What matters most to the GSB and why?
I’ll be the first to admit I was never in the running to be a scholar here at the GSB. I found ways to be okay with it, told myself I could if I truly wanted to, but here’s the truth: I never could have done it.
For those of you who’ve stayed out of the rat race, the GSB offers quite a few student awards every year, but none are as omnipresent as the Siebel, Arjay Miller, and Henry Ford scholars. In fact, of seven awards at graduation, five are for academics — which is a little odd for a school where students almost unanimously vote for grade nondisclosure every year. Is the goal to find a way to differentiate students academically despite students voting to decline that possibility? Or are these awards what enable grade nondisclosure to be in place — if students can claim their academic excellence through these awards, the rest of us can experiment and frolic without a care for our transcripts?
Of seven awards at graduation, five are for academics — which is a little odd for a school where students almost unanimously vote for grade nondisclosure every year.
Arjay Miller scholars are the top ten percent of the business school program. The Siebel Scholars program recognizes students from only three graduate business schools — Sloan, GSB, and Booth — and various other graduate programs at 19 universities. It’s unclear why it’s not present at other universities.
There’s some level of opacity in the Siebel Scholar selection process; while the award claims to honor the top academic performers in the class, the selection is ultimately made by a committee of GSB Deans “in recognition of their outstanding academic achievements and commitment to building the future.” It’s important to recognize that this isn’t a direct translation of the top ranked students academically. The opacity here is reminiscent of the electoral college. You’d think it would help lead to better outcomes, recognizing more diverse members of the class — yet there was only one woman and one person of color on the short list. And they were the same person.
So the Siebel Scholars are a small sample size. Let’s zoom out to the Arjay Miller Scholars, a group of about 40. Last year’s scholars were about 70 percent Caucasian and 25 percent Asian. Close to half were women, which is representative of our class makeup. About 30 percent came from a finance background and another 30 percent from consulting. Fewer than five were international students.
Grading at the GSB is skewed to reward those with a background in finance, accounting, and data analysis. If you can make a case that you have the requisite experience in these fields, you can find yourself placed in advanced classes. Typically, instructors are required not to exceed a mean GPA of 3.45 — to fight grade inflation. However, for accelerated and advanced Core Requirements courses, the mean GPA has been around 3.80 or 4.175 respectively. The reasoning is to assure students aren’t disadvantaged by taking a more difficult course. The jury is still out on if the higher curve overcorrects or fails to correct for the increased difficulty of the courses.
This is in no way a referendum on the intelligence or drive or the immense hard work that these award recipients have put into earning these accolades. I have nothing but respect and awe for all of them.
Maybe I’m bitter that I LP’d Macroeconomics. Maybe I’m a naive social justice warrior scraping the bottom of the barrel. I’m not here to say I’m right or even that I have all of the information. But I do believe these awards give us a clear idea of what the GSB values, and from the makeup of who’s rewarded at the end of the tumultuous two years filled with feedback and growth, it tends to be Americans with traditional quantitative backgrounds. And it tends not to be people of color. The GSB is first and foremost an academic institution (theoretically). It’s not crazy that they value academics. But if that’s the case, the way students are sorted into classes and graded largely on class participation is not a reflection of their true academic potential.
The school has a responsibility to notice, listen, and celebrate the diversity they worked so hard to admit — at least at the same level of students who have been celebrated traditionally for decades.
If the GSB cares to send a different message about what matters most to them, they have the opportunity to instate more awards dedicated to service and/or excellence within different demographics. Even if their corporate or personal sponsors aren’t interested in supporting those students financially, the school has a responsibility to notice, listen, and celebrate the diversity they worked so hard to admit — at least at the same level of students who have been celebrated traditionally for decades. Let’s see the GSB put their money where their mouth is when it comes to their commitment to building the future.
Editor: Kha-ai Nguyen-Wilk
