Your MBA Game Plan, Third Edition: Proven Strategies for Getting Into the Top Business Schools [Paperback]

Omari Bouknight (Author), Scott Shrum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2011 | ISBN-10: 1601631820 | ISBN-13: 978-1601631824 | Edition: 3

"Terrific resource. Your MBA Game Plan provides a fresh perspective and really helps readers focus on what matters in the MBA admissions process. Applicants will finish this book much better prepared to represent themselves and their career aspirations to top business schools."


--Soojin Kwon Koh, director of admissions, Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan

"With everything from essays and resume tips to detailed insider information, this handy guide is a must-have for MBA candidates."
--Karen Schweitzer, businessmajors.about.com

"Two pioneers in the MBA admissions guidebook space have revised their classic. A great resource for applicants."
--Paul Bodine, author, Great Applications for Business School

"This book has it all--dozens of in-depth school profiles, loads of sample essays, and specific advice for different types of business school applicants. Follow the plan in this book and you will be sure to improve your odds of success in the MBA admissions process."
--Eric Bahn, founder, Beat the GMAT

The MBA has rapidly become the world's most desired degree, with graduates of top business schools landing six-figure pay packages in private equity, high-tech, investment banking, and management consulting. As a result, the competition for admission into select programs is fierce; some schools admit less than 10 percent of applicants.

This third edition of Your MBA Game Plan includes even more sample essays and resumes from successful applicants, fresh insight on 35 leading business schools from around the world, and advice specifically tailored to international applicants. It will show you how to:

Select target schools and highlight the personal characteristics and skill sets they seek

Navigate the "GMAT or GRE?" question

Assess your own candidacy with the objective eye of an MBA admissions officer

Craft compelling essays and resumes that highlight your most salient attributes and make you stand out to the admissions committee

Avoid the mistakes that ruin thousands of applicants' chances each year

Perform flawlessly during your admissions interviews

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"With everything from essays and resume tips to detailed insider information, this handy guide is a must-have for MBA candidates."
--Karen Schweitzer, businessmajors.about.com --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Scott Shrum and Omari Bouknight have been helping applicants get into the world's most competitive business schools since 2003, when they authored the first edition of Your MBA Game Plan. In 2005 they co-founded the MBA Game Plan essay and resume evaluation service, which later merged with Veritas Prep's admissions consulting business (www.veritasprep.com), for which both are now directors. They have assisted thousands of applicants and been interviewed by a number of media outlets, including Bloomberg Businessweek, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Financial Times. Bouknight is a graduate of Harvard Business School and resides in Fremont, CA. Shrum is a graduate of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and resides in Westlake Village, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Career Press; 3 edition (October 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1601631820
• ISBN-13: 978-1601631824
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.8 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Business & Investing > Job Hunting & Careers > Business School Guides

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful and Practical December 4, 2011

By GMAT Club (Expert)

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The book is based on the 2 main points - to get into an MBA Program of your choice you have to demonstrate that you have a unique profile (differentiation) and that you fit the school. With pontially a 50-70% chance to get into the program of choice if you have these 2 attributes.

~~~ PROS: ~~~
- Fairly concise and can be read/covered pretty quickly (the fact that the book is well written helps)
- I like very much the suggestions for the 4 key dimensions of an applicant (Leadership, innovation, teamwork, and maturity). The book then creates a table with these as column headings and numerous parts of the application as the rows (such as transcript, work experience, resume, LOR, essays, GMAT, extracurricular activities) and allows you to tick off each element that contributes to any of the 4
- Chart of GMAT 80% distribution scores for the top 20 programs and a few other stats/charts
- Applicant profiles - the book splits up the application tips/strategy based on the applicant profiles, such as
Consulting,
o Creative
o Engineers
o Entrepreneurship
o Government
o International (goes in depth to categorize further),
o IB & Finance
o Marketing, Military
o Non profit
o Recent grad
- Typical backgrounds of students at the MBA programs and also their career backgrounds. (Consulting is 25%)
- Interview tips (good but not very exhaustive prep)
- Information about each of the top 30 programs with details on application strategy (what the school focuses on, what they are looking for, who is a good fit, and also some additional unofficial insights that Vertas saw from the years of work with applications to each of the schools)
- Real sample Essay Analysis (34 total essays)
- Sevearal in-depth profile examples
- Sample Resumes (5)

~~~ WEAKNESSES ~~~
- Though laid out fine, I am having a hard time finding information I have read previously. The markers on some of the essays and sections could be identified better or have some standard icons/symbols and Table of contents should be really expanded to include subsections. Right now it is not useful.
- Would be great to see things not to do/disaster stories/examples of poor fit (there are several essays at the back that are not stellar and are illustrations of exactly that) but would love to see more as well as common weaknesses and approaches to address/eliminate
- Add strategies for re-applicants
- Would benefit the most applicants who have 9 months for the entire process

~~~ BOTTOM LINE: ~~~
This has become of my new favorite MBA Application Books

Let me know if any questions - I reply to comments.

Best Regards,
BB, Founder of GMAT Club
GMAT 750

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Paraphrasing Henry Ford, "Whether you think you can earn an MBA from a top business school or you can't, you're probably right." January 5, 2012

By Robert Morris HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This review is of the Third Edition of a book first published in 2002. My comments are based on three assumptions:

o That you are determined to earn an MBA degree
o That you intend to apply to a business school that offers an MBA degree
o You are convinced that what earning that degree requires is worth it

Obviously, the "terms of engagement" for applying to any of the top business schools have changed since 2002. Even this revised and updated edition cannot be expected to accommodate all of those changes, nor can the co-authors, Omari Bouknight and Scott Shrum, guarantee success if all of their "proven strategies for getting into top schools" are followed. I highly recommend that the Preface to this latest edition be read and re-read. It is refreshingly candid.

As I began to work my way through the narrative, I was again reminded of the fact that anyone who aspires to earn a graduate degree in any field of study (medicine, dentistry, law, humanities, natural science, mathematics, and engineering as well as business) needs a cohesive and comprehensive game plan. For those who aspire to earn an MBA degree, I know of no other single source that offers more and better information, insights, and advice than does this one.

Bouknight and Shrum carefully organize their material within (you guessed it) seven chapters that cover a series of subjects that correlate with the sequence of stages that comprise the application process. In Appendix A, they provide additional admissions essays; in Appendix B, additional résumés.

Obviously, it remains for each reader to determine what is most valuable among the material provided. However, all readers will appreciate Bouknight and Shrum's skillful use of devices that serve two separate but related purposes: they focus attention on what is especially important, and, they facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of that material. I presume to suggest that each reader highlight that material. The devices include checklists, > points, statistical analyses, graphic illustrations, and FAQ sections in each chapter.

By the time the reader arrives at Chapter 6, she or he is well-prepared to formulate an MBA Game Plan, one that includes 11 components listed on Page 237 and then examined in the material that follows. Then what happens? Bouknight and Shrum respond to that question, then correctly note, "The one person who controls your application's fate more than anyone is you." That is a key point. When completing the application process, the assistance that Omari Bouknight and Scott Shrum offer in their book will be of incalculable value, as will this advice from Oscar Wilde: "Be yourself. Everyone else is taken."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic resource November 17, 2009

By S. Weiner

Format:Paperback

As soon as I started filling out my first business school application I realized that I really had no clue what I was doing. I didn't know what admissions officers were looking for and how to present myself to them as a more competitive candidate. Furthermore, I didn't really know which schools would be the best fit for me, or what factors contribute to the rankings that these schools get from major news sources. Thankfully, my sister recommended that I read Your MBA Game Plan.

This book really gave me all of the information I needed, and I shudder to think of the applications that I might have submitted to some of these schools had I not used it as a resource. Additionally, since it details application strategies for many of the top MBA programs, you can really tailor your applications to account for what the school tends to value in the candidates it ultimately admits, rather than submitting the same generic content to each school.