Stanford VS. Harvard (PART II)

The next few days, I reflected a lot on my visit to HBS and continued to speak with HBS professors, the Admissions Dean, alums of the program and students. They all had only great things to tell me and had pretty much sold me. I called my parents and told them about the visit and the many people I had spoken with and that I had made my decision to attend Harvard Business School for the next two years!

I was not even going to visit Stanford anymore. It was always up in the air because our collegiate Ultimate Frisbee team had one of our biggest tournaments during Stanford's Admit Weekend and as Co-Captain of the team, there simply was no way that I could miss it. Our team had come so far together that season (our most successful of all time) that I would not have let them down for anything. Thus, if I was going to visit the GSB in Palo Alto, it would have to be a personal visit on my own time. But, it didn't matter anymore. I was going to be a Harvard man. The concern I've had all my life that I didn't attend a college with a "prestigious" brand name was over because now I was going to attend HBS. There was just one last detail stopping me from signing the acceptance agreement. Before I finalized my HBS decision, I had emailed somebody from Stanford who knew both schools very intimately and asked if she would be willing to speak with me about the decision-making process. She said yes and we setup a phone conversation for a few days later. I would feel horrible if I emailed her back to tell her we didn't need to talk anymore because I chose Harvard. Thus, I decided to hold off on confirming HBS, until I at least spoke with this woman who graciously offered her time. I thought of that upcoming phone call as simply a polite formality, but it turned into something that would alter my life's journey and send me to the West Coast for good (well, at least the next two years).