Asking the same person for multiple letters of recommendation

Question

Hi all,

I was hoping to apply to multiple MBA programs (around 5) and I was wondering if you think it is okay to ask my manager to submit letters of rec for each program? I do not want to bother them because I know 5 is a lot but I also know that a lot of schools do not require super long letters and I am sure some of the same material can be used across programs. Do you think it is a good idea to ask the same person to write the letters? Thank you!

MBADecoder · Answer

Hi Nishta,

Most b-schools out there want your first letter of rec to come from your current supervisor. They are however flexible about this requirement. If you feel that asking your supervisor is going to cause problems for you at work, then b-schools understand, and are ok with you submitting it from another person, so long as you explain your choice through the application. These other people can be past supervisors, past employers, clients, senior colleagues - people who know your work very well and can answer both the strength and weakness related prompts.

Now, going by this, you should be taking the recos from the same bunch of people  (as your supervisors would not change that often). It will be logistcally impossible for you to scout for new people for every reco and not all of them will know your experience well enough to make a wholehearted recommendation.

The good news is that many b-schools need the common LOR which asks the same bunch of questions. This was introduced sometime in 2015 for the very purpose of making reccommendation writing easier for refrees. Even for b-schools such as Kellogg, where the reco prompts differ slightly as compared to the common LOR, it will not be an entirely new effort for your recommender to write the reco. They will need to write an additional answer and shorten other answers. 
So, what I am trying to tell is that while there may be slight variations in the reco prompts depending upon b-schools, but the basic material they write once can largely be used across recommendations. Ofcourse, you may want to change your content strategy a little here and there, depending upon the b-school you are applying to and what they seek from applicants. But even then, it will not be a new effort from scratch

My suggestion is, select 1-2 supervisors you can trust with writing all your recos. And be extra nice to them so that they continue to help you out. And do all the extra load of work they thrust upon you for this favor, with a smile.

Namita Garg,  
 Founder, MBA Decoder 
 Email:   contact@mbadecoder.com 
  Reach out to us   for a NO-obligation Profile evaluation

MBAGuide · Answer

Nishtapatel I agree with Namita, you can utilize the common GMAC LOR format to guide your recommenders for most schools and have them refurbish the content for schools that follow slightly different formats. I am happy to share some tips that you could use to work with your recommenders The Secret Sauce for Outstanding Letters of Recommendation : MBA Archive (gmatclub.com) How To Select Your Recommenders : The B-School Applications (gmatclub.com) Get personalized advice tailored to your unique circumstances in the B School admissions process. Reapplying? Get a free ding analysis Best wishes Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alum, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer) Founder, MBAGuideConsulting LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/ | Message(WA): +91 9971200927| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com

Asking the same person for multiple letters of recommendation

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