Stanford and Sleep Wars

Frances and I went to a Stanford Graduate School of Business information session tonight. It was interesting. I think HBS might be dethrowned in my mind as my preferred MBA program (at least temporarily).

They made an impressive case for Stanford's emphasis on three pedagogies (lecture/discussion, cases, and experiential learning) instead of HBS which focuses nearly exclusively on the case method. I was surprised, I arrived thinking the case method was superior and left realizing that teaching solely through the case approach could lead students to not grasp the broader principles and to always deal with situations similar to those in the case via the "best" approach in the specific case study under discussion.

Also, Stanford's taglines of "Change lives. Change organizations. Change the world" and "We create ideas and develop leaders that change the world". HBS' mission is: "to educate leaders who make a difference in the world". Which one speaks more to me? Which school follows through more? I'm honestly not sure yet, but Stanford definitely made a much more impressive showing than I was expecting.

I was also about to talk to a women pursuing an MBA at Stanford and a MPA (Master in Public Administration) from Harvard's Kennedy School, so that was interesting to consider.

Stanford's smaller size (~300-400 students per year) certainly messes with the size that I've experienced and appreciated at Olin.

Both HBS and Stanford waive the application fee for College seniors...both have the potential for 1-2 year deferral...I think the current permutation of my brain however is that now is not the time for me to be a manager. I think I might need to take a little break from power and see what it's like to not be actively involved in running the show? I'm pretty sure that I want an MBA, but I'm not really sure if I want another Masters-level degree (for example in public policy) to go with it...it feels like I should try to gauge that through the working world before I jump into a joint degree program that I might end up regretting.

Current 3 next year career paths (no I have no idea how to go about doing this):

1. Public Policy Analyst/Think Tank work
2. Knowledge Management/Organizational Consultant
3. International Development (in particular through perhaps the World Bank or a small technology-based organization)

Soo...I suppose I am moving, even if slowly, to a thought of specific options for next year. I think my current favorite plan is to try both the international development and the policy work over the next 1-2 years and, based on that information, make a decision about where to go next.

I also thought I'd inform you all about my suite's new game: Sleep Wars. Basically the premise is that you get points based on when you go to bed relative to the others in the suite. There are three teams:

1. Alex/Mike - Each can gain a point for being the FIRST of the six of us to go to bed.
2. Me/Steve - Each can gain a point for being the LAST of the six of us to go to bed.
3. Nick/Adam - Each can gain a point for being either the FIRST or the LAST of the six of us to go to bed.

There is competition within the teams themselves (so I compete with Steve) and between teams. The decision of which actions would lead to points was based on the premise that Alex and Mike go to bed the earliest, Steve and I go to bed the latest, and Adam and Nick are generally in the middle of the road.

The current ranking is:

1. Alex - 7
   
2. Steve - 3.5
   
3. Will - 2.5
   
4. Mike - 2
   
5. Nick & Adam - 1

As I type, Adam recides in our lounge waiting for me to go to sleep so he can carry the late position for the evening. On Saturday night, Steve and I were up talking until ~4:30, so we called that evening a tie if you were wondering about the .5's.

Back to either the bed or the grindstone...haven't quite decided yet.