Letters of Recommendation - the guide

Letters of Recommendation

What to Provide a Recommender

• Cover Page
• Name of each school
• The Round you are applying and its deadline
• The first of many "thank you's" you should be writing to them
• A request for you Recommender's Information
  Note: this is because your recommender may not want schools to send them the forms to their work email or to call their work phone.
• Phone number
• Email address
• Home address
• Copies of each school's recommendation form (available on most school's websites)
• Positioning Statement: material similar to most school's essay #1
• Why you want an MBA
• Why you need an MBA NOW
• What your short and long term post MBA career goals are
• Accomplishments you want them to talk about
• Teams you have lead
• Improvements you have made
• Facts, Figures, Percentages, Statistics...any numbers you can provide to quantify your claims that they can reference
• Weaknesses
• How you are already working on improving these
• What will a school help you to overcome

Writing a Business School Recommendation

• Maturity
• Thoughtful decisions
• Self-control in stressful situations
• Work habits
• Self-confidence and poise
• Creativity
• Thoughtfulness
• Ability to listen
• Ability to work well with others
• Ability to motivate others
• Organizational and planning skills
• Judgment
• Leadership qualities
• Problem-solving & analysis
• Overall managerial potential

• Analytical ability
• Quantitative skills
• Mental agility
• Healthy skepticism
• Imagination and creativity
• Communication skills (written and oral)
• Mastery of other languages
• Thoroughness
• Research methods
• Breadth of scholarly interests

• Ethics
• Integrity
• Dependability
• Motivation
• Initiative
• Sense of humor
• Personal relationships
• Civic responsibility
• Dealings with “subordinates”
• Social skills

Some other tips:

• Feel free to use headings to organize your letter and make it easy to read
• Weaknesses: List what you view as your weak points in your profile
• A well-written letter – grammatically correct and organized – is very important
• They like it if you can show my growth and development over time
• Similarly, a drive to improve myself is well appreciated
• Quantify your claims (top 3 or 50% improvement or whatever)
• Discuss your view of how I meet the requirements of a top manager or leader
• Make sure you have the right school name on each letter (I hear this is a common mistake)
• Explain why you make a good recommender
• Don’t brag too much about the company; it’s all about me!

Questions to consider:

• How do I add value to (insert your company name)?
• How would I fit into the b-school environment?
• How do I fit into multicultural and international environments?

Appropriate Gifts for a Recommender

• A handwritten thank-you note included with all gifts
• Gift Certificates to a store or restaurant
• Bottle of wine, port, or other adult beverage depending on their known preference
• Box of chocolates
• Gift basket
• Tickets to a game, music event, or play
• Memorabilia from the school you were accepted into or matriculating (can be an additional gift if you already gave one earlier)
• Only you can decide how much you are willing to spend. Your recommenders most likely aren’t expecting anything, so this is a gesture of your gratitude. Whatever you decide, ensure that it is appropriate for the individual. The above examples will work well for some but not others. There is no consensus on whether to give the gift before or after an admittance, so it is up to your own judgment. If you're applying R1, the holidays is a great time to give a gift (big or small) and then give another one when your decisions come in. For other rounds, giving a gift either after all your recommendation letters have been submitted or after you receive decisions would both be appropriate.
• Some impressive gift ideas can be found here, here and here