Guides: Business School Insider’s Guides

Getting your MBA is a notable step toward achieving your professional goals—however, it can be difficult to know how to start the process and to decide which business schools to target. Which school will truly help you get where you want to go in your career? What are each school’s application requirements and deadlines? Will the school(s) of your choice be the right fit for your learning style, personality, and future goals? There is much to consider beyond just prestige when it comes to choosing your business school. Luckily, mbaMission is here to help! With our thoroughly detailed Insider’s Guides to 17 top-ranked MBA programs, you will find the answers to all your questions as you embark on your MBA admissions journey.

MBA applicants sometimes view the leading schools by their stereotypes. One program may seem better suited to finance professionals because of its renowned economics program, for example, while another MBA program may support entrepreneurs in their endeavors through its large entrepreneurial center. Such well-known business schools as Harvard Business School, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business can seem especially attractive, even if they are not the perfect fit for you. Consequently, some potential MBA candidates select their target programs and bypass others based on what they think the schools have to offer—but in fact, all top MBA programs are much more diverse than you might suspect.

Each top business school has something unique to offer you as a full-time MBA student, and our series of MBA guides will help you understand each program’s nuances. We at mbaMission created these Insider’s Guides to provide a more comprehensive picture of the resources, environments, activities, and communities at each business school so you can choose the best MBA program for you. When creating an Insider’s Guide for a school, we include feedback and information from its alumni, admissions directors, and current students in addition to our own MBA admissions experts. This gives prospective candidates a holistic idea of what it would be like to attend that program. Each MBA guide offers detailed descriptions of the following:

  • Defining characteristics of the business school, including location, class size, curriculum, teaching methods, facilities, alumni base/involvement, and rankings
  • Courses, experiential opportunities, faculty, and clubs related to various career areas (consulting, finance, entrepreneurship, real estate, etc.)
  • The MBA admissions committee’s stance on GMAT/GRE/TOEFL scores, recommendations, the waitlist, layoffs/unemployment, and other application elements
  • Notable professors, current students, and social/community events

Our Insider’s Guides include such data as MBA rankings from several different publications, class profile statistics, and top industries for each MBA program, allowing you to track specific trends and characteristics. You will also find school-specific, insightful comments from our team of MBA admissions consultants, who have all attended top-ranked business schools and have helped thousands of MBA applicants and prospective candidates gain acceptance. So, whether you are considering an MBA program at Kellogg, Yale, Duke Fuqua, Chicago Booth, Berkeley Haas, or Columbia, immersing yourself in an Insider’s Guide can be a great way to understand more about the admissions process as well as which school may be the best fit for you.

We invite you to download your free digital copies of our Insider’s Guides. Just choose the business schools you are interested in from the list to the right, fill out the form, and click “Download For Free”. You will then receive an email with a link to download your guide(s).

Are there other business schools you would like us to cover in our Insider’s Guide series? Do you have feedback about our existing MBA guides? Email info@mbamission.com to let us know!


To view our guides, download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Get Adobe Acrobat Reader

Explore onTrack — mbaMission’s newest offering allowing you to learn at your own pace through video. Learn more