The Best Graduate Business Schools [ペーパーバック]

I picked up this guide primarily because of the interesting data it provided on each school. Aside from the traditional admissions/enrollment, costs, alumni success data, this book allows the schools the opportunity to rate their particular strengths and weaknesses. For example, schools will rate their programs in consulting, marketing, MIS, etc. as well as resources committed to that particular part of the program. The schools also get to rate their commitment to things like diversity and international perspectives (as well as resources devoted to those committments). You also get each school's rating (on a 3 point scale) on how important a role various admissions criteria--such as GPA, GMAT, experience, etc.--play in the admissions decisions. The evaluative data, while useful in its own right, is provided by the programs themselves and should be taken with a grain of salt.

In addition to these data, there is a decent, well-written and informative, but brief description of each school, its programs, setting, facilities, and opportunities.

The book is divided in two "sections." The first section (ch. 1-5) covers the general issues such as the MBA job market today, the MBA admissions process, etc.. While decently written and with some good points and information, educating the reader about all the intricacies of the MBA admissions process was clearly not the main goal of this book (if you're looking for general "how to apply" info, check out Montauk's "How to Get into Top MBA Programs").

The second section, the meat of the book, describes over 50 MBA programs in more or less detail. The US MBA programs are divided into three categories: Outstanding, Distinguished, and Recommended. A good amount of info is provided for the first two categories. The Recommended programs and the handful of international programs represented in their own separate section are given only cursory treatment. For info on international programs I'd turn to "Which MBA" published by the Economist magazine people.

To sum up this long winded review: This is a pretty decent guide with some unique information. However, I would recommend it only to those looking at the top 50 or so US programs.