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rhyme
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Recommendations for non native english speakers 28 Dec 2006, 16:52
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Guys and Gals,

Some unsolicited advice here. To those of you that are not native English speakers and work a guy with a name like "Mark Jones", do yourselves a favour and don't try and write your own recommendations.

I keep seeing this again and again, and it's so monumentally obvious when you see "Mark Jones the Accounting Facilities Manager" say "Ahmed is a good candidate to MBA at thunderbird and I suggest him to pursue this because his leadership is very strong and he also works well in teams" that its probably not Mark writing it.

In fact: I'd advise against writing your own recs in all cases.

And since I know this will spawn a slew of PMs "OMG I DID THIS, WHAT NOW? CAN I CALL THE SCHOOL AND ASK TO TAKE THEM BACK?".... just accept that youve done it, move on, and try not to do it again.
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Ozmba
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Recommendations for non native english speakers 28 Dec 2006, 17:33
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Great advice Rhyme...

Totally agree with Rhyme. Never write your own recs..It's impossible to change your signature style while writing the essays.

Thanks
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EconGirl
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Recommendations for non native english speakers 30 Dec 2006, 15:02
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Is this for real???? I have such hard time selling myself in my essays, I can't even imagine writing how great I am and then asking my boss to sign it. Not to metion that regardless of what anyone says, I consider this practice entirelly unethical and see it as unfair to the more humble applicants who trust that their work performance would have motivate their suprvisors to write a great letter themselves. And if it didn't, then perhaps you simply don't deserve it
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rhyme
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Recommendations for non native english speakers 30 Dec 2006, 15:16
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The issue is really that a lot of recommenders take one look at what is required and then ask you to write it for them. I couldn't get a rec from everyone I would have liked precisely because of this. But yes its for real. Heck I even know people who wrote their recs and submitted them for their boss ..

Its unethical yes but I can also appreciate that some people are essentially forced to do this due to lazy or overburnded bosses .

The best option is to push back or as I did ... Just find someone else to do it.
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Recommendations for non native english speakers 30 Dec 2006, 15:20
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EconGirl
Is this for real???? I have such hard time selling myself in my essays, I can't even imagine writing how great I am and then asking my boss to sign it. Not to metion that regardless of what anyone says, I consider this practice entirelly unethical and see it as unfair to the more humble applicants who trust that their work performance would have motivate their suprvisors to write a great letter themselves. And if it didn't, then perhaps you simply don't deserve it
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Majority of the NON-US applicants write their own recos .. know few of my friends at elite/ultra-elite who wrote their own recos/approached friends to write them

Why do u think..all the admission consultants have Recommendation letter service...
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Recommendations for non native english speakers 30 Dec 2006, 15:35
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wow, this is a shock to me.

A notorized translation (with the original) is supposed to be sent if a supervisor does not speak english. I really doubt that schools would be understanding if they know of a candidate who decided to glorify himself and write his own LOR, no matter what the circumstances.

a similar question happened on wharton's discussion board:

If the recommendee does not speak English, which
format should take the recommendation letter while
submiting online. Is there any option for submitting
both original text and translated version (with
official verification of course) online? Submitting
online is much more convenient especially in the
contrary to the mail coming from Tajikistan (which
might also get lost)


Options Reply


I hear your concern about the speed of the post.

Your recommender could paste the translated text into Q1 in the online rec. I don't think the online rec supports non-Roman script (OK, I have no idea what script is used in Tajikistan) and then send the hard copies (both the original and the notarized translation) in by post. You probably should include a brief note in the optional essay as to what you have done (so that they can match up the materials when they are received).

As long as adcom receive an English rec by the deadline (in this case via the online rec), they will be able to review your application, even if the hard copies arrive after the deadline.

FF