88 Great MBA Application Tips and Strategies to Get You Into a Top Business School 2nd Edition [Paperback]

Brandon Royal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2003

Please note that this is a 2nd edition book that is currently out of print. The current edition is titled Secrets to Getting into Business School: 100 Proven Admissions Strategies to Get You Accepted at the Business School of Your Dreams.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In my 15 years running MBA admissions operations at four top schools, I have never reviewed a more helpful manual." -- Dr. Steven DeKrey, Associate Dean, MBA Director, Hong Kong University of Science and Technolgoy; former Admissions Director, The Kellogg School at Northwestern University

¡°A wonderful tool which can help you fully understand the process, and make a difference.¡± -- Linda B. Meehan, Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, Columbia Business School

About the Author

Brandon Royal holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and is a Certified Public Accountant. He is the former Director of Business Development for Kaplan Educational Centers Hong Kong. As a former GMAT instructor and MBA admissions coach he helped hundreds of applicants achieve acceptance at one or more of the world's leading business programs.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 2nd edition (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9812445870
• ISBN-13: 978-9812445872
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,549,238 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brandon Royal is an award-winning writer whose educational authorship includes The Little Red Writing Book, The Little Gold Grammar Book, The Little Green Math Book, and The Little Blue Reasoning Book. During his tenure working in Hong Kong for US-based Kaplan Educational Centers -- a Washington Post subsidiary and the largest test-preparation organization in the world -- Brandon honed his theories of teaching and education and developed a set of key learning "principles" to help define the basics of writing, grammar, math, and reasoning.

A Canadian by birth and graduate of the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, his interest in writing began after completing writing courses at Harvard University. Since then he has authored ten books and reviews of his books have appeared in Time Asia magazine, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal of America, Midwest Book Review, The Asian Review of Books, Choice Reviews Online, Asia Times Online, and About.com. Brandon is a two-time winner of the International Book Awards, a four-time gold medalist at the President's Book Awards, as well as winner of the Global eBook Awards, USA Book News "Best Book Awards," and recipient of the 2011 "Educational Book of the Year" award as presented by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta.

To contact the author:
E-mail: [e-mail]
Web site: www.brandonroyal.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Place to Start for B School Application Planning, March 18, 2003

By 

newchapter "newchapter" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 88 Great MBA Application Tips & Strategies to Get You into a Top Business School (Paperback)

Overall, this book covers all the basics to getting into a top program. Many of these books cover the same content, but the format and the writing is very straight-foward. I recommend it for people who have time constraints. A few tips:

1) Submit applications to lesser schools first - It gives you practice writing your essays. (pg 11)

2) Build your application around a theme - Create a vivid and distinct picture of yourself. You want the application to be personal enough that the AdCom could even make a nickname for you. (pg 12)

3) When writing a "Why MBA" essay, think more in terms of what you can do with an MBA, rather than what an MBA can do for you. (pg 49)

4) For resume, quantify work-related accomplishments (pg 132)

** If you have the time, I would recommend "How to Get Into the Top MBA Programs" by Richard Montauk. It only costs $ and has over 50 sample essays (170 pages worth) from thiry different people. It shows how you can meld the different essays into a three-dimensional picture of who you are professionally, academically and personally.

Good luck, and hope you get into the B school you want!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do you want to be admitted by a top school?, September 17, 2004

By 

Giraffe712 (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 88 Great MBA Application Tips and Strategies to Get You Into a Top Business School 2nd Edition (Paperback)

Then you must buy this book. This book is does not contain general information that you can find in school websites or online publications such as business weekly. It is designed for applicants who already know what schools they want. It focuses on the application process itself. For this reason, it is more concise and more thorough than other b-school books, despite it's small volume (250 pages).

I have also purchased "How to get into the top MBA programs" and "Your MBA Game Plan". While these other books are helpful, the "88 Tips" is better because it discusses several things that are not found in the other books:

First, a chpater on Resume or Employment Record. This chapter contains tips to fill out the Employment Record portion of the application. Believe me, there is much more to it than just filling in the blanks. Here is one tip from the book: "Add 'employment summaries' to explain what you found significant about each of your work experiences." By adding just a few sentence of summary, you significantly enhances your record.

Second, a chapter on "Presenting you extracurricular Activities/Awards and Recognition/Community Service". Again, it is not a simple matter of listing dates and the activities. You need to elaborate on what it means to you and what you learned.

Third, a chapter on the overall packaging of you MBA essays and application. The effort you put into your package is evident to the adComs, and it shows your seriousness. The quality of your packaging is extremely important. Read this chapter and find some tips.

Again, all these information are not found in any other books I bought. The other books are helpful, but this book is a must.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best MBA Admissions Help Book, November 17, 2002

By 

"vchang625" (Torrance, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 88 Great MBA Application Tips & Strategies to Get You into a Top Business School (Paperback)

This is the best book on MBA admissions that I have ever read. During my application process for business school, I have bought and read practically all of the books Amazon offers on the subject of admissions and other materials available on the Internet. And this is the one book that I felt was worth my investment out of the hundreds of dollars I've spent.

It is filled with helpful advice and tips. The best element about this book is that Brandon Royal, the author, provided many great essay examples to illustrate the points he discusses. These essays are of top-grade quality, not like the mediocre ones given in other books such as "Essays that Worked for Business School" and "How to Write a Winning Personal Statement for Graduate and Professional School."

The book itself is also larger in size than the standard book, making it for an easier read and handling by the user. I do not mean that the book is thicker because it has only 251 pages. The author manages to hit home with his message and the messages of other books I have read in this amount of space. So if you had to order and read any book, this should be the one that can help you with any topics you need addressed.