I thought Montauk's book was a much better take...

How to Get Into the Top MBA Programs
by J.D., Richard Montauk

It covers Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, MIT, Chicago, Columbia, Berkeley, NYU, and INSEAD, but the strategies can be generalized to all schools. Does a great job of providing excellent insider information on each University, as well as providing strategies to each.

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.

There seems to be no shortage of advice for applying to b-school. This book stands out for a number of reasons:
- in-depth review of the top schools (HBS, Stanford, Wharton etc), which is not ony invaluable in helping to make your selection of schools, but really makes a difference when you then apply. Schools all want to know why you are interested in their program, and The MBA Admissions Edge is the only book that gives such insight.
- clear and helpful advice for essays, interviews, letters of rec. The book provides the perspective from successful applicants at the top 10 schools, which gives a rounded picture of the interview process, or the ideas that lie behind the essays.
- good section on school reputation, explaining the various rankings, specializations.

This book is the second most useful b-school admissions book after "How to Get into Top MBA Programs" (link given above).

A thorough digest, if the schools targeted in your applications are among the schools focused in the appendices and are ranked in the top ten.

Focused on full time MBA programs, for someone seeking schools offering part time MBA programs and in the immediate vicinity for convenience's sake, this book did not fit my bill. The "Ranking by Location" chapter does not possess the same degree of attention as the "Ranking by Salary" chapter. Multiple spelling and grammatical errors were found. However, this publication must be lauded for its concise format...for someone with limited time, the gist was easily communicated.

Definitely useful in material to get you into the business school of your choice, but the b-school of your choice is not necessarily everyone else's top b-school. I must admit that I was disappointed by the lack of other relevant information in regards to application strategy...there can definitely be an abridged version of this book.