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After graduating from Stanford with two degrees in mechanical engineering, Trae Vassallo aspired to a career as an engineer in Silicon Valley.
A job at innovative design firm IDEO changed her orientation.
"Working on the Palm V made me realize: 'I'm only an engineer, but I have so much more value to add. I need to go to business school.'"
Trae thought that the two year program would provide her with the credentials she needed. Instead: "what I got was transformative. I had been working and thinking as an engineer, and the MBA program upleveled my thinking, allowing me to understand the business as well as the engineering perspectives.
The MBA program helped me go from being an engineer who loves to build products to an entrepreneur who loves to build companies."
Through a business school class taught by Andy Grove she met John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and after graduating took a position with a Kleiner Perkins portfolio company. "I would not have been able to make the right connections and would not have had the skill set to guide a company from its early days without the GSB.
Stanford is the best place for entrepreneurs: it's in the heart of everything. The startup DNA is in the valley, the venture community is here, and the academic framework is grounded in real world situations."
Now a partner at Kleiner Perkins, Trae says she got more out of her business school experience than she had ever imagined. "Every day I use the skills I learned at the GSB."
Trae A. Vassallo, MBA 2000
Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Positions & Compensation
With a broad range of interests, Stanford MBA students take advantage of many different avenues for securing their first position after graduation.
Class of 2009 Full Time Positions
- 73% of graduating students reported a change in industry from their pre-MBA position.
- 77% of graduating students reported a change in function from their pre-MBA position.
Class of 2010 Summer Positions
- 87% of first-year students reported a change in industry from their pre-MBA position.
- 87% of first-year students reported a change in function from their pre-MBA position.
- 75 students took Global Management Experience (GMIX) internships.
- 32 students took a Stanford Management Internship Fund (SMIF) fellowship.
- 51 students took an Entrepreneurial Summer Program (ESP) internship.
Compensation
Overall compensation levels for Stanford MBA graduates are consistently among the highest of our peer schools.
However, compensation is only one consideration. Stanford MBA students report that the primary reasons for accepting a position are:
- The people
- Opportunity for career broadening
- Intellectual stimulation
Class of 2009
Base salary: $120,000 median with a range of $30,000 to $250,000
Signing bonus: $20,000 median with a range of $4,400 to $125,000
Other guaranteed compensation: $26,500 median with a range of $3,300 to $300,000
Class of 2010 Summer Positions*
Monthly base salary: $5,780 median with a range of $1,000 to $14,500
*GSB Internship Program: The Stanford Management Internship Fund (SMIF) provides fellowships to MBA students who work in qualifying nonprofits or the government during the summer between your first and second years.
