Books » The Best Book on Top Ten MBA Admissions

The Best Book on Top Ten MBA Admissions

by Marquis Parker, Steven Rao, James Hu, David Santos, Frank Tobler, Jeffrey Hu, Michael Medrano, and Brian Nguyen
The Best Book on Top Ten MBA Admissions - Hyperink

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What's in the book?

Want to get into HBS, GSB, Wharton, and other Top 10 MBA programs? Marquis Parker, Jess Wang, and Mike Medrano, all top MBA students, share their secrets!

    • Recommendation Letters - How to select recommenders and guarantee outstanding recs!
    • How to make your Extracurricular Activities Unique and Outshine 98% of Applicants
    • Interviews - the Most Common Questions and Avoiding the Most Common Mistakes
    • Simple tips to improve your GMAT score by 100 points
    • Know what AdComs judge applicants on, and how to ace those areas

Description

Everyone's got an opinion on applying to bschool. A Google search returns 400 THOUSAND results for "how to get into hbs". Most of them are free blogs and forums. You've probably come across dozens of admissions "experts" who charge $500/hour to help you "craft" that perfect story and "fine tune" those all-important essays.



Why spend all that time reading amateur bloggers who don't know what they're talking about and worse, provide misleading advice?



Why pay $1000s to people who may have gotten into a good school, but only represent one experience?



That's why we created The Best Book. We wanted to provide the definitive insider's guide to bschool admissions.



We found 9 students from the best bschools including:





  • HBS


  • GSB


  • Wharton


  • Northwestern


  • UChicago


  • A Stanford dual degree (GSB & Stanford Law)


  • A Harvard 2+2


In 243 PACKED pages and for only $25 bucks, they share exactly how they got in - from selecting the right people to write their recommendations, to brainstorming and writing their essays, to deciding on round 1 vs 2 vs 3.

FAQs

OK, but I still have a few unanswered questions.

I’m a sophomore at Berkeley. Is the advice useful to me right now?

Absolutely. Most of our authors started preparing and thinking ahead as soon as they got into college, and the ones who waited until the last minute all wish they’d started earlier!

The sooner you begin, the better your chances – you’ll be smarter about the extracurricular activities that you pick, the work experiences you find, and you’ll build better relationships with potential recommenders. We’ve also got one author who shares his story of getting into Harvard Business School’s 2+2 Program!

I'm applying to bschools outside the Top 10 (eg, Yale, Duke, UCLA Anderson). Is this advice still useful?

A good chunk of the book (at least 25%) is dedicated to advice specific to some of the Top 10 programs like GSB and UChicago. That advice may not be as helpful for you - but what I’d ask is, why aren’t YOU applying to the Top 10 too? The reason we wrote this book is because we think people of all sorts of different backgrounds can get into Wharton, and we’re here to show you how - even if you think your GMAT score is too low, or your current job isn’t impressive enough.

In addition, most of our experts were accepted to multiple schools outside of the Top 10 (including Duke, UVA, and more). A lot of their advice – whether it’s how to get a great recommendation, how to do well on the GMAT, and what to say on your personal statement to really stand out – will be incredibly valuable regardless of what bschool you’re targeting.

I've only got a month left before my Round 1 applications are due. Do the insights still help with time running out?

The short answer is yes. The long answer is that in all honesty, it will not be as useful as if you had, let’s say, 6 months to prepare. After reading our Best Book, you’ll absolutely improve your app – particularly your personal statement, your recommendations, and your submission strategy (eg, should you even apply in Round 1 or wait until later when your application is stronger/more polished?). However, there are some areas where nothing we tell you will make a huge difference with the time that you have left – in particular, our insider strategies on how to increase your GMAT score. However, we do offer a 100% lifetime refund guarantee - buy the book, read through it, and if it doesn’t help in the 4 weeks you’ve got left for your apps, just email us and we’ll give your money back immediately!

I read through all of your team’s bios but I don’t feel like I have much in common with Jessica, Mike, or any of the others. What am I going to get out of spending $25?

It’s a great question - one of the things we think is most compelling about the Best Book is that you’ll find stories like yours, shared interests like yours, work experiences like yours. Together, the team covers all of the world’s best MBA programs, multiple pre-MBA job tracks like consulting, finance, non-profit, engineering, and startups, and various “strengths” that they exhibited to win the admissions game. My honest belief is that, even if no one person’s bio overlapped significantly with your own, you can borrow the pieces that you like from each. Plus, they are damn smart and know what they’re talking about - so regardless of the author, you’ll find yourself MUCH better prepared for the GMAT, avoiding silly mistakes when asking for recommendations, and anticipate interview questions from alumni and admissions committees.

Letter From The Author

Letter From The Top Ten MBA Team

Hi reader!

By now, you should know what you’re getting when you buy the book, what types of things you’ll learn inside, and what our customers think.

With the basics out of the way, we want to take a second and tell you exactly why we wrote the Best Book.

First, we wanted to write something RECENT and UP-TO-DATE, unlike what you’ll find in other books.

Most of us JUST went through the same process you’re going through now - the endless essay revisions. The stressful interview prep. The nonstop reading of blogs, forums, and websites to find every little tidbit that you can on the differences between Wharton and UChicago.

Second, we wanted to help people avoid the SAME MISTAKES we made.

$1000s on consulting services. $100s at Barnes & Noble. 10s of hours asking our HBS and GSB friends for advice.

It wasn’t just the ridiculous amounts of money involved, or the time wasted in reading the wrong things and asking the wrong people.

Most importantly, it was the MISTAKES. Some of them did not matter much, and some of them we were able to overcome. But each of us can recount for you the 1 or 2 close calls which could have gone the wrong way, and resulted in a waitlist or rejection letter. Things that were avoidable.

Finally, we wanted to create a guide that doesn’t WASTE your time.

Even though there are 9 authors, each of us shares only the most important things we learned, and nothing more.

And yes, we share exactly what mistakes we made, sometimes in embarassing detail.

Between us, we’ve gotten into all of the Top 10 schools, and most of the Top 25. Most of us have been waitlisted or rejected a few times, too, and we share that side of our stories as well.

We give it to you straight - through text, video, and email. Some of what we say is probably bad advice - but we won’t hide anything from you and there are enough of us that if you soak it all in, you’ll be a much better candidate. You’ll make much better decisions. You’ll ask better questions. You’ll do i in less time than any other resource you could pay for.

We can guarantee that.

For example, do you know the best bschool to attend if you want to work at McKinsey afterwards? Do you know why everyone picks a safety school, but most people shouldn’t? Do you know the single most common mistake successful people make when asking for recommendations which can screw them? Do you know under what scenarios people shouldn’t apply for their top school in Round 1? Do you know the techniques you can use to make sure you can answer even the most vague, generic interview questions?

Ultimately, we’re happy to be done with the process. But all of us agree that applying for bschool is an unforgettable experience, and getting into the right one can push you to a different level of personal and professional success.

We hope you find our book helpful as you apply to your dream schools.

Good luck!

-The Top Ten MBA Team

Things You'll Learn:

Here's what you'll learn when you buy The Best Book:

  • Specialized strategies for Round 1, Round 2, and Round 3. They're not the same - and picking the wrong round can mean the difference between getting in and getting waitlisted.
  • Safety schools – which ones are actually worth applying to, and which ones would our authors have attended if they didn't get into schools like UChicago and HBS?
  • Hard truths about who will get the most out of the business school – and the right time to apply in a particular career track (eg, consulting, banking, startups)
  • The 3 most important questions to ask yourself before applying to dual degree programs like one of our authors (the GSB JD/MBA)
  • Specific steps undergrads can take to improve their chances in the super competitive HBS 2+2 admissions race (from our resident 2+2)
  • 6 steps you can take to write great short answers that got our authors into HBS, Wharton, Kellogg etc.
  • The 3 main "types" of bschool essay questions which occur over and over again, and what qualities top 10 programs are looking for in each!
  • We've all got passions. But which are actually important enough to talk about in your essays? 2 of our authors exact passions which they believe got them into GSB.
  • This isn't a GMAT study guide, but here are 4 super helpful prep tips from authors that scored 750+
  • The SPARK method that a current Wharton 2nd year used for giving the best responses in interviews and showing you're a world class communicator.
  • 5 phrases that an HBS alum believes ruined their interview at other programs and got them rejected!
  • Perspectives from entrepreneurs on whether bschool is actually valuable for you, and how it could accelerate your plans to start the next Google
  • "Real world experience" – and how 3 of our authors impressed HBS with it

Table of Contents Click on the links below to read actual chapters from the book for free!

  1. Top Ten MBA
    • Why I Went For an MBA
    • Misconceptions About Business School
    • Rules & Advice For MBA Applicants
    • Why Business School Is Great for Entrepreneurs
    • 3 Reasons Booth is a Great School for Entrepreneurs
    • Marketing & Selling: The Skill Sets I Learned at Booth
    • Entrepreneurship & Networking in Business School
    • 2 Awesome Strategies for Finding Great Startups to Work For
    • 3 Approaches to Getting a Start-Up Job as a Business School Student
    • Business School Locations & Job Hunting
    • The 3 Types of People Who Go to Business School
    • Is Going to a Non-Top 10 Business School Worth It?
    • The Most Versatile Degree in the World
  2. Application
  3. Extracurriculars
    • How I Earned a Spot in Harvard's 2+2 MBA Program
    • HBS 2+2 Admissions: Prepare Early and Develop Passions!
    • Getting In & Getting The Most Out Of Business School
    • Extracurriculars | Getting In With Your Life Outside Of School
    • The Importance of International Experience For Wharton And Other MBA Programs
  4. Essays
  5. Recommendations
  6. GMAT
  7. Interviews
  8. School Specifics
  9. Dual Degree
  10. Business School Life
Price: $25.00 Add to Cart
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Price: $25.00

Available formats:

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  • Nook
  • PDF
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Bonus Content

    • Free updates for life, straight to your inbox
    • Video clips - get access to all of the video content we’ll be adding
    • Bonus materials including A 3-Step To Writing Brilliant Business School Essays and more to come!
    • Instant download link - start improving your chances of getting into your dream school immediately

About the Author(s)
Customer Reviews
5 stars
“Top notch book.”

Very well written book - loved that it was written by people who actually are in the top business schools. PLUS: Explains very clearly why and when to apply, provides great anecdotes. MINUS: Not enough info about the GMAT!

—CARMINA WIEDENHEFT

5 stars
“Thanks Marquis! Great read!”

Learned about this book after taking one of Marquis’ classes. I’m a student in India and am very thankful that this book existed - I’m not ready to apply yet but this helped me get a sense of what to expect.

—LACHELLE HOLME

3 stars
“Eh. Pretty good.”

I have bought a LOT of books on the MBA admissions process and this one is somewhere in the middle. It’s pretty good but not amazing. It could be amazing if the content went deeper...and was better organized. I think anecdotes are OK but would’ve liked to

—JAMIE

4 stars
“Great supplement to typical MBA readings.”

Look - getting into a top MBA program is pretty straightforward. You need good, top GMAT scores, and work experience. But, unfortunately, almost everyone has these things so the real work is about differentiating yourself. I think this book was a great su

—CORTEZ NIEDERHAUS

4 stars
“I liked it!”

First time reading a book on MBA admissions, overall great advice! I thought it was very comprehensive and well written.

—NICOLLE LENART

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