Students described required courses that “feel like they were designed in the 2010s” despite operating in an AI age. They cited a curriculum structure offering only 15 Distribution requirement electives, some overlapping while omitting foundational business strategy. A lottery system means students paying $250,000 tuition cannot guarantee enrollment in desired classes. Stanford’s winter student survey showed satisfaction with class engagement dropped to 2.9 on a five-point scale, the lowest level in two to three years.
Students contrasted Stanford’s “Room Temp” system, where professors pre-select five to seven students for questioning, with Harvard Business School’s “cold calling” method requiring all students to prepare for potential questioning.
