Learn More about Manhattan Review GMAT Prep Courses

Manhattan Review’s GMAT preparation is available in 60 cities and 10 countries around the world. The company prides itself on offering the most time and cost effective GMAT preparation with the highest GMAT score increase average within the shortest span of preparation time. With its Total Solution* Total Package Manhattan Review system, the company also offers excellent products for other elements of the application such as TOEFL / GRE preparation, pre-MBA training and MBA career building skills including job interview skills, presentation and communication skills. Its institutional clients include Bain Capital, Columbia Business School, Boston Consulting Group, United Nations and more.

To learn more about Manhattan Review's GMAT preparation, I spoke with Manhattan Review's founder Dr. Joern Meissner. Here's what he had to say about Manhattan Review's GMAT prep courses:

Can you provide us with an overview of Manhattan Review's classroom and online GMAT prep courses?

Our main goal is to provide high quality teaching, high quality content and time-efficient, cost-effective GMAT preparation. Our courses range anywhere from 2 days to 9 weeks in length so that everyone’s preference can be accommodated. In general, we offer Long, Intensive, and Crash courses. Each course covers both the Math and Verbal portions of the GMAT exam. We also offer a Self-Study Package at $675 and in-person private tutoring at a very competitive rate. Students can request a set number of hours and our tutor will work around their schedule and their strengths and weaknesses.

Our 1-week Intensive course is great for the student who has limited time to take the exam and can handle an intense workload. Our weekend Crash course is designed for extremely busy working professionals and others who can benefit the intense preparation over just a weekend in four 4-hour sessions. Our 6 or 8-session in-person Long courses and 9-session online Long courses are great for the student who wants more in-depth, hands-on work, and an extended study schedule. Due to the duration of these courses, students can come to every class with more questions for the instructor, allowing them to receive more answers.

Generally, our techniques and strategies work well with students looking to score in the highest percentiles of the GMAT. Nonetheless, our classes and proprietary materials are extremely accessible for all levels of student. In the class, we focus on essential concepts and test-taking strategies so that students can maximize their learning within a compressed period of time. We look to replicate exceptional teaching styles and fast problem solving approaches. Again, the most limiting factor in GMAT preparation for most people is time. It takes significantly more teaching experience and techniques to prepare a student in less time. We will teach students what they need to know in the least amount of time. Meantime, we also offer 100+ hours of online library access to our students for their self-paced study to reinforce their learning outside of classroom.

Our course consists of a mix of lectures and exercises in each session, with ample time allotted for answering sample questions and receiving personalized attention from the instructors. We do not typically use PowerPoint presentations because we found that they can never be as dynamic as the actual development of a solution in front of a student’s eyes. Teachers take more ownership of their deliverables and take more pride and control in the classroom. This approach has proven again and again to have a more effective result on students, producing higher GMAT scores.

We generally keep our class size to 12 students. For selected locations such as New York and Los Angeles, we also have different math and verbal teachers per course to optimize our students’ learning experiences from two experts. We usually add a second instructor once the class size is over a threshold to ensure the quality of students’ learning experience in class.

We keep the online classes small like our in-person classes, around 12 students. Our WebEx Training Center online classroom software creates an environment where students can chat and discuss problems among themselves and with instructors. They can also share whiteboards by writing their solutions, thoughts and questions on the board in different colors. Whereas some prep companies might use less qualified instructors for online session, our courses are conducted by our lead instructors. Each of them has a different way of engaging students and explaining solutions. Hence our 100+ hours online live recordings prove to be an effective way of assisting students study in-depth at their own pace.

Can you tell us a little bit about the MBA Boot Camp included with your courses?

We understand that GMAT prep is only the first step in what will be a rigorous application process. Unlike our competitors, Manhattan Review provides far more than just a test prep class - we will help students at every step of the way. Our MBA Boot camp is designed to polish your MBA application to perfection. Every aspect of the MBA application process is reviewed: essays, resumes, interviews, recommendations and more. We also offer career planning to help students decide which school they wish to get into, and how they want to pursue their professional aspirations.

Who teaches your GMAT courses?

We currently have about 75 instructors located across the United States, Europe and Asia. The majority of our GMAT instructors have either an MBA or a PhD. Our philosophy in hiring teachers is not just about high test scores, whether or not they graduated from Ivy League schools, and so on. More important to us is their ability to connect with and motivate students and to increase their confidence level. Therefore, they need to be responsible, mature and experienced – not just another young graduate out of school with a top GMAT score. So we pay special attention to an instructor’s life experiences and the stage of his/her life.