{"id":1228,"date":"2009-09-17T12:20:12","date_gmt":"2009-09-17T20:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=1228"},"modified":"2012-09-13T11:23:53","modified_gmt":"2012-09-13T18:23:53","slug":"why-do-i-need-a-letter-of-recommendation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/why-do-i-need-a-letter-of-recommendation\/","title":{"rendered":"“Why Do I Need a Letter of Recommendation?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Letters of recommendation (LORs) may seem like one last nagging and even redundant part of your MBA application process. After all, haven\u2019t you already devoted weeks, and possibly more, to writing and editing your essays? Haven\u2019t you already proven beyond a doubt to the adcom your outstanding qualifications through your polished essays, impressive resume and GMAT scores?<\/p>\n

Yes, by this time you may feel you have a hard-earned case of Application Season Fatigue Syndrome (not yet listed in the annals of medical literature), but take a deep breath and give your LORs your full attention, because they are read carefully and carry weight with adcoms. Strong LORs accomplish several important things all at once:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. They affirm that what you have claimed about yourself in your essays is true because they are written by a third-party.<\/li>\n
  2. They provide you the valuable opportunity to showcase additional managerial or leadership experiences or exemplary characteristics that you didn't have room to discuss in your essays. Therefore, they also showcase new and distinct qualifications.<\/li>\n
  3. They can combat a weakness in your profile. For example, if you're a quant jock, you can and should look for someone who can talk up your communication skills. Conversely, if you come from a non-traditional professional background, you can and should find a recommender who can talk up your quantitative and analytical skills.<\/li>\n
  4. Since they offer a complementary (and complimentary) perspective about your leadership, integrity, and other characteristics, LORs also help the adcom develop a fuller picture of who you are, not only as an academic profile, but as a well-rounded person of good character who can\u00a0 fit well with the school and its environment.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For these reasons, when the adcom wrestles with the decision of choosing between two otherwise equally qualified candidates, a stellar LOR can tip those precariously balanced scales in your favor. Conversely, LORs that seem to be written without enthusiasm or without adding any new material to what you\u2019ve already discussed can be the kiss of death to your application.<\/p>\n

    This post is excerpted from <\/em>MBA Letters of Recommendation that Rock<\/a>, by Linda Abraham and Judy Gruen<\/em>
    \nFor tips on how to score letters of recommendation that rock, you can buy your copy and save 25% through Friday, September 18th, with coupon code LOR.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Letters of recommendation (LORs) may seem like one last nagging and even redundant part of your MBA application process. After all, haven\u2019t you already devoted weeks, and possibly more, to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,6,939,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-current-events","category-accepted","category-interviews","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1228"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14238,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions\/14238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}