Gifts for recommenders

Thanks! He's not a vegetarian and I know he likes to grill/barbecue. I'm generally on board with the traditional gift of scotch, but I've never seen him drink it - just the occasional beer.

I got my guys pre-order, premium editions of the new Star Wars Galaxies MMO. I work in tech, what do you expect! My boss loves it.

got my boss a bottle of Georges de Latour, $100 bottle wine + the new steve jobs book

that should do the trick!

I got them a signed copy of a book (not a textbook) from a professor at the school I visited and applied to

LOL! Hilarious.

Anyhoo after all the school visits and other personal expelnses, I was low on dough so I went the sentimental route. Wrote some 'deep and meaningful' thank you cards, gave them magnets with quotes that were relevant to them and their goals, and also Barnes and Noble Gift cards.

When I hear back from all my schools, and notify them that I have picked a school..... I'll give them some liquor

I'm noticing a trend toward enabling our recommenders for drunkenness. NICE!

I got my one recommender a fine assortment of chocolates. (He likes chocolates A LOT!)
I got my other recommender a very nice gourmet cheese platter from one of the more expensive shops around town. (She loves cheeses)

I took them both out the lunch (separately) at a very nice restaurant.

I also wrote both of them personal hand written thank you notes (1 page long) on good stationary and gave it to them along with the gifts.

Being a re-app this is the second year i will be getting gifts for my recommenders. Last year i had multiple recommenders spread across schools so I had a decent amount of gifts to buy. I ended up getting them bottles of scotch, whiskey, or wine. Luckily all of them drank.

This year i Have fewer, but they wrote them this year and last. I was going to get them scotch/wine but nicer bottles. I am waiting until I get into a school and decide (hopefully it works out) and send it to them with a school banner, i figure its a good way to remember me. I always include a hand written thank you card to make it a little more personal.

Since I work for an alcohol beverage company, I chose not to buy my boss booze. He can get it any time he wants for free as can I. In fact, I love that someone bought a bottle of Jameson 18YO as that is one of the products we sell.

Anyway, I went with cigars. Davidoffs do the trick.

I got my recommenders unconventional gifts and they both were really happy with them.

Recommender #1 is currently taking time off to be a mom, with a consultant gig on the side. She often complained about how she had a really old version of Microsoft Office at home, which caused problems not only with providing me comments on my essays (she offered to review them for me) but also with her consulting job and simple tasks like sending out Christmas cards. I bought her a copy of the latest Microsoft Office with all the bells and whistles.

My other recommender has a huge sweet tooth and is the only man I know that watches "Cupcake Wars" on the Food Network. Well, he claims his wife forces him to watch it but his constant references to the show suggest otherwise haha. I researched the show and it turns out one of the judges owns a chain of cupcake stores - a branch of which is across the street from me. It was a no brainer - he got a box of Sprinkles cupcakes, the price of which makes you wonder if they're made of gold.

Bottomline: If you know your recommenders well enough, take a moment and think about your interactions with them over the last few months. It should be pretty clear what will make them happy.

Unfortunately for me, I don't know my recommenders well enough to customize their gifts.... all I got for them is $75 Dillard's gift card

For those who have already given thank you gifts, how long did you wait before giving something to your recommender? Immediately after the last recommendation? A few weeks?

I gave them gifts maybe 2 weeks after they sent in the LOR.

i tend to wait until I have decisions from 80-90% of my schools as I am trying to include something specific to the school I will choose.

JN, i'm more of a bushmills kind of guy go diageo!

I gave my direct supervisor a gift a few days before she submitted her final reco. I sent my other professional recommender his gift a few days after he submitted his final one. I have two more to go and they will be out by the end of February. Since they put work into the recos on my behalf I feel as though they should be thanked no matter what. Since my other two recommenders only did one I will go lower key for their gifts. A handwritten thank you card and maybe some chocolates or something.

I'm having a couple pounds of pastrami from Katz's delivered to my former boss, who was born and raised in New York. It will come with a half a loaf of rye bread, Katz's mustard and some spiced pickles, too! He's going to love it, and I can't wait to see his face when he opens up the box after it arrives sometime this week.

The same goes for my former boss's boss, who just fell in love with Katz's when he tried it recently.