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GMATT73
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Recommender playing hardball 18 Dec 2006, 12:11
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So here I am ready to submit for R2 and my supervisor starts playing mind games with the recommendation I politely asked him for last month. (even gave him a template and resume for extra guidance) No e-mail replies, no returned phone-calls; he even hides in the office whenever I'm around. WTF?? I swear he must be the same person that left those anonymous nasty little post-its on my desk a couple months ago.

The supervisor above him doesn't know me well enough in a professional capacity to write anything compelling.

Already have a peer in Tokyo writing the other recommendation, and another peer recently offered just to ease the anxiety. Darn, I need to come up with a backup plan fast!
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rhyme
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Recommender playing hardball 18 Dec 2006, 17:32
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That sucks man....
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homefry
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Recommender playing hardball 18 Dec 2006, 18:42
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I know how you feel.

I'm in a worse position because my recommender (boss) sits right beside me and I can clearly see his computer monitor and he is clearly not busy.

The other day, I was reminding him about he letter while he was surfing the web and he says, out loud, " FU$$ man, it's Friday."

Yeah, I know.
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Recommender playing hardball 18 Dec 2006, 18:46
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I really don't know what to suggest. That's just a terrible situation. If you try to make him write the rec, it will probably be half-hearted. If you don't get the rec from him it won't look good - especially if you can't get another supervisor from your current job. I'm going to think about this some and see if I can help with a creative solution.
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Recommender playing hardball 18 Dec 2006, 18:52
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Can you write one and get him to sign it? take him out for dinner and buy him drinks ;)
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batchgmat
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Recommender playing hardball 18 Dec 2006, 19:06
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homefry
I know how you feel.

I'm in a worse position because my recommender (boss) sits right beside me and I can clearly see his computer monitor and he is clearly not busy.

The other day, I was reminding him about he letter while he was surfing the web and he says, out loud, " FU$$ man, it's Friday."

Yeah, I know.
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Holy sh*T that would piss me off. Jeez, some people. You know, man, once you get into your school of choice, don't feel obligated to give him anything more than 2 weeks. I know its being vindicative, but man.

GMATT73, maybe you could write it as willget800 suggested? Or, I know some consulting firms will interview the recommender and write a rec for them. (Accepted.com does it I think)
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GMATT73
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Recommender playing hardball 19 Dec 2006, 00:45
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batchgmat
homefry
I know how you feel.

I'm in a worse position because my recommender (boss) sits right beside me and I can clearly see his computer monitor and he is clearly not busy.

The other day, I was reminding him about he letter while he was surfing the web and he says, out loud, " FU$$ man, it's Friday."

Yeah, I know.

Holy sh*T that would piss me off. Jeez, some people. You know, man, once you get into your school of choice, don't feel obligated to give him anything more than 2 weeks. I know its being vindicative, but man.

GMATT73, maybe you could write it as willget800 suggested? Or, I know some consulting firms will interview the recommender and write a rec for them. (Accepted.com does it I think)
Show more


I've seriously considered that option. It could have disasterous repercussions though if the adcoms notice any parallel lines of reasoning or similiarities in grammatical structure. Pretty sure they are savvy to picking out those clues these days. I also considered the client option, but all of the schools I am applying to require an immediate supervisor's recommendation.

In my industry, 99.8% of my colleagues work as translators, interpreters, and corporate trainers or instructors reporting to one Kansai regional manager --Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto. He is unfortunately the ONLY boss who is familiar with my work on a professional level, and since most of my work is done autonomously, our relationship is perfunctory at best.

It's like he's relishing his position of power to decide the fate of my future. #*@#!
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homefry
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Recommender playing hardball 19 Dec 2006, 17:45
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Just write it yourself. The adcomms are not mindreaders. Writing two might be different.

But writing one won't be bad.


GMATT73
batchgmat
homefry
I know how you feel.

I'm in a worse position because my recommender (boss) sits right beside me and I can clearly see his computer monitor and he is clearly not busy.

The other day, I was reminding him about he letter while he was surfing the web and he says, out loud, " FU$$ man, it's Friday."

Yeah, I know.

Holy sh*T that would piss me off. Jeez, some people. You know, man, once you get into your school of choice, don't feel obligated to give him anything more than 2 weeks. I know its being vindicative, but man.

GMATT73, maybe you could write it as willget800 suggested? Or, I know some consulting firms will interview the recommender and write a rec for them. (Accepted.com does it I think)

I've seriously considered that option. It could have disasterous repercussions though if the adcoms notice any parallel lines of reasoning or similiarities in grammatical structure. Pretty sure they are savvy to picking out those clues these days. I also considered the client option, but all of the schools I am applying to require an immediate supervisor's recommendation.

In my industry, 99.8% of my colleagues work as translators, interpreters, and corporate trainers or instructors reporting to one Kansai regional manager --Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto. He is unfortunately the ONLY boss who is familiar with my work on a professional level, and since most of my work is done autonomously, our relationship is perfunctory at best.

It's like he's relishing his position of power to decide the fate of my future. #*@#!
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sujith
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Recommender playing hardball 19 Dec 2006, 18:45
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do you have a relative with distinct writing style?