STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS · MBA GUIDE
The Stanford MBA is a two-year program for about 430 students a year, with some core courses matched to your background and a whole second year of electives. Start here to understand the program and prepare each part of your application.
Fall 2027 entry
GET TO KNOW THE PROGRAM
The MBA takes two years in Stanford, California. Some first-year core courses come in levels matched to your experience, and the whole second year is electives, including courses across Stanford.
FIRST YEAR
Data, finance, accounting, and microeconomics courses come in base, accelerated, and advanced levels, so you start where your experience leaves off.
LEADERSHIP LAB
Leadership Laboratory puts you in a squad of five or six classmates, and ends with the Executive Challenge, role-plays judged by alumni.
SECOND YEAR
You choose your courses, including classes at Stanford’s six other schools. About 20% of students add a joint or dual degree.
Before winter of the second year, you’ll join a global immersion project, a study trip with classmates, an exchange with Tsinghua University, or a self-directed experience.
English tests: Required if any of your undergraduate courses, other than language classes, were taught in another language, unless you later finished a graduate program taught entirely in English. The minimums are TOEFL 100 (5.0 on the new scale), IELTS 7.0, and PTE 68. Scores must be valid on your round’s deadline.
English-taught degrees: No test is needed, but if your university is in a country where English isn’t the main language of daily life, explain your circumstances in the Additional Information section.
Degrees: Three-year international bachelor’s degrees are accepted.
Visas: Admitted students get visa help from MBA Admissions and Stanford’s Bechtel International Center. GSB also encourages applicants who aren’t U.S. citizens or permanent residents to follow changes to U.S. rules replacing “duration of status,” which could affect F-1 or J-1 status.
Funding: Need-based fellowships are open to every admitted student regardless of citizenship, and GSB works with lenders that offer loans to international students.
The class: International students made up 38% of the class that entered in 2025, from 64 countries.
Analytical Foundations: Data and Decisions, Finance, Financial Accounting, Microeconomics, and Optimization and Simulation Modeling.
Leadership Foundations: Leadership Laboratory, Leading with Values, Managing Groups and Teams, and Organizational Behavior.
Management Foundations: At least one course in three of five areas: Marketing, Operations, Strategy, Strategy Beyond Markets, and Foundations+.
Second year: You take only electives, from GSB and Stanford’s six other schools. Both years’ course lists reflect 2025–26 offerings and may change.
UNDERSTAND WHAT STANFORD GSB LOOKS FOR
No single part decides admission, and GSB says there’s no ideal or typical candidate. It asks how you think, how you lead, and how you see the world, and tells applicants to be themselves.
HOW YOU THINK
GSB reviews grades and test scores for readiness, then looks for initiative in learning, hard problems you’ve solved, and insights you’ve shared with others.
Letrado’s adviceIf you haven’t taken calculus, statistics, or microeconomics, GSB suggests doing so before you apply. A recent course also gives readers fresh evidence.
HOW YOU LEAD
GSB looks for initiative, persistence, engaging others, and supporting the people around you, in any setting, and for why your impact mattered.
Letrado’s adviceChoose examples from the last five years with a clear before and after. The optional short answers are built for exactly these stories.
HOW YOU SEE THE WORLD
Your values, beliefs, identity, and ambitions come through mainly in your essays. GSB wants a class with diverse perspectives and experiences.
Letrado’s adviceWrite about what actually shaped you, even if it seems ordinary. Specific people and moments say more than big statements.
WHAT STANFORD GSB DESCRIBES
Interviews are by invitation, and every admitted student interviews first. GSB generally interviews two to three candidates for each place. You’ll meet a trained alum or a member of the admissions staff, remotely or in person.
The questions are about past actions, not hypotheticals. Round 2 interviews run from mid-January to mid-March, and where or when you interview doesn’t affect your evaluation.
CLASS OF 2027 PROFILE
The average undergraduate GPA was 3.76 on a 4.0 scale, for students from U.S. schools. Work experience isn’t required, and college seniors are welcome to apply.
These describe one past class, not minimums. GSB has no minimum GPA or test score.
WHAT STANFORD GSB ASKS
Each recommender answers two required questions of up to 500 words: how you compare with well-qualified peers in similar roles, and the most important constructive feedback they’ve given you and how you responded. They also rate you on 12 leadership competencies.
GSB values what a letter says over the writer’s title. Letters must be in English, and you can’t draft, translate, edit, or submit one, or have anyone else review it.
STANFORD GSB’S RULES
GSB says you cross the line from feedback into coaching when any part of your application, except the letters, “ceases to be exclusively yours in either thought or word.” Its published guidance doesn’t name AI, but it does cover tools: having another person or a tool write your essays breaks the application terms and can lead to denial or revoked admission.
Feedback is allowed when others review your completed application, “perhaps once or twice,” and point out “omissions, errors, or inaccuracies” for you to correct. Letting others “craft any part” of it for you is what GSB calls inappropriate coaching.
PLAN THE APPLICATION
Stanford GSB reviews applications in three rounds, and you can apply once a year. Rounds 1 and 2 leave more time for visas and quantitative preparation, and include the on-campus housing lottery and Admit Weekend.
Round 1
Sep 9, 2026Round 2
Jan 6, 2027Round 3
Apr 7, 2027Everything, including both recommendation letters and the fee, is due by 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time on the deadline day. Decisions are posted to your application account.
Two essays, a one-page résumé without a photo, and optional short answers. The fee is $275, or $100 if you’re eligible for deferred enrollment. U.S. military applicants pay nothing, and need-based waivers are available.
Required for everyone, with no minimum and no preference. GSB doesn’t superscore, so you report one sitting, taken before the deadline.
Unofficial copies for every degree. Report your GPA exactly as your transcript shows it, without converting the scale.
Ideally from your current direct supervisor and one other person who has supervised you in the last three years. Recommenders must write and submit their letters themselves.
A behavioral interview with an alum or a member of the admissions staff.
Which tests: You can take the GMAT (10th Edition or Focus Edition) or the GRE, online or at a test center. The MBA doesn’t accept the Executive Assessment.
When to test: Test by your round’s deadline, with a score still valid on that date: for Round 2, from a test on or after January 6, 2022. If it expires before June 1, 2027, send official scores when you submit.
How scores are read: GSB reads them in the context of the resources available to you and the education systems you studied in.
What it offers: Funding covers tuition and fees, a living stipend, and travel, for up to six quarters of the MBA.
This year’s timing: If you’re applying to the MBA this year, only a Round 1 application qualifies. Knight-Hennessy’s own deadline was October 6, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
Eligibility: You need a first bachelor’s degree from January 2020 or later, or January 2018 if you’ve served in the military. Deferred enrollment admits can apply later, for the year they start.
If you’re finishing college, or a graduate degree you began straight after college: Deferred enrollment lets you secure a place now and work for one to four years before enrolling. Your degree must be conferred between October 1, 2026, and September 30, 2027. You can apply in any round, and you don’t need a job offer.
If you want a joint or dual degree: Some, such as the JD/MBA and the MS in Computer Science/MBA, also need admission from the other Stanford school. You can add only one extra degree.
If you’re reapplying: Reapplicants are welcome and not viewed negatively. You submit a full new application, and valid test scores carry over. GSB can’t give feedback on denied applications.
If the fee is a barrier: Complete the required parts of your application, then email MBA Admissions to request a need-based waiver. All materials are due by December 18, 2026, whichever round you apply in, and waivers are first come, first served.
WRITE IN YOUR OWN VOICE
1,000 words in totalOur sum of GSB’s two limits: “What matters most to you, and why?” in up to 650 words, and “Why Stanford for you?” in up to 350.
GSB says effective essays are often shorter than the limit. The first asks you to reflect deeply on what matters to you and what shaped that view; the second connects your aspirations to Stanford.
Letrado’s adviceStart with the why. If you can explain in two plain sentences why something matters to you, you’re ready to draft the essay around it.
GSB asks you to explain why it matters, and which people, insights, or experiences shaped that view. Depth matters more than drama.
Describe what you hope to do and how GSB, specifically, will help you get there.
Each describes a time in the last five years when you made a significant impact: the situation, what you did, and what changed.
GSB invites up to about 150 words on how your life experiences have shaped the way you see the world.
GSB says having another person or a tool write your essays can lead to denial or a revoked offer. Feedback is fine; coaching that replaces your own thoughts or words isn’t.
MAKE ROOM FOR THE FINANCIAL QUESTION
Admission is need-blind, and GSB fellowships are based only on need, for students of any citizenship. About half of MBA students receive one.
STUDENTS WITH A FELLOWSHIP
receive a need-based fellowship. For the Class of 2026, the average was about $100,000 over two years.
ANY CITIZENSHIP
Every admitted student with demonstrated need can receive a fellowship, regardless of citizenship.
ADDED SUPPORT
Up to about $15,000 a year on top of need-based aid, for admits with financial hardship and a commitment to expanding opportunity.
You apply for aid after admission. Outside scholarships under $40,000 don’t reduce your GSB fellowship, and employer-sponsored students typically aren’t eligible.
Tuition and financial aid (opens in a new tab)PUBLISHED 2026–27 BUDGET · FIRST-YEAR SINGLE STUDENT
$140,940Tuition is $89,187. The rest covers housing, living expenses, medical insurance, and the health fee.
For fall 2027 entry, use the 2027–28 budget when GSB publishes it. Travel for the global experience, about $4,000 to $6,000, isn’t included.
GSB cost of attendance (opens in a new tab)Letrado’s advicePlan both years and the global experience trip before you apply, and ask your employer about sponsorship early.
GSB reports a median base salary of $185,000 for the Class of 2025.
Full-time employment report (opens in a new tab)CLIENT JOURNEYS
These journeys share questions Stanford applicants often face: showing leadership without a senior title, changing fields, and deciding whether an MBA is the right next step.
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Bring your questions to a free 45-minute introduction with your proposed mentor. Afterward, we’ll email a personalized plan with recommended next steps.
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