Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/58910
experienced peers. They can afford to be more patient about advancing within an organization, and they can take the time to grow into lead- ership roles. A look at the current CEOs of Fortune 100 companies also indicates that the right individuals can do spectacularly well by draw- ing on the lessons of education received at a young age. Among this select group—which includes Jeffrey Immelt of GE, Kevin Rol- lins of Dell, and Paul Otellini of Intel—25 had less than two years of work experience upon beginning their MBA degrees. Fifteen arrived in an MBA program directly from an undergraduate program. Perhaps these managers did learn a thing or two when, by today's standards, they were too young to be consid- ering graduate degrees in business. It's clear that business schools are changing the MBA admissions game. And younger MBA students might just change the parameters of business education. I am extremely grateful that Stanford took a chance on me. I believe all my fellow early admits would agree that we have had a transformative experience. We are proud of our own past accomplish- ments and admire our more experi- enced colleagues, but we know that we, too, have an excellent chance of making remarkable future contribu- tions. It is my hope that other early career admits will be similarly hum- bled and inspired by their MBA experience. ■ z Rory McDonald was an early career admit into the MBA program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in California. He is now a Ph.D. student at the school. BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2006 61