bschbound wrote:
I don't think any recommender will read such a long guide, let alone be able to make sense of it (if he/she is not familiar with MBA applications). After over a year of hanging out in forums and having gone through the application process myself, I wonder why applicants believe this stuff is useful. Why would you want to "position" yourself? Why not be yourself; surely, a pattern should appear if you are not a fickle person that never sticks to anything. Anything else is contrived and can fall apart. Worse, why would you want to mess with what your recommender thinks of you by concerning him or her with positioning, branding and the like. I find that other people are more aware of and can better articulate my positive qualities.
Don't get me wrong, I believe in coaching recommenders, but a 2-page introduction to a guide with additional documents? who has enough time to read that. A 30minute to 1 hour discussion of goals, strengths and weakness will probably suffice. A resume is definitely necessary; some writing samples of recommendations probably also a good idea because I find a lot of people don't know how to write a competitive recommendation. Just my thoughts. What do you guys think?
I agree that meeting with the recommender directly would be more useful. Perhaps the guide should be discussed during the meeting. In my case, my recommenders are in a different country so I definitely plan on using the guide (after making my own edits). I definitely think 2 pages is a bit much.. I plan to condense it to 1 page. Also this guide talks a lot about how to write the letter when most apps don't require a letter but answers to specific questions.