Stanford GSB’s Writing and Editing Style Guide
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If you thought getting into Stanford GSB would forever put your GMAT verbal prep behind you, then you’ll be disappointed to learn that the business school has 32-page Writing and Editing Style Guide, professionally prepared by the GSB News and Publication Office. Not familiar with style guides? If so, the News and Publication Office helpfully explains that “The purpose of a style guide is to provide professional consistency and aesthetic appeal”—in other words, the GSB will expect your papers to be free of split infinitives, biased language, and other faux pas.
As style guides go, the GSB’s is top drawer, based on the Associated Press Stylebook. It covers everything from grammar, capitalization, and punctuation to citing references in bibliographies and standard proofreader’s marks (!). Best of all, there’s a GSB Dictionary on “usage specific to the Stanford Graduate School of Business.” For example:
• “Stanford Graduate School of Business is the official name, not Stanford Business School.”
• “Be aware that not everyone in the non-GSB world recognizes what GSB stands for so use the abbreviation sparingly.”
And so on. If you’re feeling optimistic about your Stanford admissions chances, you can start prepping for your GSB writing assignments now right here.
This article was originally published on Paul Bodine’s blog. Paul is a graduate admissions consultant with over 13 years of experience, having helped hundreds of applicants get into their dream business, law, medical, and graduate schools. He has also published several books on graduate admissions.
