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How to Score a Great Letter of Recommendation

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Learn how to score a great letter of recommendation from your professors.

Don’t just score well on the GMAT. Score a great letter of recommendation.

When applying to business school, it’s tempting to only focus—or focus too heavily—on your GMAT score. After all, that’s within your control, the result of stellar GMAT prep. But any and every part of your business school application can give you that edge you need. Letters of recommendation are especially important when it comes to demonstrating your people skills and work ethic—things you can’t demonstrate with even the highest possible test score.

It can feel daunting or, even worse, awkward, to find someone to write a good letter of recommendation, especially if you do not feel particularly close with any of your professors. Maybe most of your classes were too big to forge close ties with the profs, or maybe you crafted a multidisciplinary major that meant you never took the same instructor twice. Whatever the reason, this is a concern many students face.

Here are some tips to overcoming this hurdle and scoring a great letter of recommendation from any professor.

Be prepared

Before you even ask for a letter of recommendation, make sure your resume is updated, and that you have recent copies of your transcript on hand. In addition, write a short bio for yourself that illustrates personal characteristics your resume and transcript might gloss over.

For example, if you were heavily involved in an organization, internship, or other extracurricular activity, write a bit about that. Detail how it impacted you, what you contributed, and the skills you gained. This allows a professor who might not know you well to learn about you on a more personal level.

Don’t wait for the last minute

Ask each professor for a letter of recommendation several months before applications are due. Professors have busy schedules, so make sure you are abundantly clear about the dates on which the letters need to be submitted, precisely where they need to go, and to whom they should be addressed.

Not only is advanced notice just a matter of common courtesy, but it will also save you a lot of stress, allowing you to focus on other important aspects of your business school applications.

Have good reasons to need letters of recommendation in the first place

The first thing your professor may ask when you request a letter of recommendation is, “What is this letter for?” When you reply, go one step further than “um, so I can get into business school.”

Think about why you are going to business school.

If you have not already done so, reflecting upon your true intentions and long-term motivations is something you should do anyway. Come up with a clear set of reasons for pursuing this goal, and tell your professor when you pose your request. This will help her or him tailor your letter of recommendation around the real, personalized reasons you want to attend the business school.

Follow up

After you ask, make sure you check in with your professor periodically. Immediately after you ask in person, follow up with a brief “thank you” email for their time and consideration. If you’ve heard nothing in two to three weeks, depending on when they told you they’d complete the letter (remember, allow plenty of time!), send a polite email reminder, including any important links—as well as the deadline—for their convenience. Remember, they are doing you a favor, so make things as easy as possible for them. Don’t forget to thank them again at the end of every piece of correspondence.

There is a fine line between polite reminders and pestering, so be courteous and space your emails out every few weeks. Once they finish the letter, send them a thank you note. For this ultimate gesture, handwritten letters are better than emails, and delivering it in person is just an added bonus.

Finally, when you decide on your school or job, don’t forget to inform those profs who wrote your letters. They took the time to endorse you, and they want to hear where you’re headed next. That’s the best kind of thanks they can get.

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The post How to Score a Great Letter of Recommendation appeared first on Business School Insider.