Letters of recommendation: politicians?

Question

I was wondering if it would make sense to get recommendation letters from politicians. Most of the applications I have read so far ask for people that have worked closely with you for an extended period of time, but I have to think you'd want to balance that with the most impressive people possible.

So are politicians something I should consider? I'm friends with the mayor of a major metro, a congressman, and some other local state politicians. I haven't worked for or with them since I'm not in government or political work.

If I have a chance to work with them professionally even as a volunteer, are these the kind of people that would be excellent to have a letter of recommendation from? Or are adcoms just going to roll their eyes?

westsider · Answer

So, you are getting a recommendation from your (successful) friends? I really don't see why it matters what their job is. Since you haven't worked with them I don't see why it would be relevant. Everyone has "impressive" friends (I used to be friends with Gary Condit . Seriously), and even cooler life stories. The adcom won't be impressed. I would think that if you do this the adcoms might permanently damage their vision rolling their eyes so hard. That is unless you counterbalance with a letter of rec from your mom :-D

kryzak · Answer

bad idea... very bad idea to just get a rec letter because someone is famous.

I strongly recommend you get Richard Montauk's MBA Application book and read the recommendation section. Almost anyone will tell you that the admissions committee makes it an office joke when they get a recommendation letter for a candidate from someone famous that the candidate has never worked for before.

You're safer off with someone you've worked for extensively. By extensively, more than 1 year would be good.

kruton · Answer

Great. That's what I was thinking. I made the mistake of mentioning I took the GMAT and got an offer to write a recommendation. I initially brushed it off since I already filed my application with two letters of recommendations from people I've worked with for several years. I'm just going to put it out of my mind now :-)

RVD · Answer

if the person is famous and you have worked closely with that person, then i think it's great. if you worked as Bill Gates' assistant for 2 years, it would be great to get a recommendation from him.

i have met some high profile CEOs and have been working pretty closely with one for the past 5 years. I meet him 2-3 times per year (which is a lot for a guy like him). He would have written a pretty nice recommendation for me but since we don't work together on an almost daily basis, i opted against it.

and if you work at microsoft and you've seen bill gates at some company functions and that's the extent of how you know him...uh, no.

or if you're getting a recommendation from pamela anderson because she's hot and you met her at a party....uh, no.

RVD.

kryzak · Answer

LOL!

quoted for truth.

Letters of recommendation: politicians?

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