People who aspire to MBA programs aren't known for their warmth and empathy. This demographic is mostly about making connections and greed. There are exceptions sure, but...for the most part...yeah. If you were in art school or med school or law school it would be a completely different social scene for you. It's good that you acknowledge that you are holding yourself back - that your choice of not speaking up and not socialising is a key factor in your current social life. What would life be like if you forced yourself to speak up and go out? It's uncomfortable at first, you make some social faux pas, and then it gets easier and you get better at it. And then you start to get the benefits of that social interaction. But in answer to your question, I worked in high pressure professional environments for my career, alongside people with MBAs and high net worth individuals and bankers. However, I knew my shit, professionally. And I didn't take any shit about my stutter. I got in people's faces, I pointed out the elephant in the room, I said out loud what other people were afraid to say in public. This earned me a reputation as a 'doer' and someone who said it like it is. That's right, despite my stutter, I was known as a good communicator for what I said, not how I said it. The business world is all about kicking ass and taking names. You gotta start kicking some ass.