The Stanford Graduate School of Business is the graduate

business school A business school is a higher education institution or professional school that teaches courses leading to degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, s ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

Stanford, California Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the home of Stanford University, after which it was named. The CDP's population was 21,150 at the United States Census, ...

. For several years it has been the most selective business school in the United States, admitting only about 6% of applicants. Stanford GSB offers a general management

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

(MBA) degree, the MSx Program ( MS in Management for mid-career executives), Stanford LEAD Online Business Program and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

program, along with joint degrees with other schools at Stanford, including

Earth Sciences Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

Education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

, and

Medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

History

The school was founded in 1925 when trustee

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

formed a committee consisting of Wallace Alexander, George Rolph,

Paul Shoup Paul Shoup (January 8, 1874 – July 30, 1946) was an American businessman, president and later vice-chairman of the Southern Pacific Railroad in the 1920s and 1930s, a founding board member of the Stanford University School of Business, and fou ...

, Thomas Gregory, and Milton Esberg to secure the needed funds for the school's founding. Willard Hotchkiss became the first dean of Stanford GSB. The library was formally inaugurated on April 3, 1933. The collection was established with 1,000 volumes and assorted reports. The school moved from Jordan Hall to new quarters in the History Corner of the Main Quad in 1937. Jonathan Levin was appointed as the 10th dean of the school in September 2016. Levin became the 13th president of Stanford University on August 1, 2024. Sarah Soule was appointed the new dean of the business school in January 2025.

Campus

The Knight Management Center is situated within the greater Stanford

campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...

. There are ten buildings at the Knight Management Center: the Gunn Building, Zambrano Hall, North Building, Arbuckle Dining Pavilion, Bass Center, the Faculty Buildings (comprising East and West buildings), the Patterson Building, the MBA Class of 1968 Building, and the McClelland Building. The Schwab Residential Center was designed by Mexican architect

Ricardo Legorreta Ricardo Legorreta Vilchis (May 7, 1931 – December 30, 2011) was a Mexican architect. He was a prolific designer of private houses, public buildings and master plans in Mexico, the United States and some other countries. He was awarded the pres ...

. The 158,000 square-foot facility consists of 280 guest rooms. Jack McDonald Hall, located adjacent to Schwab, opened in 2016 as an additional residence for MBA students with over 200 guest rooms. There are three main art installations on campus, including Monument to Change as it Changes, Monument to the Unknown Variables, and Ways to Change. Stanford GSB maintains very close links with the

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

, finance and technology firms of nearby

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

Academics

Stanford GSB offers a traditional

(MBA) program typically completed in two years, a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

("MSx program") typically completed in one year, and a doctoral (PhD) program. The MBA program is a full-time graduate program that enrolls approximately 420 students each year. The MSx program is intended for students who are mid-career managers (minimum 8 years of professional work experience). The Stanford MSx was previously called the Stanford Sloan Master's Program, because students in the program are known as Stanford Sloan Fellows. The Stanford MSx is one of the three

Sloan Fellows The Sloan Fellows program is a middle and senior-career master's degree program in general management and leadership offered at MIT, Stanford University, and London Business School (LBS). Initially supported by a grant from Alfred P. Sloan, ...

programs, sharing a similar format with the others at the

MIT Sloan School of Management The MIT Sloan School of Management (branded as MIT Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree progra ...

and the

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degree, Master's degrees in management and finance, Master of B ...

. These programs were initially supported by Alfred P. Sloan, Chairman of

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

from 1937 to 1956, who envisioned the Sloan Fellowship in his alma mater of

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

in 1931.

Academic partnerships

Stanford GSB offers Executive Education programs jointly with

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

. It also offers one of the three Sloan Fellows programs, coordinating with the others at the

and the

Stanford LEAD Professional Certificate

The Stanford LEAD Business Program (LEAD is an acronym for learn, engage, accelerate, and disrupt) is a one-year online business program in the Graduate School of Business offering access to curricular materials and students specialize personal leadership. The teaching components are coordinated 100% online although there are periodic meet-ups hosted at Stanford each year through the me2we program. The annual me2we conferences have grown to become quite large, and the program's 1,800 LEAD alumni can join remotely.

Faculty and research

The school works at the forefront of global business research and teaching. There are six winners of the

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (), commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics(), is an award in the field of economic sciences adminis ...

on the faculty ( William F. Sharpe 1990,

Myron Scholes Myron Samuel Scholes ( ; born July 1, 1941) is a Canadian– American financial economist. Scholes is the Frank E. Buck Professor of Finance, Emeritus, at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, and co-ori ...

1997,

Michael Spence Andrew Michael Spence (born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American economist and Nobel laureate. Spence is the William R. Berkley Professor in Economics and Business at the Stern School of Business at New York University, and the Philip H. Kn ...

2001,

Paul Milgrom Paul Robert Milgrom (born April 20, 1948) is an American economist. He is the Shirley and Leonard Ely Professor of Humanities and Sciences at the Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences, a position he has held since 1987. He is a ...

2020,

Robert B. Wilson Robert Butler "Bob" Wilson, Jr. (born May 16, 1937) is an American economist who is the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management, Emeritus at Stanford University. He was jointly awarded the 2020 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, toge ...

2020,

Guido Imbens Guido Wilhelmus Imbens (born 3 September 1963) is a Dutch-American economist whose research concerns econometrics and statistics. He holds the Applied Econometrics Professorship in Economics at the Stanford Graduate School of Business at Stanf ...

2021), five recipients of the John Bates Clark Award, 19 members of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, and four members of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

. William F. Sharpe's research interests focus on macro-investment analysis,

equilibrium Equilibrium may refer to: Film and television * ''Equilibrium'' (film), a 2002 science fiction film * '' The Story of Three Loves'', also known as ''Equilibrium'', a 1953 romantic anthology film * "Equilibrium" (''seaQuest 2032'') * ''Equilibr ...

in capital markets and the provision of income in retirement. Myron Scholes' research has focused on understanding uncertainty and its effect on asset prices and the value of options, including flexibility options. Michael Spence's research interests focus on the study of economic growth and development, dynamic competition and the economics of information.

Rankings

In recent rankings, Stanford GSB was ranked 1st by ''

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

,'' 1st by ''

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

'', and 1st by '' U.S. News & World Report''. In the ranking aggregator '' Poets & Quants'' Stanford's MBA Program was ranked 1st in the U.S. In the inaugural LinkedIn MBA rankings (2024), Stanford was ranked #1 globally. The Stanford Graduate School of Business is the most selective business school in the United States. It has maintained the highest ratio of "applicants to available seats" of any business school in the U.S. for the last decade. It has also had the lowest acceptance rates (typically <7%) of any business school. For the Class of 2022 which entered in 2020, 8% of applicants were offered admission, and the average GMAT score of 733 and average GPA of 3.8 are the highest of any business school in the world. The business school comprises the Knight Management Center, the Schwab Residential Center named after alumnus Charles R. Schwab, founder and chairman of the

Charles Schwab Corporation The Charles Schwab Corporation is an American multinational Financial institution, financial services company. It offers banking, commercial banking, investing and related services including consulting, and wealth management advisory services ...

, and Highland Hall.

Donations

In August 2006, the school announced what was then the largest gift ever to a business school—$105 million from Stanford alumnus

Phil Knight Philip Hampson Knight (born February 24, 1938) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist who is the co-founder and chairman ''emeritus'' of Nike, Inc., a global sports equipment and apparel company. He was previously its chai ...

, MBA '62, co-founder and chairman of

Nike, Inc Nike, Inc. (stylized as ''NIKE'') is an American athletic footwear and apparel corporation headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. It is the world's largest supplier of Sneakers, athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equ ...

. The gift went toward construction of a $375 million campus, called the Knight Management Center, for the business school. Construction was completed in 2011. In 2011, alumnus Robert King and his wife Dorothy made a $150 million gift to the school—making history as the largest donation to Stanford GSB—to found the Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies (also known as SEED) to focus on poverty relief in

emerging market An emerging market (or an emerging country or an emerging economy) is a market that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not fully meet its standards. This includes markets that may become developed markets in the future or we ...

s. A portion of their gift is used as a matching incentive to encourage other donors to give to SEED. The gifts by King and Knight are marked as the second and third largest philanthropic pledges to a business school. Also in 2011, investor and economist Marko Dimitrijevic, a 1985 alumni of the Business School, established the Emerging Markets Innovation Fund, to support teaching, research, and other initiatives in the area of emerging and frontier markets.

Alumni

There are 33,689 living

alumni Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...

, including 21,111 living MBA alumni. MBA alumni include 23 billionaires and several heads of state.

References

External links

*
Graduate School of Business, 1974–2003
collection of oral histories, Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program.
Stanford LEAD website
{{Coord, 37.4280, -122.1612, display=title

Business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

Business schools in California Educational institutions established in 1925 1925 establishments in California M7 business schools