After reading "One of the essences taught by Harvard Business School and Stanford Business School - "Play""

The author of this article is Wu Jun, the former vice president of Tencent and a senior researcher at Google Research Institute. He is now the author of the column "The Beauty of Mathematics" and "The Top of the Wave", "The Light of Civilization", "The Road to College", "The Mystery of Silicon Valley" and "The Intelligent Era". He is a master in the fields of thought and computers. figure.

The author’s relative studied at Harvard Business School, and she often returned to Silicon Valley during the semester. At that time, the author was working at Google in Silicon Valley, and she would always tell the author about her studies and many details of life, so that the author could Learn what the world's top business school teaches. In the author's own words, it is "playing" and "cheating money" - Wu Jun said humorously and jokingly. Through the following story, everyone will think that the author is really not joking.

The author’s relatives are liberal arts students from China. Since the boundary between liberal arts and science and engineering in China is very clear, once you study liberal arts in college, mathematics knowledge is almost never taught, so her original mathematics background was not strong. However, to go to business school in the United States, you need to take the GMAT (Graduate Management Science Admission Test), and the mathematics in it is not simple, so she first crammed in mathematics. If a person is not intelligent enough and does not have a good foundation, it will be difficult to complete the GMAT mathematics in a short time. Therefore, the GMAT is not so much a test of mathematics level as it is a test of intelligence. The author's relative learned mathematics in a short period of time and passed the first level with a very high GMAT score. We often see that many MBA classes in China have very low requirements for cultural courses and place great emphasis on whether the students have the money to pay expensive tuition fees and whether the students are the bosses of the company. In contrast, Harvard Business School values ??students' future potential more.

After passing the GMAT exam, it is also important to prepare application materials. This is mainly done from two aspects. On the one hand, it is a description of oneself and one's imagination for the future, and on the other hand, it is the recommendations of people around you. Specifically, she was recommended by the vice president of the large multinational company where she works, which is of course a plus. The last step was the interview, and she passed it successfully and successfully entered Harvard Business School. The author also has a friend who studied liberal arts and is an executive in a Chinese state-owned enterprise. In order to enter the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he also studied mathematics and passed the GMAT exam. This once again proves that as long as people are smart and studious enough, this kind of exam will not be difficult for them. It can be seen from the admissions of top business schools that they do not value your past majors, but your intelligence, ability and future potential.

The first essence of thought given to you by Harvard Business School is to learn to "play", that is, to create your circle of classmates.

After entering Harvard Business School, the first thing students have to do is go to class every day. There is no exam in the course, but there are key points. In the imagination of most of us, you don’t care whether I go to class or not, as long as I pass the exam, it’s all over? Issuing diplomas through examinations is just a way of cultivating second- and third-rate talents. Harvard Business School will not admit people with such intentions. Looking back on how many classes I skipped during my major, I feel so ashamed! What Harvard Business School wants to cultivate is elites. The difference between elites and ordinary people does not entirely lie in their talent, but in their wisdom and connections. Wisdom needs to be gained by discussing with masters and high-level people; connections need to be gained from a circle of classmates, so that they can support each other in the future. Therefore, coming to class is the only way to become an elite; as for exams, it comes second. The way to cultivate elites, if you miss the sun, don’t miss the moon. Self-cultivation starts now.

Of course, coming to class and actively participating in class discussions is only part of life at Harvard Business School. The other part is having fun with everyone. Harvard Business School has many activities related to fun, from summer vacation trips to Africa, Russia, and Central Asia (it does not organize comfortable trips to developed countries), to regular golf tournaments, sailing training, or cocktail parties, etc. Every student in the college must have some special skills. These are the aspects that are examined during the interview. Otherwise, he will not be able to play with everyone, which will be very embarrassing. Wan Wei Gang once said that admissions to famous universities such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford require specialties in this area, and many specialties such as golf, skating, etc. can only be cultivated by children from wealthy families in the middle and upper class. This is a requirement for admission. is an important reference factor, so there are very few poor children in such top universities, and they are generally middle-class and elite children.

Contact him A few years ago, a high school graduate from Chongqing No. 3 Middle School (it may also be Bashu Middle School, it was a long time ago, I can’t remember clearly, both high schools are the best high schools in Chongqing) was admitted to Harvard. At that time, Regarding his interview, my biggest experience is - this child has traveled a lot, not to mention all over the country, and has been to many cities and cultural towns in Europe and the United States - it is really necessary to pile up money to have this kind of experience! The children themselves say that their grades in the class are not particularly outstanding. It can be seen that when prestigious schools admit new students, grades are only one factor. Family background and education methods may have a higher weight. The author's relative came back after reading the book and said that it is best to cultivate children's talents from an early age, otherwise it will be difficult to squeeze into that circle when they grow up. If you don't know how to play at Harvard Business School, I'm afraid 2/3 of the tuition fees will be in vain. This is the first essence of Harvard Business School.

This is true not only of Harvard Business School, but also of Stanford Business School’s elite crash course. The tuition fee for this class is twice that of ordinary MBA students, and of course the intensity is also twice as high. The academic length has been shortened from two academic years to one academic year and three months, which is shortened by nearly half. One of the author’s former colleagues at Google entered this crash course two years ago. She told the author that she was very busy every day. Not only were there many classes and assignments, but there were also many “play” activities—there were often parties in the evenings. , there are various activities on weekends. Participating in these activities are not only the students themselves, but also many senior people and executives from large companies in Silicon Valley. After 12 months of playing like this, unless you are particularly unsociable, it will be difficult not to fit into some circles. Today, famous business schools such as Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in China also attach great importance to participating in various activities other than learning together. Their starting point is similar to Harvard Business School and Stanford Business School. The difference between first-class universities and second-class universities depends to a large extent on the circle of classmates. Like Harvard Business School and Stanford Business School, in fact, the most important purpose of taking an MBA class is to create a good circle for everyone. First-class universities recruit them and train them well, hoping that after they succeed in the future, they will give back to their alma mater, forming a positive cycle. Playing with everyone is not only a demonstration of a skill, but also an expression of one's willingness to participate. In today's era when MOOCs are very developed, it is very easy to learn knowledge points. Since you have spent so much money and gone through all the hardships to enter Harvard or Stanford, you must make use of the resources of the environment, otherwise the tuition will be in vain.

On the point of "playing", the author explains it very clearly, which is very beneficial. In college, you must not only play, but also play wonderfully. First of all, you must have certain aspects. Specialties or active learning and cultivation can make you become a member of the outstanding circle and develop your own social circle. Of course, more people will miss the excitement of college life - in fact, it was largely influenced by the time. The limitations of social culture and parental thinking - it is not too late to understand the truth now, at least not to let your children make the same mistakes again.

I also have some experience with the "play" aspect of business school. At that time, when I was a graduate student at the School of Economics and Management of Chongqing University, I worked for a tutor for a period of time. To put it nicely, I was a temporary "teaching assistant" for the MBA.

At that time, the MBA students recruited by the major schools of economics and management were divided into the following categories: 1. National unified recruitment, which required passing the national graduate entrance examination; 2. School recruitment, only those who passed the MBA examination of the school of economics and management could study. ; 3. EMBA, this type is chosen by people with money or power, including government officials (usually at least deputy director level), business owners, state-owned enterprise executives, etc. The tuition is expensive, and does not include expenses such as going abroad.

I was working as a teaching assistant for the second type of MBA students. They were all part-time workers. They usually worked in their workplaces and came to the School of Economics and Management for classes on Saturdays and Sundays - it was quite hard when you think about it. The composition of the students was so... Mainly white-collar workers, but also corporate executives and civil servants, aged between 25-45 years old, 80% of the students are concentrated between 25-35 years old.

Through observation, they have the following characteristics compared with ordinary graduate students: 1. They speak very actively in class, have lively discussions, and are more proactive; 2. They have frequent activities in daily life. After greeting the teacher in advance, they are all busy on weekends. The class went to play around the main city of Chongqing; 3. Mature and experienced in social interactions.

I met many interesting classmates. The oldest one in the class is an executive of a state-owned enterprise. He usually has a driver to take him to and from school. Not only he has a successful career, he also raises his children well. , my son is studying for an undergraduate degree in a 985 university in other provinces; a girl, whose undergraduate degree is from Southwest University of Finance and Economics, is a civil servant related to finance. At that time, I was more concerned about where I would go after graduation, and she gave me some advice on how to apply for civil servants. Good advice; one is a squad leader, a young man who works in a state-owned enterprise. He is usually the most proactive. He makes a lot of jokes when he drinks too much when going out for activities. He once hinted to me not to embarrass them when correcting the test papers after the exam - these MBA exams The test papers are sometimes marked by student assistants, and the student assistants record daily attendance. A girl who works as an accountant in a company passed all CPA exams in two years after work. Her story is very inspiring. There are also some interesting students, so I won’t list them all.

I got to know these students deeply when I participated in their activities - they would not forget to invite us student assistants to play with them in many activities. After playing around, we gradually got to know each other and became friends. We can take care of each other if we have anything to do together. Especially after graduation, everyone forms a circle and communicates with each other. This is very similar to Harvard and Stanford Business School, except that They are very different in terms of school reputation and resources, but they are still very similar in their essence - "playing".