Mark and Jie's Journey to B-School

Brian, another HBS admit, came over for dinner last night. My sister was there as well, so we had a nice little dinner party going with the four of us. One of the main topics of conversation was what Brian will do if he is admitted to Stanford in R2. One of the big differentiating factors is his mind was the difference in social scenes between the two schools. HBS is larger, with much better immediate surroundings as far as the bar/club scene goes. To go along with that, people don't seem to spend as much time studying at HBS as they do at the GSB. This all combines to make much more of a social atmosphere, I think. In fact, several current students told us at admit weekend that is wasn't uncommon to go drinking 3 or 4 times a week with your study group. All you have to do is walk across the bridge and you are right there in Cambridge surrounded by a half-dozen great bars.

I am still waiting for my financial aid from HBS. Maybe I will call and bug them if I don't hear back by early next week.