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Intern
Intern
Joined: 11 Oct 2011
Posts: 21
Own Kudos [?]: 2 [0]
Given Kudos: 1
Schools: Booth '14 (D)
GPA: 3.93
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Manager
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Joined: 05 May 2011
Status:Admissions Consultant
Posts: 180
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Location: India
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MBA Admissions Consultant
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Posts: 932
Own Kudos [?]: 104 [0]
Given Kudos: 1
Location: CA, USA
Concentration: Getting candidates into great schools!
Schools:Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Columbia, Chicago, MIT, NYU, Yale, +
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Joined: 30 Nov 2009
Posts: 9218
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Location: Chicago, IL
Schools:Brown University, Harvard Business School
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Re: Please help with selection of recommenders [#permalink]
Expert Reply
Friends make poor recommenders, because obviously they would never write anything bad, plus they don;t have the capacity to evaluate your work. Clients and partners are less good than managers, which you know. For Harvard I would suggest getting a second recommender from your same workplace. And then for the other schools and third recommender, you will have to dig. Maybe there is a professor you "Worked for" as a Teacher's Assistant? or Research Assistant? OR another good place - maybe you had someone oversee you in a community service/volunteer work?

Anyhow, if you want more specific advice, feel free to drop us a line:
https://www.precisionessay.com/services/ ... sultation/
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Intern
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Posts: 21
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Schools: Booth '14 (D)
GPA: 3.93
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Re: Please help with selection of recommenders [#permalink]
Dear consultants, thank you all for your replies.
Looks like everyone is on the same page. But I still have some concerns. Could you please comment on them?
1. none of recommenders will ever provide 'bad' feedback otherwise I would not choose that recommender and given that even in US, many rec. letters are firstly written by applicants and only after that (if ever) editted by recommenders, we can not expect any 'objectivity' here
2. what if my college mates might provide better examples of my leadership/charity experience or business-related traits than my clients?
3. many consultants point out frequent mistake that packages overconcentrate on work experience. Don't we make same mistake when choose current supervisor + peer colleague rather than current supervisor + college mate who knows me well for many years (not only in past but also in present)?
4. don't my CV + job description essay + recommendation from current supervisor (who knows me for years and since the first day of work in the last place) say enough about my professional background. Will a recommendation from a colleague add much here??
5. I do know cases in which the second recommenders were friends and even wives/husbands/mother(!) and that was not a deal-breaker though I don't know the statistics of unsuccessful applications. seems that alone it's not a factor

Upd. the college friend I have in mind is not my 'buddy' or 'best friend' it's a person who knows me well and can provide examples of my leadership experience and of course I have good relations with him
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Schools:Brown University, Harvard Business School
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Re: Please help with selection of recommenders [#permalink]
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1. none of recommenders will ever provide 'bad' feedback otherwise I would not choose that recommender and given that even in US, many rec. letters are firstly written by applicants and only after that (if ever) edited by recommenders, we can not expect any 'objectivity' here

True Dat! Buuuuut there are good recommendations and there are friggin AMAZING recommendations. And usually the difference is that the recommender is REALLY excited to help you out and participates in the process to make the recommendation even better.

2. what if my college mates might provide better examples of my leadership/charity experience or business-related traits than my clients?

It doesn't matter. They won't be worth anything.

3. many consultants point out frequent mistake that packages overconcentrate on work experience. Don't we make same mistake when choose current supervisor + peer colleague rather than current supervisor + college mate who knows me well for many years (not only in past but also in present)?

I don't necessarily agree with the first statement. So, no, not really.

4. don't my CV + job description essay + recommendation from current supervisor (who knows me for years and since the first day of work in the last place) say enough about my professional background. Will a recommendation from a colleague add much here??

No. A recommendation is not read for the information as much as it is used to gauge how your management feels about you. Yes, everybody gets good recommendations. But no, not everybody gets stellar literary works of art written by VIPS (but some do)

5. I do know cases in which the second recommenders were friends and even wives/husbands/mother(!) and that was not a deal-breaker though I don't know the statistics of unsuccessful applications. seems that alone it's not a factor

So do I, but only when there's a good reason (usually family business), and then usually candidates explain the reason and it makes sense to the Adcom. After all no one is going to throw away an application of a candidate from a good strong family business just because their uncle wrote the recommendation!
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Re: Please help with selection of recommenders [#permalink]

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