MBA Admission for Smarties
The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
BY JUDY GRUEN & LINDA ABRAHAM
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About the Book
Going for an MBA? Show your management smarts by following this straight-talking advice that will direct you through the MBA admissions maze. Written by two leading experts in MBA admissions consulting, MBA Admissions for Smarties reveals vital, yet often-neglected steps that will save you from the needless disappointment of applying at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons, or to the wrong programs.
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Part 1 of the book lays the foundation for a successful application by mapping out the key factors to consider before you actually apply. It guides you through clarifying your goals for an MBA – and why it’s essential that you do so. It shows you how to research MBA programs to see if you are a good fit, and then teaches you how to evaluate your qualifications for your target schools. This section concludes by preparing you to choose the right schools for you, taking into account your uniqueness as an individual with a unique learning style.
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With that strong foundation the book then focuses on presentation – the nuts and bolts of the application process:
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Essential tips on writing with clarity, specifics and meaning.
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Key steps to maximizing the impact of specific essay types, such as those that ask about goals, leadership, overcoming failure, and personal influences.
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Secrets of crafting a strong MBA resume (it’s not a job resume) and gathering outstanding letters of recommendation that can tip the scales in your favor.
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Indispensable steps to prepare you to shine during your interviews.
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Finally, a special section with advice for special applicant groups: waitlisted, reapplicants, career changers, military, overrepresented groups and underrepresented minorities, as well as older applicants and younger applicants.
MBA Admissions for Smarties is chock-full of specific examples from winning essays, resumes and letters of recommendation, as well as advice from admissions committee directors and other industry experts. If you plan to apply to a top MBA program, this book will become your best friend.
Praise for MBA Admissions for Smarties
Successfully applying to business school
“The book is a very thorough guide for anyone applying to business school, providing helpful tips from former admissions professionals. It is written in a straightforward style including examples that demonstrate the key points. Highly recommend.”
– Karin A.
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Great Guide
“Great book to get an idea of the admission process, I really recommend it. Good advices and excellent guidelines to consider in your application.”
– José Pablo García
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A Good Read
“This book is useful for the entire MBA application process and worth every dollar. It's useful from the moment a person first begins to consider an MBA to the moment he receives a letter of admission. The authors provide step-by-step instructions that prompt applicants to perform thorough inventories of their strengths, while considering which qualities an admissions committee will find most appealing. Between this and Richard Montauk's excellent book (How to Get Into the Top MBA Programs), any prospective MBA student will have all the know-how to craft effective applications.
Though infrequent, this book does contain a few typos, such as an occasional additional (or omitted) word. Every other MBA book I read contained far more such errors. All-in-all, the quality of this book makes it a good purchase.”
– Warren
"The Gold Standard For MBA Admissions Guides"
It's difficult to find non-recycled material in MBA admissions books/ebooks/articles. Just about everything I had read in the past seemed like it was just lifted from somewhere else and slightly modified. After about a year and a half of immersing myself in this pre-MBA world, I felt like I had read everything I could on MBA admissions.
I was wrong.
After I got through the first few pages of this book, I knew it was something completely different from what I had read in the past. Of course, there were some ideas that I had seen before, but there was so much new material and many answers for questions I couldn't find elsewhere (I'll be participating in a feedback session from a school I got dinged by last year - this book gave suggestions on how to approach that and even what to ask!)
Not only is it a valuable resource for just about any type of applicant (over-represented groups and military applicants take note - there are specific sections just for you!) but Linda backs up a lot of her advice with examples of essays that put her advice to work - so much so that after reading a few of her examples, I learned that I could be approaching my essays a bit more creatively so that they'd be more interesting to read but convey the same message of my prior essays. This style change led me to say what I wanted to say last time around even more efficiently so I had space to add even more - more than that, I felt that the new essay is much more fun to read.
The only thing I'd say that was a drawback to this book was the formatting. I purchased the Kindle version of this book and noticed some formatting issues on the first page of each chapter. It doesn't detract too much from the experience of the book, it was just something I noticed. For as much as a price break the Kindle version is compared to the actual book, if this is my only complaint - I'll take it.
A lot of people refer to the Official Guide for GMAT Review as the gold standard of GMAT Prep. Until now I hadn't come across a book so comprehensive that I'd give it the same title for the actual admissions process, but MBA Admission for Smarties is definitely that, this is the most comprehensive, most up-to-date, most informative, and best written (a pretty fun read, as far as MBA books go! I finished this book in just a few days) MBA admissions resource I have come across. I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone that is considering or in the process of applying for their MBA.
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— Ryan Walsh, Verified Purchase