"Target: Business School" - Forbes

Forbes article, 4th January 08.

Scott Shrum and Omari Bouknight try to make the process a bit easier with the most recent edition of their book Your MBA Game Plan: Proven Strategies for Getting into the Top Business Schools. Shrum, a graduate of Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, and Bouknight, a graduate of Harvard Business School, have made this their life's work...

...Forbes.com: Why has getting into business school become so competitive?

Shrum: The bar keeps getting raised. Now it's not enough to have a college degree in many fields. You need a graduate degree too.

Also, the increased global competition is a factor. You would be astonished how many people contact us from India. We sell more books internationally than in the U.S. The gold standard is still attending school in the U.S. There are a growing number of schools in India and many partner with U.S. schools. But many Indians want to get into a Harvard or Wharton and than go back to India.

The number of our clients is disproportionately Indian. About 20% to 25% of applicants to U.S. business schools come from that part of the world. The percentage coming to us is double that...

...Are there undervalued business schools?

Absolutely. I'm not sure why more applicants don't look at them. The Tuck School at Dartmouth is a very small program, and their philosophy is general management based. It's a very tight-knit community, and the alumni are fiercely loyal. All the top firms tend to recruit there. Darden at the University of Virginia is considered a tough school once you get in. It's like a boot camp. It's a smaller school that's general management focused. They use case method very heavily. The Anderson School at UCLA is considered cutting edge in learning style because they have a fairly integrated curriculum. In classes, it's not just marketing--they study several topics in one course....