Recommendations

I have received some questions about letters of recommendations for MBA applicants. I have written some thoughts here and also found some good posts here. I am writing some additional points:

1) Recos are very important for an MBA application, because until the school meets you as a person during the interview, these letters show a third person's view about you. Most schools would like to have a reco letter from your supervisor or immediate manager. This is not mandatory. If you do not plan to tell your company or manager about your MBA applications, then you can take reco letters from other people who have closely supervised your work. You will then have to explain your reasons for not taking a reco from your manager in your application.

2) Reco letters from peers or colleagues at the same level are not desirable, except if the school specificaly asks for such a letter. Think about your projects and people with whom you have developed a good relationship while working- this could be somebody from your client side or even someone you worked with on a recent fundraiser for quite some time. Make sure you are comfortable approaching such people. Should you approach your friends then? Nope- the bschools would like professional letters of recommendation. If you are cheating while taking a reco letter, thinking that the school might not realize such things, then how do you plan to adhere to ethics?

3) Spend Time! - I cannot overemphasize this. You will need to start early, meet with your recommenders, let them know about your goals, explain the recommendation process to them and if necessary, provide them with sample recommendation letters, so that they know how such letters are written. I met my recommenders in late August/early Sept. For the first deadline around mid-October, I still felt this was slightly late. Ideally, early August looks like a good timeframe. I also provided them with my goals essay, sample reco letters from Montauk book, my resume and spent some time discussing my goals and the reco process. There are lots of websites that talk about this process and provide sample recos. For example, I found about.com's sample reco letter here

4) Follow Up appropriately - Most likely, your recommenders are busy ppl. Therefore, follow up with them when the deadlines are approaching. Don't wait till the last week of your deadline date. At the same time, don't bother them persistently.

5) Should you write the letter yourself? - Nope, I wouldn't. The schools are adept at understanding your language style, so if they realize that the applicant himself has drafted his reco letter, then I am sure, you would be aware of the outcome. The best thing is to spend some time with your recommender talking about your aspirations and your reasons for doing an MBA. If you have approached the right people for this, then I am sure they will take the time to understand you and write a nice letter on your behalf.

6) My recommender should be a known personality, a top CEO or VP or a leader from my country - This is not necessary or even mandatory. If your recommender is a known person, that's good for you. But, even if this is not the case, it's fine as long as, your recommenders validate your overall story and write genuinely about your qualities.

7) What should the reco contain? - the reco itself should be school specific and should answer questions in detail, attaching examples to most questions. Typically, the reco should talk about your qualities in leadership, maturity, analytical abilities, integrity, team work, outstanding achievements and your weakness (yes, that's right.)

An excerpt from an MBA admissions director- We ask for specific data and examples -- like the impact the candidate has had on a person, group, or organization -- from the applicant's direct supervisor. Also, we ask for the characteristics they would like to change about the person. The more specific examples the recommender can provide, the more legitimacy we give to the letter.

8) Overall, the process is simple. If you are applying to 6+ schools, then you might to approach multiple people, instead of the recommended 2, so as to not burden them. If you have chosen the right people, have faith in them that they would do what's right for you.