs as always what, matters most to you and why. Ok. Another. Question that's come in and kind of going off of what you were saying David, and was. About any, of us being first time MBAs and our family and if, so how. Did you. Navigate some, of the challenges of the application, and internship process, so. Maybe, by show of hands who's, the first time MBA in your family. Okay. Great, so can. We speak to a little bit of the challenges, and we. Yeah. So I can start so I think for. Me you, know navigating, these waters for the first time there's always kind of you, deal with a lot of different things one you may not understand, how the process works another. Part is self-doubt, and. And really not sure where you're gonna fit into the pile of amazing, applicants, and, you. Know what what, I did is I really. First. Thing I think is important is to understand that being vulnerable throughout, the entire process is power so. Whether, it be reaching out to alumni, and, asking. Questions or, you. Know putting yourself out there at an admissions, event to talk to admissions officer and ask the questions that you really really need to understand, no going. In and breaking, down your own narrative and owning, that narrative I think, are all part of the application process, that. Truly. Allowed me to grow into, not. Just being comfortable applying or going through the challenge but also just kind of saying, owning. Myself, and my story regardless. Of whether I was going to get into Stanford or not so. I think that was really big for me I, also. Had. A little bit of fun with it right so my family, didn't know what an MBA was so.
I Had to find educating, them and kind of like walking them through the process and I brought them into kind of the application process and having that support even, if it's not you, know when I applied to an MBA I did this but, just saying like hey like what do you think about this story you remember when this happen and we would kind of reminisce and you. Know really helped me think through my narrative and story so I think even, if your family or the people around you are not quite familiar, with it bring them into the process because, in the end of the day it's about owning your narrative in your story. That. Was really well paid, hard. To follow I think, I, would. Echo. What David just said but I would really emphasize don't. Be shy about turning to mentors and seeking, those people out whether or not they have an MBA I. Had, to explain the decision, to my family and they didn't understand like oh but, you, went to a good undergrad program why do you need this degree and, I realized I wasn't happy and the career I'd chosen and that I needed an MBA to pivot to things that I cared, or rather I, wanted. An MBA in order to affect change at a greater scale, and towards, something that I cared about, so. I really relied on my mentors that I had cultivated in both. The office setting but also from years before an undergrad, and they were really helpful in terms of navigating, the process and, again like helping me flush out my story like David said and not being shy about being vulnerable and honest about the. Experiences, that had shaped me and why I thought, I would be a good candidate here I think. Another thing to look into is that there, are programs out there that help, specifically. Black. And Hispanic, potential. MBA applicants, like MLT, management, leaders for tomorrow so, you. Know -. David's point and to Madison's point seek. Out you. Know informal, mentors, put. Yourself out there and and, really look for, ways. That that, you can you. Know become, more informed on the MBA application, process, to give yourself, kind. Of the. Opportunity to put your best foot forward, and.
I Don't wanna speak for the group that folks, who are watching I'd. Be happy to talk to anyone, who's watching us questions. See. You. Can always get in touch with us and we'll have more information about how to get in touch with us towards the end. Okay. So, first. You know and our families to get MBAs, navigating. Which programs to choose we're, now at Stanford what's. Been most surprising, about this experience, was. There anything unexpected. The. Degree, of personal. Change. The. Program ignites I mean like we all go in here wanting. To, refine. And improve our, like sub skills leadership skills and you expect all that but I don't think that you. Really understand, like how about you're putting yourself up to you, know expose, yourself to to. Really question. Perhaps, like fundamental, things about yourself or, about your career so, it may be like what we spoke about that you may just have a complete, you, know 180 change of what you want to do in life but, it may also be things like you may, understand. Something about yourself, through this whole like leadership. Development or, through other, interactions. That you didn't know or you hadn't thought about before or you hadn't recognized what impact it has on others, and so that really feels like this you, know this motivation, and this passion to grow. And to challenge yourself but it's you know sometimes it's tough because you're gonna have to make difficult decisions about, your career and you, know your personal life and yourself but I think that's what's, great you know it was a surprise that it would be such a big scale like change. Perhaps but um but. It's something really satisfying. So. I would echo a lot of what she just said, you. Know like I said I believe that volunteer lose power that's why I was attracted to Stanford, I had no idea I was not prepared, for, how much that was the case so, yeah you know we discuss AMAs there's also a talk series, where you, know one of our classmates will go up and share their NER and even. In lead labs like I, think. All of us cried and Lee Labs at one point and there's you know touchy-feely, which is a class I haven't taken yet apparently everyone cries, and. You, know I just think that's. Really unique to Stanford, IIIi don't know many other you know I talk I know I have a lot of friends other than BA programs I don't think that's always the case and one, thing I would also add to is how. Much resources, are available here I think you also have an idea that an MBA, program is gonna have a lot of great resources but. If, I think of something it exists and, and. It's, something that's valuable and I can take advantage of so I think you. Know allowing, yourself to be open to everything. And to, really look for the resources, that are out there already, I mean. There's. Just so much to take advantage, of that. That was one of the biggest surprises for, me. Yeah. I've. Been surprised by how much learning takes place outside of the classroom and, I think we said that a lot in the beginning but. Our classmates, have really been such a source of insight different. Perspective, out of our comfort zones often, times you'll find yourself at a small group dinner and realize like oh I've found myself at a small group dinner like oh I'm the only American, here and.
Just. The learning and the, openness, that people, will bring to the table has. Shocked, me I. Think. I also have been really surprised at how busy. We've. Been in just how how. Much we're, constantly forced, to make trade-offs like, we talked about the the mixer that HPSA hosted the other night and I couldn't make it because there, were literally three other things happening and there, was this wonderful screening, taking place that. A, film, a documentary called groomed and that, a GSB, alumna, and put, together and I just couldn't miss it but I think, I've, been really surprised, at the amount, the. Optionality, I guess and just like all the things happening. And. Really, the the, reality that we can't take, it all in and I'm reminded of how you, know Disneyland, wasn't designed to allow, you to like go on every ride in one day or even a week I mean, in the GSP is that way you have two short years here and it's. Really not designed for. You to take every class and do everything but to, kind of make your own you. Know pick. What you want from the buffet I think you. Guys completely covered everything I've done of. Cool. So. We. Have a career question. How. Does the campus recruiting process work at the GSB and what types of resources to Stanford, offer I. Can. Give you this one off so. There's. All different there's a few different types of processes, so. One there are. A, set of companies. In a set of industries that will, do formal, on-campus, recruiting, they'll. Have info. Sessions, in perhaps, in around November or December, they. Have formal application. Processes, and, interview, processes, that they've, been doing and coordinating. With Stanford, career team for, for. Years and years and years, you, know that's kind of stuff like consulting and, Investment Banking, some. Of the tech companies and, then, aside, from that. We. Have I. Think. One, of the best resources is, just the. Alumni, so. I've been blown, away I guess one of the things that's surprised me most is how how. Helpful the alumni have been and how responsive they've, been when. I just cold, reach out via, email to, to an alum that's in an industry that's, relevant. For me so. That's been a great source there's. Also a, never-ending. List of. Internships. And so we're all first-year so we're we. Were more experienced with the internship recruiting, process but, a never-ending. List of internships. Posted. That, you know kind of scroll.
Through And have alerts set up to kind of forward. Me stuff that's in a location, or industry I'm interested in and. Then lastly started, to take all the take, so many of these but. We. Have a pretty. Large, career. Team and no. Matter the industry you're in how large, or how small. There. Is. A career. Advisor dedicated, to your industry so for. Sports for example there's maybe, only a couple people each year that are interested in that there's actually a career advisor blend. That with yesterday. Who. Specializes. In sports so, that's. That's been a great resource for me as well and. Then on the flip side there's also someone. On the career team or a team on the career. On. The Stanford career team that, works. On reaching out to different companies and. Establishing. Formal. Formal, connections, with, between. Them and Stanford and again. There's there's someone dedicated to sports despite, how how, how, nisha it, might seem. One. Thing I would add we have blast. Email, which is a, sort. Of a list that connects all the NBA ones and ba twos and people just throw different, opportunities, out from their old companies etc, even networking. With students, in our class or in BA choose they'll, know someone who knows someone, who's. Looking for an intern so that's a good resource as well as student clubs I would, say, but. Beyond that I think Danny covered, it I mean. The only thing I would add which. Is something. That I'm doing this summer it's taking, advantage of the global experiences, so there's, G. Mix which is the opportunity, for you to go. And work, for a company for, a, minimum of four weeks in a different country that you've never like, lived or worked in, and. So it just gives you the chance to you know explore, a new, location, perhaps, a new, industry. It's, really it's a really easy way to do. That and so, there's G mix which is through the GSB there's, also kind of broader Stanford, opportunities, like. Through, seed, which is a program. That we have to help entrepreneurs. In, the. Developing world like, build, up their, management. Skill set and then towards. The end of the program they get access to offer. Internships. As well to the Stanford community so, then that's something that business, students can also tap into if. They're interested in in working. In emerging markets. Yeah. I guess one thing to add it's not necessarily a formal resource, but, I would say there's a lot of things that happen here that are informal, so, the, cool thing about going to Stanford and having a Stanford MBA is that the, majority of people you reach out to whether it's a cold emo or something of that nature they'll, reach back. Out to you so I'm going into an. Industry that there's not a lot of like recruiting, that goes on so a lot of it had to be me, hitting the ground and I know it sounds kind of intimidating, at first but you realize like that's. Kind of part of being at Stanford of being in the entrepreneurial, environment there's, also a lot of other classmates who I think you, know for a lot of folks coming to an MBA they feel like okay an, MBA is kind of the means to the end and you, realize like the MBA is a means in and of itself and folks. Will come in thinking that they're ready to hit this recruiting, cycle and then you taught them now they're kind of like yeah you know I'm. Just gonna start my own thing or I'm, gonna create my own project for the summer or I'm, gonna join a startup to try something new so I think that's another thing that is, unspoken, but I think a lot of things happen in that habit yeah and to, that point on the Entrepreneurship part something, we didn't touch on was there's, a wealth, of resources for people who want, to start their own companies, or work, for. Personal. Sort of small startups over the summer or full-time, so. There's there's certainly no, lack of resources. For entrepreneurs, as well, great. And we're coming towards the end of, this our. Time together, today and. One. Question. That I think would, be great to kind of round this out knowing. What you know now about, Stanford. And the GSB and this experience if, you could start all over again, rewind. Back to September is there anything you would do differently or even maybe, for wine back through the application, process and. Before, you, yeah. I. Think. Going back to your point about the. Resources, and the optionality, I wish, I would have spent a little bit more time thinking, about the, path that I at least wanted to start on when I got, I think, for the first like month or two I came, kind, of thinking let's be completely open-minded.
There's Too much it's. It's so hard to be completely open-minded and you start to get FOMO, because you're making too many trade-offs I think and I spent maybe a little bit more time in the front end just exploring. What actually existed. You. Know coming, in with some type of plan to then pivot from would, have been really helpful. I'd. Second that but, I think I had, it from a different slightly, different take which was I think we're a lot of people or the majority of people here are used to being able to you. Know do, everything, in a very short, amount of time and being very efficient, and so sometimes. You're under the illusion that you will be able to do everything once you're here and you're, not and so I think just taking the time I think taking some time a just to like you, know shift gears before, coming to business school really. Getting your priorities, you. Know said, and then you're able to articulate just what you're working towards or what do you don't know that you want to explore it's, really important, because. Yeah, you won't be able to do everything and just being able to prioritize makes a huge difference. Yeah. Those, are certainly, well. That's definitely what I would do differently starting at the GSP but looking back to the application process um I, think, it would have been more useful for me to start the essay drafting, process sooner, and really. Key into what story I wanted to tell because. I think it's important to tell a story in your essay and that. Occurred, to me a little later in the process I wish I had brainstorm. That a bit more strategically. Taking. It back to the to the GSB, one. Thing I wish I would have done differently I I think I realized. Later. Than I would have wanted to how Open alums, and professors, are, to. Get, coffee with you to meet up with you. Etc. And, I'm. I still have another. Year to go to do, this but. I'm, just now starting to have informal, conversations, with alums have. Breakfast. And coffee with with professors, and in my industry, and. I wish I would have taken. Taken advantage of that from day one as opposed to in. Quarter quarter three. That's, awesome I think. I would echo all that and. I'm so grateful for the time we got to spend together, today so thank you for joining and thank you, to our audience for participating. In this event and for your great questions thank. You for joining, us today have. A great day.
2019-05-31 18:25
