Calling Columbia applicants for 2008

I went to the CBS Info Session in Miami last night, and it was pretty informative. There was a lot of local alumni there, all of whom are already tremendously successful!

The adcom who was there did tell us that if your recommender(s) ask you to write your recommendation, you either did not give them enough lead time or you should not use them. He says that he busts people all the time because after reading thousands upon thousands of essays and recs, he can pick up on peoples' writing styles precisely. To remedy this situation, he said, make sure you give your recommender two months notice, if possible, and give them an outline of your achievements. They don't have a problem with you giving input, as long as the recommender writes the rec.

Also, I spoke with a lot of the prospectives and surprisingly a lot of them seemed behind the 8-ball. For example, some still have not taken the GMAT, and there were even a lot of recent college grads! I hope this bodes well for us.

Congrats to those who have submitted their app already! Mine is about a week or two away from completion.

Hijacking the thread here for a moment.
Both my recommenders sent me their copies as a pdf document for me to read after I had sent out my columbia recommendations yesterday by mail. They wanted me to know what they had written (even though I had created outlines and drafts for them in the first place)

1. They used their own material and not my draft - which is good.

2. One senior recommender's letter was tempered and used adjectives like well, good, nice, while the other recommender with whom I have worked more often and professionally quite close has used a plethora of adjectives as exemplary, excellent and extremely (she used extremely 3 times in 3 different questions - extremely enthusiastic, extremely positive attitude and extremely high standards). That got me worried.

The balance between the 2 letters is a bit screwed.. Is that something the ad-com is going to notice?? and would they notice the liberal use of the word extremely??? The only advantage I can think of is that the recommender loves using the word extremely and it shows up in the letter as her own writing style.

Any comments on this.

Don't worry my wife wont be able to find a job in the area so that immediately knocks it out of contention.

I received a packet from my ex-colleague. It had a print-out of my essays, and her comments on almost every line. Her comments are just beautiful .. and make me realize how lacking my essays really are. Unfortunately her comments reached me a few days too late.

So count me out of running for Columbia . Now I know that if Columbia admits me, then that would be despite my essays. Well, the good news is that I can incorporate her suggestions for W/S much earlier.

Not necessarily.....

This is the ED round. I bet most applicants will be in the same boat as you or me. The more our essays get reviewed the better they become.

You will be better prepared for the next school. But so will be the others

Using my CR skills.

ps.. somebody please comment on my recommendation dilemma.. I am chewing my finger nails.

Aviroop, I think you are ok. The AD knows that applicants typically have very little control over their recs. I think you are in a much better position than someone whose reces soundsed a whole lot similar.

The most important thing is for few key ideas to get across: leadership, managerial, etc. etc.

So, I wouldnt sweat it. Plus, there is not much you can do about it anyways.

1 down. 2 to go.

dabots, dosa : Give it up. I am the borg... Resistance is futile... You... will be assimilated.

Aviroop,

What about the content? Temperate or not, do they go into detail about you, and how comprehensive is that detail? "Good" and "nice" are fine if they are used as follows (I do not know what you do, so this is hypothetical):

"Aviroop's interpersonal skills are good. In our line of business we do not need the greatest communication skills, but Aviroop certainly has those skills. He is extremely well-spoken in meetings with executives, he is a extremely well-liked amongst his peers, and he communicates tasks extremely well to his subordinates."

Suddenly "good" becomes great without even using that word. Now if the recommender uses "good" as follows then you might want to head that recommender off at the pass:

"Aviroop's interpersonal skills are good. He works well with his peers, subordinates, and supervisors. Were the tables turned, I would enjoy working for Aviroop."

That is a short and not sweet answer to an entire CBS rec question. "Good" is not so good anymore. There was no meat to that recommendation. At that point, the adcom is going to look to the other rec and other areas of your app to balance that, as opposed to that rec being a strong point.

My guess, I think you are good to go. Both recommenders cared enough to show it to you, and that is a good sign. Plus you picked up on their writing style; it is hard to get a sense of writing style when it is bland. Keep the faith!

Don't count yourself out until you are out. One of my frat bros, an HBS grad, sent in three apps: H/S/K. Dinged at Stanford and Kellogg before he heard back from Harvard. He though, "Crap, I am not getting in anywhere, Harvard was my first and worst app!" All I have to say is, little did he know.

Since then he has pulled out the proverbial red pen on my essays, but considering he graduated from HBS, I think it is in my best interest to take his suggestions.

djhouse.
Thank you for the comments.

Both recommenders, especially my senior manager backed up every sentence with an example.

He started writing .Aviroop displayed solid team-skills,, blah blah.. by working late on projects, helping team -mates carry out admin tasks.. (routine stuff).
He talked about stuff I did at work..

Same for my other recommender..

Both used examples, plenty of them, to back up every of their adjectives.
I am thankful of that, except my prior concern was the overuse of adjectives.
You have cleared all my issues with your post.

Both did what was asked - in terms of giving examples and not routine bland statements with tons of adjectives that are not backed up with proof.

sounds like you're fine Avi... I think it's the examples that count, not which adjectives they use. As long as they quantify your results some how (top 5%, best I've ever seen, etc...).

Nc...I wish I could drop Ross but I am not really afraid of borg's....

And its a desi friendly school- maybe the two of us can get in anyways. Dabots wont be coming to Ross as he will get into a higher ranked school

submitted my application today. submitted first, then paid by credit card.. refreshed the page 3 times in 5 minutes out of anxiety...

1 done 4 more to go

Congrats avi. Join the anxious "Ctrl-F5" team.

avi, congratulations. Now the nail biting begins...

Ok I am extremely frustrated and feeling totally helpless !
The only thing that is delaying my submission is my 2nd reco. Gave the pointers 1.5 months ago, reminded every two weeks and still nothing's done
Seriously, at this point I have no clue as to how to proceed. Well figured the forum would be the best place for me to vent my frustration.

God help me.

grad, check politely if he has second thoughts. ALso, see if you can line up another recommender.