Calling all HBS Fall 2010 Candidates

Recommendations
Date: August 24, 2009

I stand by our general advice on recommendations: the most important thing is to choose people who know you well enough to answer the questions we are asking. Many recommendations are well-written and enthusiastic in their praise but essentially full of adjectives and short on actual examples of how your wonderful qualities play out in real life. What we are hoping for are brief recounts of specific situations and how you performed.

We ask for three — and we are fine with several different combinations. It's fine to have all three recommendations come from your current firm/organization. It's fine to have one from a former employer. It's also fine to have one come from someone who has supervised or observed you in a non-work situation — community service or campus leadership, for example. Note that we are not looking for a peer recommendation — we find it most helpful if there is some developmental distance between you and the recommender. The exception to this might be when you have worked on an entrepreneurial venture or project and the only person able to help us understand your involvement is a partner or colleague.

Please realize that we are considering these recommendations in the context of your entire application — we are not creating a detailed map of the titles and resumes of your recommenders and setting up an elaborate hierarchy.

Please don't ask current HBS students to write to us on your behalf outside of the formal recommendation process. Candidates are not advantaged in the application process by either professional or personal associations with our students.

If you are worried about how we will interpret your choice or recommenders, simply write a (brief) explanation in the "additional information" section of the application.

Especially in these unusual times, please don't jeopardize your employment in order to secure a recommendation from a current employer. While we might wish that all bosses were enthusiastic and encouraging about business school for their emerging leaders, this is not a universal sentiment. Make your best judgment call about whom to ask, make sure they understand what we're asking, explain your choices to us if you think you should... and that's it!