Thank you gifts to recommendation writers - average amount?

Question

I know this is a little out of season (I'm going for Jan 09) but I guess it will still be a relevant matter in a few months for the R1-ers.

I know people get gift cards and bottles of nice alcohol as gifts for recommendation writers.... what's the "average" price one should spend on this. I have heard $25 gift card for 1 rec letter and as high as $180. Just wondering what people's thoughts are on this....

Thanks!
I don't know how to use the search feature here, so if it's already been posted in the past if someone can help me find it I can delete this topic.

agold · Answer

I plan to spend in the range of ~ $50 per recommender.

fall09 · Answer

I plan to spend $25/letter.

k88 · Answer

Mine all have fairly different tastes so I'm taking them to a group dinner, I think it'll be about $80-$100 per person.

isa · Answer

I'm planning 1 gift around $75 for each recommender close to christmas, and then a smaller one if I get in to the schools in the spring...

Ntang · Answer

Maybe I'm a little out of left field here, but it strikes me as a little tacky to buy something super nice for someone who wrote an honest critique of your abilities for a grad school app. I'll probably buy a school t-shirt for each of my recommenders. Maybe a mug. Nothing terribly swanky, though - smacks of poor taste to me.

Then again, none of my recommenders are accustomed to writing B-school recs...

Then again, none of my recommenders are accustomed to writing B-school recs...

isa · Answer

From my end, it's more as a way to say thank you for the hours the recommenders spent in writing. Not really to say "thanks for giving me a good rec" but more "thanks for spending your entire Saturday on this".

Tarmac · Answer

No gift is fine if they only did 1 or 2 of them for you. Or if you were applying to regular grad school where they could upload the same form letter to any school they want.

But this is real work, it's a real pain in the ass. I don't know why MBA programs make it so annoying, but they do. If your recommender did more than 3 recs for you, I would get them a thank you gift. It's not because it's customary, it's because I appreciate how time-consuming it can be.

dabots · Answer

i had 2 recommenders which did 3 schools each. i spent about $100 on each.

refurb · Answer

Considering that both of my reviewers will have put in at least 10 hours total for the 5 recommendations, I'm gonna send them a $100 gift certificate each.

I figure with all the other money I'm spending on the b-school trek that a generous gift is the least I could do.

RF

msday · Answer

probably ~$25 per recommendation. some of mine wrote 5, others wrote 2.

cpgmba · Answer

I'm looking at about $50 per recommendation written, ($150 for 3 letters/recs)

Thank you gifts to recommendation writers - average amount?

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