What are /r/MBA's favorite Products & Services?

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>People say don't apply to 100 jobs, just 15 you really want is a bad idea.

Literally nobody says this. The advice is rather than apply to 100 jobs with a blind resume drop, you should be networking with employees from 25 or so different companies, in an effort to get a referral to one of those roles.

>Most companies actually don't network with students and don't list emails in job description. Just apply and hope for the best.

Ummm what? The whole point of an MBA is the network that comes with it. What do you mean 'companies actually don't network with students' - you don't network with 'companies,' you network with employees at companies (ideally ones who graduated from your school).

>I guess I could search the role and company on linkedin and DM an employee in that role but unsure if that'd be too much

This was literally my entire recruiting process. If you're not willing to DM alumni on LinkedIn, then idk what to tell you, other than you're not willing to do what is necessary to get a good job.

I agree with u/Pulp-nonfiction; you need to take a look in the mirror. Also, I'd recommend you read the 2 hour job search. Seems to me like you don't know how to network.

Instead of Product Management, consider Project Management. Such as construction management or design management. In the private sector you may need an engineering degree for this, but in the public sector they might hire you to manage the consulting engineers. Colliers International is a company that is made up of non-engineers that manage engineers because they have MBAs.

If the project is running smoothly, you don’t necessarily have to work 80 hour weeks. 10, 20, and 30 hour weeks for $80-$140,000 salaries are fairly common among some project management firms.

Also, here’s a shameless plug for my book that talks a lot about how to be a successful project manager: amazon.com/dp/B08761NCB7

I actually think that this topic is somewhat suited to your HR interests. Contingency theory says that the best leader for a given situation depends on the the type of situation at hand and the potential leader's qualities (i.e. different people within the organization are best suited to lead various tasks). This paper on Contingency Approach to Data Governance talks about how governance has typically been the responsibility solely of IT, but since everyone in an organization uses data, establishing corporate-wide accountabilities for professionals from BOTH business and IT departments is superior.

Perhaps you could look at a some big data breaches and examine how a contingency approach to IT governance may have prevented them.

So I'm not in an MBA program yet but I am an introvert and I can recommend a book for you: Networking for People Who Hate Networking (Amazon link). It's a fairly brief but good read.

You should start following some business publications. The most commonly suggested ones are Wall Street Journal and Economist. Instead of paying for a WSJ subscription, I just signed up at Seeking Alpha for them to send me the "Wall Street Breakfast" - a one paragraph summary for each of the articles every weekday: http://seekingalpha.com/market-news/wall-street-breakfast

MBA programs don't expect you to have any prior knowledge about business subjects, but I'm sure you can find some Youtube videos or something to get a very high level overview of concepts for subjects like accounting and economics.

None of MBA is difficult math-wise; the hardest subject is probably statistics, so I think it would actually be helpful to go through some basic statistics prior to starting. Some of my classmates had trouble keeping up in that class.

Lastly, you'll be using Excel a lot, so it's worth taking some time to learn how to use it well if you aren't super familiar with it.

Cheers!

Do a few linkedin searches. The best way to find the information you want is to go to business schools' pages and click on Students & Alumni. You can then narrow down the results to people currently attending school. Here is a link to UCLA Anderson's linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/edu/alumni?id=17951&trk=edu-up-nav-menu-alumni

Idk my program made us take an 8 week summer financial accounting module to levelset the cohort before the program starts. It covers content in an undergrad financial accounting class.

U should look on coursera/udacity. Just type intro to financial accounting.

U can also look at this book for a concise intro:

https://www.amazon.com/Vest-Pocket-MBA-Jae-K-Shim/dp/1591844339

I work for Parsons Corporation and we generally hire engineers to be Project Managers but that isn’t always the case. Depending on your level of experience with construction or design or managing people, there may be roles at a big engineering firm for MBAs to be Project Managers.

Google “ENR List” (which stands for Engineering News Record) and you’ll see a giant list of the largest engineering firms. From that list you should be able to search job openings on their websites. “Project Manager” or “Assistant Project Manager” would be a potentially good place for a MBA graduate.

I have had a number of bosses at Parsons who were not engineers, so it is possible to lead a group of engineers without being an engineer.

I’d also google “Colliers International” and hopefully google suggests “similar companies” and then look to see if they have job openings for Project Managers.

And finally, most importantly, if you want your career to 🚀to the 🌝then read my book: amazon.com/dp/B08761NCB7 💵🚨🇺🇸🍪🍣🐝❗️🇨🇦🐿🤓🥶🤮🤡🤡🤡

This is the one my wife got me.

I don't use the shoulder strap because I don't like how the strap distorts the shoulder form/look on suit jackets. Only downside is that the buckle/clip leather is relatively thin so they curl and I constantly have to straighten them out. I've had it for about 4 years and the way the leather wears makes it look even better with age.

On amazon if you search "HLC Shoulder Bag", you'll see some similar style ones that may have thicker leather for the clips. Would recommend brown over black.

Cracking the PM Interview here: https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-PM-Interview-Product-Technology/dp/0984782818/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535773043&sr=8-1&keywords=cracking+the+pm+interview would be a good place to start :)

I'm transitioning from a non-finance career into a heavy finance program. Here are 3 I read over break that I wish I'd read over the summer:

The Intelligent Investor: (Benjamin Graham)

Benjamin Graham’s name is legendary in the world of finance, but he is fairly unknown in the general popular culture. Maybe you know one of his most famous disciples: Warren Buffett. That’s right, if Buffett is Luke Skywalker Graham is Yoda.

A Random Walk Down Wall Street:(Burton G. Malkiel)

A finance book for the people! I’ve certainly enjoyed most of the finance books I’ve read but this is the only book I can say that I actually had fun reading. Burton G. Malkiel does a masterful job balancing historical context, mathematical theory and humor to engage and teach the reader. You’ll walk away from this book able to speak insightfully on historic market collapses (Did you know that Tulip bulbs essentially replaced savings accounts for Dutch in the 1637?), why day traders don’t make money in the long run, and how a diversified portfolio works.

The Most Important Thing: (Howard Marx)

I love this book because its chapters are small, independent and easily digestible. It was an ideal treadmill read for me at the gym as I could get through 2 chapters during a workout. Howard Marx has long been renowned for his insightful investment newsletters. This book compiles unpacks 20 simple investment concepts interjecting highlights from newsletters throughout the years.

I am not a expert but from my research getting into a top 10 with 3 years of auditing experience seems VERY unlikely. Maybe if you said top 15 after 4 years of auditing. Should probably just do research on google and see if you can find anyone whose done it before.

Found one guy who did top 15 after 4 years.

Actually found a girl who did top 10 after 3 years, she even transferred to transactions serves which shows she was the top of her class at auditing, do you think you'll be top of your class?

Beyond all the resources the official GMAT site gives you (which are excellent) I purchased a complete Quantitative course on Udemy.com that brought my score up 80 points for $11. Huge help, much recommend.

have a glance at this thread https://www.quora.com/Can-I-do-an-MBA-without-having-a-bachelors-degree

Essentially you'll need to show that you're remarkable. Have a high GMAT (think 50 points above your targeted programs average) Have everything else on your app be amazing and well done. explain why you couldn't get a BA/BS and why an MBA is crucial to unlocking your potential(and that you'll succeed)

When traveling with my wedding dress I bought THE BEST folding garment bag (folded down to carryon size) from Amazon...I'll edit with the link when I find it.

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ETA: Couldn't find the exact one but it was pretty similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/Tri-fold-Garment-Premium-Breathable-Tear-resistant/dp/B07N7KY1Q8/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=carryon+garment+bags+for+travel+wedding+dress&qid=1580242935&refinements=p_72%3A2661618011&rnid=2661617011&sr=8-4

Perfect Phrases for Business School Acceptance (Perfect Phrases Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071598200/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_HFQFCbW2QWHT6

More than any other book, I used this one when writing my essays. It was priceless, it helps with the nitty gritty of trying to put your thoughts into coherent and succinct sentences when writing your essays. It shows different ways to introduce ideas, conclude , etc; and especially shows the structure of different essay types (goal, achievement, etc). Buying old essays doesn't work as well because you are looking at someone else's work, what this book does is help you get un-stuck when you are trying to put together your own work.

Im going for my MBA, and this is a conversation I just had with my brother who has an MBA and is a Major in the military with a lot of leadership responsibilities and in charge of a 2 mil. Budget. Basically, he’s a very smart and accomplished fella. He recommended these:

1) Working with Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Coleman

2) the Slight Edge by Jeff Olson

3) from Good to Great by Jim Collins

4) Boys in the Boat

5) Getting to Yes

6) Who moved my cheese?

All are books on leadership or how to be a better leader. Good luck.

EMBA, 15 years into my career, am an entrepreneur and do business development/strategy consulting.

What matters most is your network. There are great books on networking, like "Never Eat Alone" and "How To Win Friends and Influence People" that can teach less extroverted people how to put themselves out there, but if you are like me those books will seem like common sense advice.

Your network and who you know is almost everything in business. Do people trust you? Are you authentic? Do they respect what you have to say? An MBA can give you a platform to speak, in some cases, and help validate that you are grounded in reality. Some won't care one way or the other if you are educated.

If you do it, do it for yourself, not for someone else. If you need external validation to make a decision you are going to have a tough time justifying it in your mind. Go with your gut and don't look back.

How will you measure your life? Great perspectives on staying true to your values.

hi my pleasure; happy to help! i would focus on one or two things to show leadership. this can come through your job or something outside of work (community, volunteering, blogging, a side business, etc). Quality over quantity. There are a lot of different angles on leadership; what they're looking for is how you've developed into the leader you have become. That's really what business school is about at the end of the day. I know that's kind of open ended, but hopefully somewhat helpful. Just search around for leadership; maybe pick up this book (or something similar) and see how people describe their experiences. http://www.amazon.com/Successful-Harvard-Business-School-Application/dp/0312334486

An interesting book going over a ton of MBA stuff. VERY poignant section in this book specifically around relationships (there will likely be several divorces during your MBA time, decent drama from who is sleeping with whom, and weddings in the post MBA years between classmates).
Case Studies and Cocktails

If you are going to do non-traditional recruiting (i.e. not the consulting/big name tech track) The 2 Hour Job Search

Thanks mate! I shovelled shit and sold chickens and ducks growing up. Don't necessarily need a fancy background, albeit my current job is in the corporate space.

Here's the template: https://www.notion.so/hnco/MBA-Application-Tracker-9c478fa9a7d84dec9f8e49495423a7a5

Good effort shows. Great job!

If anyone wants a great book that explains a lot of this and related, this was recommended to me and its great.

https://www.amazon.com/Who-Gets-Promoted-Doesnt-Second/dp/160774600X

Information about the "brag sheet" etc. and more careerist essentials are there.

https://www.groupon.com/browse/chicago?p=3&utm_source=channel_occasions_im&utm_medium=email&t_division=chicago&date=20200226&uu=ecfdc8d0-9682-11e8-9026-525434e4e3a2&CID=US&tx=0&s=body&c=image&d=deal-page&amp...

Hm, I used Fidelity and it let me do a 401(k) to rollover IRA. Is the rollover the same thing as a roth ira? I'm not sure because I was told I would not be taxed on the rolled over amount

edit: in fact, the Charles Schwab website even talks about this here: https://www.schwab.com/ira/rollover-ira/what-is-a-rollover-ira#:~:text=A%20Rollover%20IRA%20is%20an,at%20the%20time%20of%20transfer.

Have you tried looking into LinkedIn?

I pulled this from a cursory search.

If your target program accepts the EA, use that score. The EA is fairly misunderstood vs other exams: other tests, higher scores matter. On the EA, crossing the 150 threshold is great and everything above that is equal to a 150. Weird right? Feel free to check with your target programs to confirm they conform to this relative norm.

If you’d to know more I go pretty in depth on the EA in this podcast episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/683195/3267355-the-executive-assessment-what-everyone-should-know

Hope it helps!

You won't get nearly as much traction for goal #3 with an EMBA, and whether you'll meet goal #1 depends on your specific work situation. If your goal is career progression at Microsoft, do you have clear paths to promotion right now? If so, an EMBA probably isn't as useful in the short-term. On the other hand, if you've been told you need to show sharper business acumen to move up, or know that that's common point of feedback for people seeking promotions, an EMBA can certainly be helpful. I don't have as much exposure to EMBA recruiting outcomes if you're looking outside of MSFT - my impression is that the degree is a positive, but how much it improves your odds of getting a job depends on the specific role.

I'm framing this entirely from a career progression standpoint, since that's IMO the main value prop of an MBA. The EMBA will certainly achieve goal #2, but if the piece of paper certifying you did the classes doesn't have a ton of professional value for where you're at in life, you're probably better off taking MOOCs via EdX or Coursera. You'll get a crash course in the basic skills an MBA learns without tying up so much $$$, and can customize the courses you take for the workplace situations you're in right now.

https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-make-a-mooc-mba-using-free-courses-from-top-10-business-schools-545113e506d9/

Hi Matt! So cool to see you join thread. Yep, huge fan of your book. Read it after being a PM for almost 4 years, and definitely felt like it was spot on about the challenges, realities and best practices. Link for anyone interested:

https://www.amazon.com/Product-Management-Practice-Real-World-Connective/dp/1491982276

Please provide data showing 22C is cold thnx. At least you realize SF is colder, that's progress

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/berkeley/94704/june-weather/332044?year=2019

Check em numbers starting with 9. It's not cold here in summer

That was a persuasive response and it's helped clarify my thinking. I realize that, in fact, I am not interested in this-because I am not the kind of person who would succeed at managing other people. My undergrad background was software, not business, and that was not a coincidence.

Another thing that helped me was this Quora answer:

https://www.quora.com/How-many-students-with-a-software-engineering-background-get-accepted-into-MBA-programs-at-Harvard-Stanford-and-Wharton/answer/Richard-Ludlow

You can download the full breakdown of employers for UNC here: http://info.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/unc-kenan-flagler-mba-student-employment-spreadsheet?utm_campaign=fy14-mba-pre-prospects&utm_content=Launch_Career&utm_source=website&

It doesn't break down year by year, it's a summary for hires between 2008 and 2013.

EDIT: I uploaded it here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/4mnzf6

So 21% go into consulting from a class of 280 - we'll round that up to 60 students. From the employment report, about 14 go to Deloitte (almost all in Atlanta), 5 go to McKinsey (Charlotte or Atlanta), and 1 to Bain, 1 to BCG, etc.

Not terrible odds to get to Deloitte. I'm not too familiar with them though, how are they viewed among the top firms? Can I work for Deloitte for a couple years and have a better chance of moving into McKinsey after that? I'm an engineer so I want to go into operations strategy, if that helps.

Can't say how good it is. I did write about how hard it is to get into here:

https://www.coursebuffet.com/blog/2018/just-how-hard-is-it-to-get-into-uiuc-s-coursera-hosted-mba-program

Do you have any interest in accounting? That program is ranked well, seems like a deal.

Thank you! You've helped me clear up a lot of things.

I took a look at flights, there are good connections to LHR from RDU, which is all I need to get to mainland Europe, really. That's definitely reassuring, I assumed ATL was the nearest airport that I could fly out from!

No, I haven't visited yet. I plan to attend BDW, so looking forward to that! I wouldn't mind living in downtown Durham at all (I've been on Google street view for more hours than I can count lol), I definitely wouldn't want to live in any of the apartment complexes near Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd or the like.

Your right about the weather. I've been looking into avg. temps at both (https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/16511~20151~25505/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-Ann-Arbor-Durham-and-New-Haven) and it's pretty clear that Durham has much milder weather than AA or NH.

> Literally every study and graph is showing that things will not start clearing up in May or June. We are nowhere near flattening the curve, the US has literally the most recorded coronavirus cases in the world. We pretty much just started testing. Thousands of more people are going to die, this is a fact.

What do you mean? The later we flatten the curve, the quicker (but more painfully) this resolves. And the US has the most recorded coronavirus cases in the world because we started testing at a rate >100K a day.

> We are months from seeing a vaccine or cure. Our only hope is that people start contracting the disease less, but our governments have completely failed in enforcing social distancing. Thus people in the US still don't fully appreciate the situation; only dense cities have been making big moves.

On the whole, social distancing has been adhered to rather well. https://citymapper.com/cmi

And we don't need a vaccine. We need aggressive testing, expanded healthcare capacity, and improved daily behaviors, hygene etc. Life can continue while this disease exists. It happened in Korea, it will happen here after we get over this first hump - which is expected to peak in weeks, not months.

I actually made a video on this for my Data Analysis course! You can watch it here (it's 3 minutes): https://www.loom.com/share/0a63fadf08fb4fe49b20913fd515f6c3

Tl;dr SQL and Python are much better than Excel at handling large data sets and writing scripts to automate analysis. Python is more powerful than SQL if you want to get the data from somewhere (either through an API or scraping it) and if you want to do stuff with that data once you've cleaned / analyzed it (ex. updating a database for an application)

I agree, I’ve been researching and actually it’s content full stop. But it’s all the content in one place curated and I’ve not tried it but worth a shot and loads cheaper than a traditional MBA that if you aren’t fulfilled you can always go and spend $thousands and do the real thing with a little more knowledge.

This article convinced me they are a really essentially a tech scale up

https://poetsandquants.com/2020/02/21/the-disruptors-thepowermba-a-new-b-school-out-of-spain/?pq-category=business-school-news/

I would liken PowerMBA to https://www.masterclass.com/ but for business strategy in the tech era

IMO. Good luck everyone

Wharton has four foundational series class sets available on Coursera. Accounting, Finance, Operations and Marketing. These are actual MBA classes that actual Wharton students are taking. I am working through the finance series at this time. I won't be taking any other classes, but I want to make sure I am as quantitatively strong as possible.

https://www.coursera.org/penn

I got my job networking through my inner circle. Ask people in your network if they know of any open positions. Work on your resume. Here's a great article:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140929001534-24454816-my-personal-formula-for-a-better-resume?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0

Get on LinkedIn and ask for references. Join groups pertaining to your field. You have to be proactive. Life is about options and only you can create more options for yourself.

If you’ve created all those artifacts and deliverables in the past, and can speak in a structured format about them, I’d be willing to bet you’d do well in an interview.

My first piece of advice would be to look at current PM job descriptions and tailor your resume to what they’re looking for. I would also focus on processes you followed or frameworks you used to create the things you listed above. I don’t have an MBA, but it’s possible to break into a PM role w/o one.

What’s more, you could always go the route of getting a PM job at a small or mid-size company in the area, where you’ll learn so much on the fly. You can still go to school too! On-the-job training and real-world experience has so much value, and if your goal is to work at a FAANG company in a few years anyway, then why not work at a place where you have direct, hands-on experience building a product to go to market?

For context, I’m a current PM at a roughly 1000-employee company in Chicago. It’s not the Valley, but I’ve worked for a global Fortune 100 company here and the tech scene is thriving. My advice may be slanted as I prefer working at the small- to mid-size companies, but I hope you find something relevant from this.

Best of luck!

And check this link out:

https://coda.io/d/Clements-PM-Interview-Practice-Guide_dcU6_y1pKYR/Clements-PM-Interview-Practice-Guide_su2TU#_luAWl

Check out the book “The Two Hour Job Search.” Steve gives a great structure for networking (and is a former consultant). In terms of tracking, you can use Excel/Google Sheets or a light/free CRM like HubSpot CRM or Streak. https://zapier.com/blog/best-free-crm/ Good luck!

https://www.amazon.com/Almost-Black-Medical-School-Pretending/dp/1483576043

Read this books, MBA schools don't care about who you really are but how you present yourself. Even on academics, this is not CalTech where most non-admitted people would struggle. MBA admissions are just trying to assemble a class based on metrics and diversity happens to be one of them. Their main goal is rankings, so as long as Bloomberg / FT etc. don't audit them (some schools were found to fake acceptance rates and average scores but it's hard to audit LGBTQ).

Ranking >> more donations + corporate/emba programs. most top schools lose money on their residential mba programs and they need the high rankings to attract corporate training programs + donations. And corporates at least pretend to care about diversity

Enjoy continuing to be useless. Got another shitty deck due tomorrow? You're essentially in an industry that only exists to facilitate the delegation of high-level decision making outside the management chain of internal teams by spineless management (who of course graduated from your own ranks at one point in time). This guy fucking got it: https://www.amazon.com/Bullshit-Jobs-Theory-David-Graeber/dp/150114331X

That's a great goal. There's this book that I found extremely detailed on solar project development. Check it out If you haven't yet.

https://www.amazon.com/Project-Development-Solar-Industry-Albie-ebook/dp/B00DETAD7Y

What's your take on the availability of MBA roles in the project development sphere? Is it mostly On-Campus or Off? Any name of developer that sponsors intl students?

I think those are all really great points. I guess I tend to live in a world where an MBA is seen as a secondary degree. As an example, people get an engineering degree, they become an experienced engineer, and then they use the MBA as an added bonus to their resume. I think the pipeline that you are talking about probably moreso is for people who have a more general degree, such as political science, arts, history, math, etc., and then they use the MBA as their primary reason to get hired. Almost to say to employers "I've proved I'm smart because I have a Bachelors in X, and now I'm proving I can run a business unit because I have an MBA."

If people are in that boat, then I agree with you completely. An MBA is very desirable.

However, if people already have a specialized degree like engineering, medicine, law, or some other degree that has a more well-defined path towards employment, then I lean towards at least trying the conferences / networking events path first.

Does that make sense?

Grant Waldie, B.A.Sc., P.Eng., PE, PMC https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08761NCB7

Excellent point. I would lump this into "networking" but yes I agree that on-campus recruiting is going to be strong in comparison to conferences that are open to the general public. I would then weigh the cost. Is it worth spending $50,000+ for business school to get access to recruiters? Or could you spend $5,000 going to a number of conferences and also meet a person who gets you a great job?

It's tough to know the exact answer to this question, but I lean in the direction of spending money on local conferences.

Grant Waldie, B.A.Sc., P.Eng., PE, PMC https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08761NCB7

Grad School Essentials: A Crash Course in Scholarly Skills targeted at humanities/social sciences but may be helpful

Thank you for your post. It reminded me of a book I read back in 2015: Happiness: Lessons From a New Science. The book takes you through research on what does and doesn't correlate with happiness.

Money correlates with happiness, but only up to a point. (I.e. going from $0 in income to $30K and then $60K in income is correlated with more happiness, but after around $60K I don't think you gain much extra happiness.) Meanwhile, religion, community involvement, and marriage correlate significantly with happiness.

It's a worthwhile read and may help you decide how to prioritize your time and ultimately your life. I know it has helped me.

Cracking the PM Interview is fantastic. I also found that many of the management consulting sites (BCP, Bain, McKinsey) have helpful practice interviews that tend to be a bit more intense. I collected a small bank when I was interviewing a few months ago as well that may help.

This book is not too bad: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Jeremy-Shinewald-mbaMission-dp-1506242502/dp/1506242502/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid= It's by mbaMission

I have the X1 carbon which I flip open 180 degrees and rest it standing up on this stand: https://www.amazon.com/3M-Vertical-Compact-Non-Skid-LX550/dp/B0006HVM4A

I then have a cheap 15" external portable lcd that I stand in front of it against the laptop keyboard. So look at the 2nd photo on the amazon page but the laptop is more vertical with the 2nd lcd screen covering where the laptop keyboard section is.

• Bluetooth kb/mouse.

It looks kinda funky but It's all very portable and fits into my school backpack so I can easily travel with it.

There are garment bags on Amazon that roll up and zip together into a weekend bag shape that fits well in overhead bins. I got this one: https://www.amazon.com/Convertible-Garment-Bag-Shoulder-Modoker/dp/B07FD5MLVB/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=modoker&qid=1581456537&sr=8-5

I put my stuff in dry cleaner bags, then inside a lightweight garment bag, then place it in the compartment within this bag. Leaves the garments flawless, with maybe 5 minutes of steaming to really spruce it up at the hotel.

It also has room for belts, shoes, and ties. Best buy I've made in a long while for traveling with nice clothes.

re: courses, I don't think any school course would be especially useful here. The retail prep courses are mostly fine--Manhattan GMAT's is highly regarded. In my opinion, the big-name ones can be a little too gimmicky, relying on situational tricks instead of just explaining the concepts.

If you're already comfortable with math, I recommend Sackman's 'Total GMAT Math'. I did pretty well on the GMAT, and I found his explanations to be the most straightforward & gimmick free (at least, as of 5 years ago, when I was studying).

My Top Picks: Management: - Good to Great - First, Break All The Rules

Finance: - A Random Walk Down Wall Street - The Intelligent Investor - The Most Important Thing

Marketing: - Why We Buy

Business Philosophy: - Irrational Exuberance - Black Swan

Fiction: - The Dark Tower (ya kin?)

Finance: One Up on Wall Street, Peter Lynch. Also, just skimming the motley fool website will hit a lot of it. Not a lot of corporate finance in either of these, but excellent from a personal standpoint. Econ: Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt. Accounting: I'm a CPA, but I have yet to find a satisfactory introductory text to accounting. It's boring as hell, so that's probably why. You could get away with some google searches on basic accounting structure...that should do it.

Hope this helps.

I just ordered this ASUS

I didn't feel like I really needed a touchscreen or 2-in-1.

It is worth investing into your quant skills. If you don't have quant skills (lets say you had a BA/MA in English or something) it is really worth it.

Second, there is a reading list in the wiki I believe. You can read stuff such as :

Barbarians at the Gate http://www.amazon.co.uk/Barbarians-The-Gate-Bryan-Burrough/dp/0099545837

Currently going through the Manhattan series which I can't recommend enough which also comes with six practice CAT exams. Plan 3-5 practice exams including the two free ones from MBA.com before the actual exam.

IMO the OG guide isn't enough if you need to re-learn/practice subject matter. The Manhattan guide is also SUPER helpful when it comes to test taking strategy.

I recommend "Case Studies & Cocktails" - it isn't related to class, but it mentally preps you for the full time MBA experience. It's entertaining to read too: http://www.amazon.com/Case-Studies-Cocktails-Surviving-Business/dp/1935707213

Word of advice here from a top-20 applicant (and female who came from the nonprofit world before school). You have the stats to potentially get in anywhere, depending on how well you spin your story. You have the added bonus (like I did) of being in a hot niche area (social impact). MBA programs seem to like education folks. However, education consulting is a very niche field. I'd do some research on LinkedIn and look for people who are where you want to be. Then check out where they went to school. Rankings are great and all, but ultimately, after getting in, I've found that school personality and student demand REALLY drive some of the offerings. Some schools in that top 25 are going to have great social impact programs. Others will attract those candidates, and then spit out corporate drones who just swear that "after McKinsey I swear I'm going to make a difference in the world........" ;)

Of course, lots of people say they want to do social impact, and then they get sucked into the MBB machine :). Which is totally fine. But some schools send many more grads into social impact than others. Find those schools. Just depends on your priorities--want loan forgiveness (I saw Duke & Wharton offer that to public sector/nonprofit grads)? Lower cost, so you have lower loan burden? (Consider schools in lower COL areas and think about what tradeoffs you want to make in rank, network, loan burden).

Also, check out Net Impact's school guide and More than Money: Questions Every MBA Needs to Answer. I found both really helpful.

My friend and I applied and got in to M7 programs as ambivert engineers. I've only been to admit weekend so far, but I will say that there is a culture shock. A lot of people in the MBA are extreme extroverts. They were happily talking and talking with everyone all day and then kept going to parties after the 12-1 AM end of days events. That said, many were more balanced. And a few were introverts. One thing you have to be able to do is be very comfortable in your skin and I think an MBA program does teach that. Even after just 3 days of events I feel more easy to talk to people and simply ask for things from people around me. It's a skill that can be learned.

However, this I/E thing is different from social anxiety as others pointed out. If you can confront that fear than an MBA will help you. If you can't then an MBA will be terrifying and may even make you withdraw. The good news is that you can practice well before. Just sign up for Toastmasters or some networking Meetups and just try mingling with people.

This book was pretty useful before I went in: http://www.amazon.com/Small-Talk-Hacks-Communication-Instantly-ebook/dp/B00TBKOTQQ

> Mankiw

Are you referring to "Principles of Economics"? And is it really almost $300 for this book?

http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Economics-7th-Gregory-Mankiw/dp/128516587X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411622089&sr=1-2&keywords=mankiw

I was recommended Ahead of the Curve and I read this book and found out later I was supposed to read this one.

Both were good.

Suggested read for all MBAs before they start, Ahead of the Curve

With that said, if you're really needing to find a great job when you're done you may miss out on some opportunities by not doing an internship, which if I understand the accelerated program correctly it's a regular program without the summer break.