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Stanford MBA Program

Stanford University

History

In more than 100 years of existence, Stanford University has earned an international reputation based on the quality of our alumni and of the academic work done by a faculty that includes 12 living Nobel laureates and four Pulitzer Prize winners.

The University's approximately 14,000 students are nearly equally divided between undergraduates and graduate students.

Today, Stanford is widely recognized for its excellence in education, engineering, law, liberal arts, medicine, and science as well as business.

As a Stanford MBA student, you're an integral member of the larger University, sharing in the libraries, speakers, museums, intramural sports, and other programs offered by one of the world's great research universities. As an MBA alumnus/a, you become part of an extraordinary Stanford legacy that numbers nearly 175,000 worldwide.

The Farm

The Stanford University campus presents an almost rural setting, where you can commute by bicycle and enjoy the outdoors year-round. Stanford's 8,100 acres, which includes rolling foothills and the 1,200 acre central campus, once served as former California State Governor and Senator Leland and Jane Stanford's trotting horse farm. Today, the Stanford campus is less than an hour south of San Francisco's financial district, and just a few miles from the headquarters of major firms in Silicon Valley.

The surrounding communities are home to corporate executives, social-sector leaders, and entrepreneurs. Business, government, medical, and nonprofit leaders mix comfortably with the Stanford community, whether they are attending a football game at Stanford Stadium, enjoying a leisurely lunch with students and faculty in the Faculty Club dining room, or admiring the Rodin Sculpture Garden. As a student, you will have ample opportunity to mingle with them all.

The Ambiance

Whether you're seeing Stanford's campus from Palm Drive for the first or thousandth time, the view is breathtaking. Palm trees line the main entrance to campus, opening into an expansive lawn and the University's main quadrangle.

Stanford's rich architectural history, most evident by its sandstone buildings with red tile roofs, reflects California's early Spanish-mission heritage.

The Business School's academic activities are centered in three buildings—Littlefield Management Center, the Knight Building, and the GSB South Building—just a few feet from the Spanish mission-style main quadrangle.

In 2008, we expect to break ground on the Knight Management Center—a collection of eight buildings set among three quadrangles—thanks to the generosity of Phil Knight, MBA '62, Founder and Chairman of Nike, Inc. The new campus will be contiguous to the Schwab Residential Center.

The mild Mediterranean climate lends an informal ambiance to campus. Outdoor events are scheduled nearly year-round and academic and social activities spill out of the classroom onto patios and lawns. Whether it's an open-air reception, study group meeting, al fresco dinner, pick-up volleyball game, or a jog to “the Dish” radio telescope, you can always enjoy fresh air and activity.

Sports

The Stanford Athletic program is a dominant force in collegiate athletics. Statistics speak for themselves:

  • Stanford has won the Sears' Director Cup for top intercollegiate athletic program the last eight years.
  • Stanford has won 61 NCAA team championships since 1980, the most in the nation.
  • Cardinal individual athletes have won 36 NCAA championships since 1990, also the most in the nation.
  • Great student athletes in Stanford history include Jennifer Azzi and Mark Madson (basketball), John Elway and Ernie Nevers (football), Julie Foudy (soccer), John McEnroe (tennis), Mike Mussina (baseball), Jenny Thompson (swimming), and Tom Watson and Tiger Woods (golf).