mgmz123
does anyone know what sloan’s recommendation questions are for this year?
Hey all, I can definitively confirm that MIT Sloan’s recommendation questions are the ones that are posted on their application website (
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/mba/admissions/how-to-apply) and detailed on the "Recommendation Instructions" tab of their online application portal (if you’ve started one). I have pasted them below.
MIT Sloan used the "common recommendation questions" for years but (unfortunately) changed / updated them this year. If the old questions were mentioned during an info session, then it seems that whatever presentation was being used was not updated.
These questions are still in the same orbit as the "common questions," and these are really things that your recommenders might ideally have been talking about in recommendation responses anyway (e.g., in the typical "performance and strengths" question) -- only here, MIT Sloan has decided to be even more prescriptive with what they want to hear.
For all recommendations, remember that schools want **specific examples** to support any claims or strengths described. The bar for specificity in a strong recommendation is high.
(This is more of an aside, and my view from doing this for a long time, but any time another school strays from the common questions -- e.g., Kellogg with its extra LOR question, NYU Stern with its extra LOR question, Wharton with its differently worded questions, and now MIT Sloan with its differently worded questions -- I find that it significantly increases the workload for recommenders, which increases the likelihood that recommenders are going to ask applicants to write the recommendations. But alas, MIT Sloan has decided to make the change.)
Anyway, here are this year’s MIT Sloan recommendation questions:
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Please upload a letter or one document that addresses the following questions and cites specific examples or observations about the candidate. Recommendations should be no longer than two pages.
1. How long and in what capacity have you known the applicant?
2. How does the applicant stand out from others in a similar capacity?
3. Please give an example of the applicant’s impact on a person, group, or organization.
4. Please give a representative example of how the applicant interacts with other people.
5. Please tell us anything else you think we should know about this applicant.
6. Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant’s response.