Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
May 1308:00 AM EDT
-09:00 AM EDT
Meet Tuck at an informal student or staff-hosted coffee chat in a city near you!
May 1310:00 AM EDT
-11:00 AM EDT
Applying to business school this year? Don’t miss Personal MBA Coach’s Top MBA Application Tips guide
May 1209:00 AM PDT
-10:00 AM PDT
Join us live on GMAT Club's YouTube Channel tomorrow and learn 10 Critical To Dos
May 1212:00 PM EDT
-12:30 PM EDT
Get the inside scoop on what makes Emory’s Goizueta Business School great and how you can present a strong MBA application. Explore the difference between our One-Year MBA and Two-Year MBA programs, talk to our admissions team, and meet students.- May 14
10:00 AM PDT
-11:00 AM PDT
MBA recommendation letters are one of the most misunderstood parts of the application process. Many applicants focus on choosing the most senior recommender — when what actually matters is specificity, credibility, and examples of impact. 
May 1410:00 AM EDT
-10:30 AM EDT
Sia Admissions is hosting a free live session on MBA recommendation letters this Thursday, May 14 at 10 AM ET on YouTube.
May 1505:00 PM PDT
-06:00 PM PDT
Inquire for a free profile evaluation and guarantee statement for possible admits and scholarships!- Jun 10
06:00 AM PDT
-06:15 PM PDT
Register for the GMAT Club Virtual MBA Spotlight Fair – the world’s premier event for serious MBA candidates. This is your chance to hear directly from Admissions Directors at nearly every Top 30 MBA program..
SilverBull
Joined: 04 Dec 2014
Last visit: 09 Jun 2016
Posts: 201
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 48
Location: United States
Concentration: Finance, Economics
Schools: Booth '18 (M$) Tuck '18 (WL) Wharton '18 (D) HBS '18 (D) McCombs '18 (A$) Johnson '18 (A$) Goizueta '18 (A)
GMAT 1: 680 Q43 V41
GMAT 2: 760 Q49 V45
GPA: 3.18
WE:Analyst (Mutual Funds and Brokerage)
Products:
Schools: Booth '18 (M$) Tuck '18 (WL) Wharton '18 (D) HBS '18 (D) McCombs '18 (A$) Johnson '18 (A$) Goizueta '18 (A)
GMAT 2: 760 Q49 V45
Posts: 201
Kudos:
85
07 May 2015, 06:01
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hey all,
Thank you upfront for any help on this topic. I am having the most difficult time with the recommendation part of the business school application. i frankly don't have a deep bench of recommenders due to the fact that I haven't worked in my industry for more than 3 years (I worked retail before finance) and most of my bosses were short lived (finance tends to have a lot of turnover). In addition, my current boss seems unwilling to write me a recommendation letter because he doesn't want to contribute to me leaving the firm; the boss wants me to stay and work for him.
How important are these recommendations if the rest of my application is at the very least within average or above average (looking at my GMAT here) and do you all have any advice with regard to a possible strategy? Thanks!
Thank you upfront for any help on this topic. I am having the most difficult time with the recommendation part of the business school application. i frankly don't have a deep bench of recommenders due to the fact that I haven't worked in my industry for more than 3 years (I worked retail before finance) and most of my bosses were short lived (finance tends to have a lot of turnover). In addition, my current boss seems unwilling to write me a recommendation letter because he doesn't want to contribute to me leaving the firm; the boss wants me to stay and work for him.
How important are these recommendations if the rest of my application is at the very least within average or above average (looking at my GMAT here) and do you all have any advice with regard to a possible strategy? Thanks!
gcb09173
Joined: 23 Oct 2014
Last visit: 20 Oct 2015
Posts: 188
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 36
Concentration: Finance, Strategy
Schools: LBS '17 (M$)
07 May 2015, 07:44
Kudos
Bookmarks
Yeh theyre pretty crucial. Its the only thing AdComs get to reassure them that you are the wonderful person you have made out in your essays.
Basically they want the recommendations to align to everything you have said in your essays - but they also want them to shower you in praise - state that you're the best employee theyve ever had and you're destined for greatness.
I'd definitely say identify the potential people you think could give you decent recs - ask them for a coffee or catch up and lay out what it is you're wanting to do and why etc. Explain you're trying to identify who could rec and thought they might be suitable - then have a list of th equalities the school is looking for and ask them if they are comfortable saying they think you would be an ideal candidate given those qualities (and that they can provide examples of this in their time spent working with you.)
If they agree then I'd advise you prepare them a recommender pack - basically the questions they will be asked and prompts as to the projects/work you have done with that person that shows those qualities the schools seeks to help them identify and be able to remember what exaclty you have done (especially if those recs are from a year or two back) - this will help them writing your rec and ensure that the things they speak about are consistent to your wider story. (prompts should be prompts - limited bullet points to jog their memory rather than detailed points where they might end up copy pasting!)
Whilst I understand why your boss may feel like that - that kind of attitude will result in him never building great teams. I was in a similar boat in that I was particularly keen not to use my current boss - she wouldn't take it the right way, and I would've kissed goodbye to all the interesting projects and promotion over the last 6 months.
Very fortunately I had a senior member of the team who has plenty of work experience etc who was very approachable and understood my aspirations - I therefore approached him about writing the reference which he did and given we worked closely on a number of projects he was able to give some very detailed obversations. If there is someone like this that you can use then that would be completely acceptable. BS's are aware that people might want to avoid using current bosses but giving them a more senior person who has first hand experience of your work will satisfy them. They will also be likely to give you a glowing reference without any fear of losing one of their 'employees'.
For your other rec - you kinda want to use someone else who has a sustained level of experience working with you so a year plus etc. It may be that you need to find two people from your current job like the above but without a more detailed work history it would be hard to make suggestions
Basically they want the recommendations to align to everything you have said in your essays - but they also want them to shower you in praise - state that you're the best employee theyve ever had and you're destined for greatness.
I'd definitely say identify the potential people you think could give you decent recs - ask them for a coffee or catch up and lay out what it is you're wanting to do and why etc. Explain you're trying to identify who could rec and thought they might be suitable - then have a list of th equalities the school is looking for and ask them if they are comfortable saying they think you would be an ideal candidate given those qualities (and that they can provide examples of this in their time spent working with you.)
If they agree then I'd advise you prepare them a recommender pack - basically the questions they will be asked and prompts as to the projects/work you have done with that person that shows those qualities the schools seeks to help them identify and be able to remember what exaclty you have done (especially if those recs are from a year or two back) - this will help them writing your rec and ensure that the things they speak about are consistent to your wider story. (prompts should be prompts - limited bullet points to jog their memory rather than detailed points where they might end up copy pasting!)
Whilst I understand why your boss may feel like that - that kind of attitude will result in him never building great teams. I was in a similar boat in that I was particularly keen not to use my current boss - she wouldn't take it the right way, and I would've kissed goodbye to all the interesting projects and promotion over the last 6 months.
Very fortunately I had a senior member of the team who has plenty of work experience etc who was very approachable and understood my aspirations - I therefore approached him about writing the reference which he did and given we worked closely on a number of projects he was able to give some very detailed obversations. If there is someone like this that you can use then that would be completely acceptable. BS's are aware that people might want to avoid using current bosses but giving them a more senior person who has first hand experience of your work will satisfy them. They will also be likely to give you a glowing reference without any fear of losing one of their 'employees'.
For your other rec - you kinda want to use someone else who has a sustained level of experience working with you so a year plus etc. It may be that you need to find two people from your current job like the above but without a more detailed work history it would be hard to make suggestions
SilverBull
Joined: 04 Dec 2014
Last visit: 09 Jun 2016
Posts: 201
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 48
Location: United States
Concentration: Finance, Economics
Schools: Booth '18 (M$) Tuck '18 (WL) Wharton '18 (D) HBS '18 (D) McCombs '18 (A$) Johnson '18 (A$) Goizueta '18 (A)
GMAT 1: 680 Q43 V41
GMAT 2: 760 Q49 V45
GPA: 3.18
WE:Analyst (Mutual Funds and Brokerage)
Products:
Schools: Booth '18 (M$) Tuck '18 (WL) Wharton '18 (D) HBS '18 (D) McCombs '18 (A$) Johnson '18 (A$) Goizueta '18 (A)
GMAT 2: 760 Q49 V45
Posts: 201
Kudos:
85
08 May 2015, 11:39
Kudos
Bookmarks
gcb09173
Thank you very much for the help. It gave me a push so that I could all of this in order. Considering I want to get into the top schools in the country. Hope you are liking your MBA program!
