Sabotaged by Recommender

Question

In Montauk's book he says that admission's officers estimate one in ten recommenders sabotage the person they are writing a recommenation for. He goes on to say that it's not always blatant stuff like, "Johnnyx9 is a complete disaster, I wouldn't let him into your school," but sometimes it's obvious sabotage through faint praise like, "Johnnyx9 has a been a good worker. He gets most of his projects completed on time, and he knows how to use the internet very well."

So one in ten seems really high right? At first I was thinking, "Yeah, plenty of dimwits apply to b-school, I'm sure a lot of them just lack the emotional intelligence or self awareness to pick someone who they know likes them and will write a good rec," but the more I think about it, I think that it's probably pretty random.

Most people try to get a rec from their current supervisor. What are the odds that everybody has a supervisor who is willing or capable of writing a good rec? I had one former manager I was going to use for a rec but the more I thought about it the more I was thinking about the time at the company xmas party his wife was really drunk and kept trying to drag me on the dance floor. So I was getting paranoid thinking of all the reasons why different people might secretly be trying to bring me down.

Maybe there's someone who genuinely does like me, but they would get a sick rush of schadenfreude if they stabbed me in the back. Maybe they have a hidden little jealous streak. Maybe they're thinking, "Oh, this hot shot thinks he's going to go to some hot shot school? He thinks he's better than me? I'll show him who has the power."

So I know the common wisdom is that b-schools think an applicant should have enough good judgement to pick someone who will definitely write them a good recommendation. But there are plenty of people with good judgement who marry people that they think they know, and then later find out they married a transvestite (not that there's anything wrong with that) or that their husband is a lecherous loser, or their wife is secretly addicted to painkillers.

The bottom line is, you never really know anyone as well as you think you do. If you get rejected from a school it's a shame that you can never know if you were stabbed in the back by a recommender. But of course most people never think twice, most people are like "Oh I have great recommendations." Do you really?

gmatmba · Answer

Yes I was/am worried about this aspect. In fact, I was getting nightmares so ended up calling one of the recommenders to verify he changed all instances of the school names when he used the same template for multiple schools

fluffydot · Answer

I think the same thing goes for any aspect of personal/professional life. How many have had managers that say to you "great job! I love what you've been doing..." but also pass you over for a promotion or raise, or totally screw you on the bonus?

I would rather use someone who I can REALLY trust.

gmatclb · Answer

I think this recommendation requirement is BS.

I think it's there to prevent applicants from applying to too many schools. You wouldn't ask your direct supervisor to write 10 different recos.

I would have applied to more schools if it were not for the recos.

It'll be a shame if a school denies us because of some reco that is BS anyway.

GMATT73 · Answer

One of my recommenders put so much effort into his comments that when I asked him to write for a safety school, he politely refused. He forgot to back up his comments (which I waived the right to see) and honestly replied that it was simply too much work. I think he said he invested about three or four full days of his winter vacation.

johnnyx9 · Answer

That's amazing that he put that much time into your recs. Hopefully he wasn't spending all that time figuring out how to really sabotage you (just kidding!) 

I think one of my recommenders spent a good amount of time, and the other I wasn't sure of at first. But then I heard from another friend who is applying, and who had actually asked this same person for a rec, that she hadn't started his rec the morning his app was due, so when he reminded her it was due, she cranked it out in like an hour. Hopefully she spent more time on mine.

rhyme · Answer

One of mine wrote an 11 page rec that read like professional poetry. It was oustanding in every way. I don't know how long he put into it, but I'd venture it took him at least 20 hours.

lepium · Answer

An interesting analysis on recommendations from mbaapplicant.

QUOTE
A Final Comment on the Letter of Recommendation

You may hear from some admissions people that they put a great deal of emphasis on letters of recommendation. I hope, for the sake of applicants, that they are bluffing to justify putting your recommender through an arduous process. The quality of your recommendation is so closely tied to your recommender's ability to write that it wouldn't be fair to place much emphasis on it. Some recommenders are very good writers, and some have even gone to top MBA schools and know what to write about. Others are terrible writers and don't know what the admissions people are looking for.

If you don't believe that the recommendation is more reflective of the writer than of the applicant, then have your boss write a letter for you. I'll make up a recommendation for your officemate (against whom you are competing for a spot at Wharton). You can judge for yourself which candidate looks better on paper.
UNQUOTE

And here's the link:

https://www.mbaapplicant.com/6_recommendations.htm

Sabotaged by Recommender

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