Stanford's Graduate School of Business is the most selective MBA program in the world, accepting only 7% of the people who apply. Harvard accepts 12%. It's ranked 1st by US News and Business Insider, and 2nd by the Financial Times. Loc...
Stanford's Graduate School of Business is the most selective MBA program in the world, accepting only 7% of the people who apply. Harvard accepts 12%. It's ranked 1st by US News and Business Insider, and 2nd by the Financial Times. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, it's surrounded by the companies and minds that have created some of the most influential companies in the world. Students don't just come to get a job that pays more after school, but to create disruptive companies and change the world. We've picked out some of the most impressive students there right now. They include a former NASA engineer who worked on the Mars Rover; the deputy campaign manager for Julian Castro, last year's keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention; and the youngest fine art specialist ever employed by Christies. Their dreams are as impressive as their experience. From disrupting health care and law to creating artificial intelligence machines, all of these students plan to have a serious impact. Patrick Martinchek was a NASA engineer before going for his MBA and wants to disrupt the space industry. Age: 24 Year: 1st Hometown: Petoskey, Michigan Undergrad: University of Michigan Patrick got an early start working with NASA as an Aerospace Engineering student at Michigan, where he worked with classmates to design spacecraft systems that were tested by NASA using one of their aircraft. After graduating, he worked as a systems engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the Mars Exploration Rover mission. He was responsible for maintaining the health and safety of the spacecraft on the surface of Mars, and leading emergency response activities as Flight Director. Patrick is now an entrepreneur, currently working on a knowledge graph start-up which is backed by prominent venture capital firms Sequoia, Accel/IDG, and Farallon Capital. After graduating, Patrick plans to continue starting and growing companies. His long-term goal is to contribute to the disruption of the space industry. T.J. Duane plans to use technology to displace the antiquated law firm model. Age: 35 Year: 1st Hometown: Originally Highland Mills, NY, now Dallas, TX. Past Education: Cornell University '99, Harvard Law School '02. T.J. got his start as an entrepreneur in high school when he started a graphic design business. At Harvard Law, he built a student networking website out of his dorm room, HL Central, that's still changing the social life at the law school today. He practiced corporate law for several years before serving as Deputy Campaign Manager for the Mayor of San Antonio, Julian Castro. Most recently, he co-founded Lateral Link, a legal jobs platform that has connected over 40,000 attorneys around the world. T.J.'s next goal is to revolutionize the legal industry by developing technology that replicates the historic value proposition of big firms, providing solo and boutique attorneys the benefits without the drawbacks of big law. By freeing up attorneys to collaborate more broadly, he hopes the cost of legal services will be significantly reduced, increasing access to high-quality counsel and making the legal industry more efficient. Gayatri Datar wants to build better institutions in government to close the world's massive opportunity gaps. Age: 27 Year: 2nd year of a three-year dual degree program with the Harvard Kennedy School’s MPA/ID program. Hometown: Weston, MA Undergrad: Harvard University Gayatri first realized her passion for international development when she took a leave of absence from Harvard College to do tsunami relief work in India. Since then, she has been focused on discovering how to better use the world’s collective resources to eradicate extreme poverty. In college, she spent summers and two additional leaves of absence working with NGOs in Namibia, Albania, Nicaragua, and the United States. Before Stanford, she also worked with the World Bank and an international development consulting firm to m
