Best Stanford Courses of Winter Quarter
Had dinner with Minister He Yafei from China this evening. During the conversation he asked Baba Shiv what made the Stanford GSB different from other schools. Baba replied there are two types of people in the world: Type I people are afraid of making mistakes. Type II people are afraid of missing opportunities. Stanford is filled with Type II people.
This made me feel better about the 8 courses I’m taking in Winter Quarter, plus the additional one I’m auditing (typical course load is ~6). This isn’t unreasonable since I’m not recruiting for summer internships and will get 3-6 extra hours in the week to make the most of my tuition money.
After a week of class, I’m super excited about every course and every prof–except for Ethics, a required course starting in Feb where my optics are limited.
ACCT 311: Global Financial Reporting – Taught by a former fighter pilot turned PhD, the course is figuring out how and where public companies fudge their financials. Final project is to write a comment letter on proposals to change existing accounting rules by FASB or IASB. First day of class, the professor hurled a textbook into a wall: accounting rules are dynamic, textbooks are dangerous for anyone doing serious investing. Taught by Alan Jagolinzer. Bonus: Fulfills Management Foundations requirement.
GSBGEN 358: The Power of Social Technology – Learn to mobilize thousands of people supporting your cause through social media. Lots of industry mentors and speakers, including Scoble and MC Hammer. Lots to learn in a field where no one has true answers. Taught by Jennifer Aaker.
MS&E 287: Treating Business Practices as Prototypes – Awesome d.school course applying design thinking to innovation and solving business problems. 8:1 student-professor ratio. Taught by Bob Sutton and Debra Dunn.
MGTECON 330: Economics of Organization – Genuinely fun course solving puzzles and designing systems based on economic principles. Yossi Feinberg is over the top in terms of passion and this is one of my most engaging classes so far at the GSB. Bonus: Fulfills Management Foundations requirement.
CS 294H: Research Project in Human-Computer Interaction – Taught by Sep Kamvar (who’s startup got bought by Google and became iGoogle) and Jeff Heer (heavy weight CS researcher). You ship working social software in 10 weeks that determines 90% of your grade. Great energy in this class. If you’re a CS major at Stanford, this course fulfills your senior project requirement. It’s fun to be coding again.
ATHLETIC 66: Horsemanship: Advanced Beginning Riding – I need to work out anyway, why not build some skills? Also, taking a PE class at Stanford makes me feel entitled to buy some snazzy Stanford branded athletic gear…
CS 202: Law for Computer Science Professionals – Partner at Skadden Arps, David Hansen, gives a primer on everything from venture formation to patents, copyrights and licensing. Free food every third week with guest speakers. So totally awesomeness.
GSBGEN 208: Ethics and Management – No idea about this course. It’s required. It’s only half a quarter long, so until it starts I’m auditing this:
GSBGEN 382: Thinking Like a Lawyer – Taught by the Dean of the Stanford Law School, it’s my way to get smart on one of the biggest expense areas of new startups.
