Calling all US Military Fall 2009 applicants!

wanted add something to the topic of recommendations.

i concur with the quality over rank advice. I know in the previous post, i made a snark about officers and such, but all kidding aside, some of the officers i've run into makes you think twice about the value of a college education. you can quickly those officers who graduated with a degree in P.E. just to qualify to get into OCS. so my advice, go to your superiors who really know who you are, the great, good, bad, and ugly characteristics. i'm going to attach a transcript of an interview with a Stanford application reviewer who gave tips and a general talk about how to approach a potential recommender and advice to the person writing the recommendation. it's really great. i've personally given every one of my recommenders a copy of this transcript and the feedback that i've received from all of them has been very positive about its guidance.

I've got a mix of civvy recommenders mixed with my mil recommendations, trying to get a good mix to show a well rounded picture of who I am, and have decided to go "out of the box" with a few recommendations. For instance: for my HBS application, I asked my Chaplain if he could recommend me. Although not in my chain of command, he was able to see the positive contributions via troop morale I was able to make after I was attached to a particular company of Marines.

So again, just because a guy has an oak cluster doesn't necessarily mean he's the best guy to ask for recommendations. Read the Stanford Transcript I've attached, and as the last of the 3 knights from the Last Crusades would say, "Choose Wisely".