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MBA recommendation letters are one of the most misunderstood parts of the application process. Many applicants focus on choosing the most senior recommender — when what actually matters is specificity, credibility, and examples of impact.
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08 May 2020, 16:13
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Hi everyone,
I have been a GMATClub member for a while now and that's because I started this journey in 2016. I took the GMAT that summer, and in a separate post of mine, talked about how I went from 690 to 770. But that's not what I want to focus on. Even with a high GMAT, it took me 4 consecutive years of applying to programs to finally be admitted to a dream school. I was accepted to London Business School recently, and I am incredibly hyped at the prospect of joining their class this fall with Covid19 situation. In fact, I feel as though school is one of the best places to be while we watch and observe the path the world will take to recover, and valuable lessons we can learn from this pandemic.
Before I continue, I want to provide a little background about myself for context. My career is in small startups, and I was actually a college dropout. I later finished my degree in 2015 in order to be eligible for b-school. I got lucky too, since my undergraduate degree was going to expire that year, meaning, if I had waited any longer, I would have had to start my degree from scratch (my undergraduate institution allows for a maximum of 8 years for you to complete your degree).
I dropped out because of a family tragedy that derailed my college experience early on, and in my case, I lost interest in school and had an incredibly low GPA, and was placed on academic probation. School didn't feel like the place for me, and I left 2 or 3 classes shy of graduating; I would rather go off and pursue work opportunities than stay another summer finishing up degree requirements I had not yet fulfilled. In retrospect, it seems immature, but at that moment in time, I was following what felt right.
The startup world was exciting. It was long hours, pizza boxes, sleepless nights (I know, suuper cliche), but the hustle and bustle of it kept my mind off sad thoughts and the feeling of loneliness. Having to be surrounded by friends who were all working towards the same goal was actually very warm and comforting, so I put all my time and attention into my work, and that time flew by. Before I knew it, several years had passed and the company that we had built from scratch, had grown A LOT! For those curious, it was a media company focused on K-Pop which was blowing up at the time. I realized however, that all that not focusing on school during undergraduate was coming back to bite me, and there was a lot I didn't know. When our CFO was talking to me, it was like listening to another language. I couldn't tell you anything about a balance sheet, and I downloaded the investopedia app just to know about basic finance and econ, and even then, half the time I had no idea what anything was. It was when I watched the Big Short and realized at the end of the movie I still had no idea what caused the 2008 crash, I knew I needed more education. And so, I set sail for an MBA which seemed to be the degree that would fit my sensibilities.
And let me tell you, in those 4 years, I've pretty much applied to every school in the Top 20, some even multiple times, and I'll admit, part of that was because I felt I scored so high on the GMAT that I absolutely had to go to a top ranked program, despite my abysmal GPA. And from those 4 years, I can say the MBA process still makes no sense. I've been interviewed at Booth, Sloan, and other M7s, while being rejected w/o interview at Marshall, UCLA, Ross, and so on.
This year, I decided enough was enough. My GMAT was going to expire, I'm getting old, I'm married and have a baby now, and if I'm going to send junior to Phillips Academy and buy 6 range rovers, I had to get in somewhere. So I hired a consultant. I went with Admissionado. And yes, this is me shilling out and writing a wall of text for Admissionado because I am positive they were the x-factor in helping me get the results I needed in this do-or-die year for me. They helped me with school selection (one of the T15 schools was my alma mater, and I specifically had avoided applying there in years past because I didn't want to be in the same place as my undergrad). They helped me craft an amazing application, and it was through this it became clear just how weak my essays were, and how different each school is with regards to the types of essays they look for. My consultant, Stefanie, knew inside out the essence of each program I was applying to, so I was able to create essays that fit with the tone of the school and that definitely helped. I probably should have just gone with consultants from the get-go, but I felt I my writing skills were quite good and it was one of those "How hard could it be?" kind of things. But yeah, having a consultant on your side for this process is definitely worth it, even though people on reddit seem very anti-consultant. And for the record, I chose Admissionado because they're marketing materials were cool and rad while others seemed super corporate, and working with Admissionado reflected that, I felt I had a close friend helping me the entire time which actually made the process a lot more enjoyable and bearable since I was also dealing with a pregnant wife and later newborn baby for most of the b-school process. In any case, I am finally glad to be done with this whole thing since LBS was my top choice program anywhere (I plan to do a lot of international work and LBS has a stronger brand name outside the U.S imo).
Thank you for reading!
I have been a GMATClub member for a while now and that's because I started this journey in 2016. I took the GMAT that summer, and in a separate post of mine, talked about how I went from 690 to 770. But that's not what I want to focus on. Even with a high GMAT, it took me 4 consecutive years of applying to programs to finally be admitted to a dream school. I was accepted to London Business School recently, and I am incredibly hyped at the prospect of joining their class this fall with Covid19 situation. In fact, I feel as though school is one of the best places to be while we watch and observe the path the world will take to recover, and valuable lessons we can learn from this pandemic.
Before I continue, I want to provide a little background about myself for context. My career is in small startups, and I was actually a college dropout. I later finished my degree in 2015 in order to be eligible for b-school. I got lucky too, since my undergraduate degree was going to expire that year, meaning, if I had waited any longer, I would have had to start my degree from scratch (my undergraduate institution allows for a maximum of 8 years for you to complete your degree).
I dropped out because of a family tragedy that derailed my college experience early on, and in my case, I lost interest in school and had an incredibly low GPA, and was placed on academic probation. School didn't feel like the place for me, and I left 2 or 3 classes shy of graduating; I would rather go off and pursue work opportunities than stay another summer finishing up degree requirements I had not yet fulfilled. In retrospect, it seems immature, but at that moment in time, I was following what felt right.
The startup world was exciting. It was long hours, pizza boxes, sleepless nights (I know, suuper cliche), but the hustle and bustle of it kept my mind off sad thoughts and the feeling of loneliness. Having to be surrounded by friends who were all working towards the same goal was actually very warm and comforting, so I put all my time and attention into my work, and that time flew by. Before I knew it, several years had passed and the company that we had built from scratch, had grown A LOT! For those curious, it was a media company focused on K-Pop which was blowing up at the time. I realized however, that all that not focusing on school during undergraduate was coming back to bite me, and there was a lot I didn't know. When our CFO was talking to me, it was like listening to another language. I couldn't tell you anything about a balance sheet, and I downloaded the investopedia app just to know about basic finance and econ, and even then, half the time I had no idea what anything was. It was when I watched the Big Short and realized at the end of the movie I still had no idea what caused the 2008 crash, I knew I needed more education. And so, I set sail for an MBA which seemed to be the degree that would fit my sensibilities.
And let me tell you, in those 4 years, I've pretty much applied to every school in the Top 20, some even multiple times, and I'll admit, part of that was because I felt I scored so high on the GMAT that I absolutely had to go to a top ranked program, despite my abysmal GPA. And from those 4 years, I can say the MBA process still makes no sense. I've been interviewed at Booth, Sloan, and other M7s, while being rejected w/o interview at Marshall, UCLA, Ross, and so on.
This year, I decided enough was enough. My GMAT was going to expire, I'm getting old, I'm married and have a baby now, and if I'm going to send junior to Phillips Academy and buy 6 range rovers, I had to get in somewhere. So I hired a consultant. I went with Admissionado. And yes, this is me shilling out and writing a wall of text for Admissionado because I am positive they were the x-factor in helping me get the results I needed in this do-or-die year for me. They helped me with school selection (one of the T15 schools was my alma mater, and I specifically had avoided applying there in years past because I didn't want to be in the same place as my undergrad). They helped me craft an amazing application, and it was through this it became clear just how weak my essays were, and how different each school is with regards to the types of essays they look for. My consultant, Stefanie, knew inside out the essence of each program I was applying to, so I was able to create essays that fit with the tone of the school and that definitely helped. I probably should have just gone with consultants from the get-go, but I felt I my writing skills were quite good and it was one of those "How hard could it be?" kind of things. But yeah, having a consultant on your side for this process is definitely worth it, even though people on reddit seem very anti-consultant. And for the record, I chose Admissionado because they're marketing materials were cool and rad while others seemed super corporate, and working with Admissionado reflected that, I felt I had a close friend helping me the entire time which actually made the process a lot more enjoyable and bearable since I was also dealing with a pregnant wife and later newborn baby for most of the b-school process. In any case, I am finally glad to be done with this whole thing since LBS was my top choice program anywhere (I plan to do a lot of international work and LBS has a stronger brand name outside the U.S imo).
Thank you for reading!
bigge2win
Joined: 18 Jul 2012
Last visit: 28 Jun 2020
Posts: 98
Given Kudos: 2
Location: United States (CA)
Schools: Ross '18 (A) Tuck '18 (WL) Duke '17 (WL)
GMAT 1: 700 Q49 V36
GPA: 3
WE:Operations (Insurance)
08 May 2020, 21:21
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Bookmarks
Congrats on the admit! Must be an incredible feeling since you spent so much heart and energy into it.
I am curious about more of your story if you don’t mind sharing. You got an incredible GMAT score 4 years ago that could make up for a bad GPA and you have decent work experience.
So what was it that became so different about your stories/narratives or so much more compelling this time? How’d your application and interviews evolve this year vs. the prior 3 years you applied?
Posted from my mobile device
I am curious about more of your story if you don’t mind sharing. You got an incredible GMAT score 4 years ago that could make up for a bad GPA and you have decent work experience.
So what was it that became so different about your stories/narratives or so much more compelling this time? How’d your application and interviews evolve this year vs. the prior 3 years you applied?
Posted from my mobile device
09 May 2020, 12:01
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Bookmarks
bigge2win
Hey there! I think in my case my background in startups was difficult to overcome. Especially a lot of the M7 schools, really want to see work experience at established companies with global recognition, so listing a bunch of no-name startups on your application is a very big hurdle. No one really knows how hard you're working, versus say someone at Goldman Sachs where b-schools will have a pretty good idea of not only how hard you are currently working, but also how hard you worked to even get there, so that alone sends some signals to schools. Over time, and especially this past year with the help of consultants, I figured out how to craft my story in a way that made for a much more compelling case as to why I need an MBA. When I was applying to undergrad many years ago, the feeling was that your GPA and SAT were going to carry you, and the essays were more of a formality. I'm sure that applies to some MBA applicants with eye-popping stats and work experience, but I've come to realize just how important the essays are for someone in my shoes. I did have a good reason for the low GPA, but a sub 2.5 GPA will still be a factor for school stats and that affects a school's rankings. I also felt in my early MBA attempts, I was trying to evoke sympathy by framing my essays in a "despite all this terrible stuff that happened to me here I am" kind of way, and later changing that to, "this is what I've accomplished and what I will accomplish, and the MBA will give me the tools to do that." I also put A LOT more time into interview prep, and had some better stories to share for the interviews as my work experience also grew, so that definitely helped. For example, South Korea was rattled by a few high profile celebrity suicides in a short span of time late last year, and my organization spearheaded several campaigns for suicide awareness and donated lots of money to suicide-prevention programs. London Business School also prefers candidates that are older and have more WE compared to most other MBA programs, so I felt that for that particular school, being on the older side was not going to work against me. Schools definitely have an age preference. I guess what I've learned most is that everyone has a story to tell and how you tell it is what is going to win people over. The MBA application is really a chance to tell your story, and the stats can only say so much.
