Rating: 
Summary: Good complement to Montauk's book
Review: This is a comprehensive guide for getting into the top business schools. It contains a number of pointers not usually found in other books that cover business schools and it assists you in devising your business school application strategy. I used this book along with Montauk's tome and I was admitted to Wharton and Tuck, waitlisted at Yale and Stanford. This book is a good complement to the Montauk volume.
Rating: 
Summary: A ticket to a top MBA program!
Review: To cut a long story short, this book is your ticket to a top MBA program. It contains everything you need to know in order to apply a winning strategy. There are a lot of books over there that claim to be complete guides. Their most apparent drawback is exactly that they try to be "complete" guides. They pack information that you can actually find in the school's website or irrelevant information that you'll probably never need. The problem however is that time is rarely in abundance when you struggle with MBA application preparation. What you need is concise information in order to craft a winning app. Nothing less and nothing more. This book sets itself apart in providing exactly this sort of advice. A general strategy guide (the "game plan") that can be applied to almost all b-schools and a couple of pages for each top-30 school that are MORE than helpful in crafting tailor-made information for each school (showing "fit"). In case you need extra info, there's always the Internet, where you can search. You don't need the school's brochures repeated in a book. Not only you don't need them, but you also don't want them. Since they are so similar anyway, you only want the DIFFERENTIATION factors between the schools. There are many points about this book that make it stand out. It covers the whole application process, all types of essays, it provides sample essays WITH EXPLANATIONS for the key points that are shown. Since I haven't read ALL books out there, I cannot argue that these are unique characteristics. What is unique (apart from the cut-the-b*shit-and-show-where-the-actual-game-is philosophy) is that the authors of the book are available for questions! They maintain a very interesting thread at BusinessWeek forums where they offer free consulting services thus extending the book's usefulness. Besides, they maintain a very interesting website (mbagameplan.com) with up-to-date information about b-schools (deadlines, etc.) and a free essay-advice service. What else could you ask? To sum up, this book is the first and probably the last one you'll ever need (along with an Internet connection) in order to successfully apply to a top business school. Along with the website and BW-forums thread, it puts competition in shame in terms of total usefulness. In terms of usefulness per page, there simply isn't any competition!
Rating:
Summary: A Pleasant Surprise!
Review: Wasn't sure what to expect from this book when I bought it, but it turned out to be a great overall resource! Has information about Top-30 Schools and general information about App Strategy, GMAT, Essays, and Letter of Recs.
Others to look at:
1. ABC of Getting the MBA Admissions Edge: My personal favorite. It covers Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, MIT, Chicago, Columbia, Berkeley, NYU, and INSEAD, but the strategies can be generalized to all schools.
2. Your MBA Game Plan: Great overall resource! Has information about Top-30 Schools and general information about App Strategy, GMAT, Essays, and Letter of Recs.
3. How to Get Into the Top MBA Programs: Very good Resource. The most comprehensive list of old essays.
4. Business Week Best Business Schools: In-Depth info on Top-30 Schools. Good reference to get the 411 on each school.
5. WSJ Top Business School: Good reference to what recruiters think of each school.
6. USNew's America's Best Graduate Schools: In my opinion the most comprehensive/accurate rankings (BW, WSJ, FT, Forbes) on the market.
Rating:
Summary: The best around for top-school applicants
Review: While Richard Montauk's book may be more comprehensive, it is at times basic and not really suited for remarkable applicants aiming at the top b-schools. Enter Shrum & Bouknight's superb guide - very focused and intelligent, and highly effective in showing the reader exactly how to build her strategy and position herself successfully for the top schools. The extra tools and complementary features in their website are great added features. A great read too.
Rating:
Summary: The best around for top-school applicants
Review: While Richard Montauk's book may be more comprehensive, it is at times basic and not really suited for remarkable applicants aiming at the top b-schools. Enter Shrum & Bouknight's superb guide - very focused and intelligent, and highly effective in showing the reader exactly how to build her strategy and position herself successfully for the top schools. The extra tools and complementary features in their website are great added features. A great read too.
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