Please help with selection of recommenders

Question

Please help to define the recommenders. I've been working in a current place for 3 years and have had only 1 supervisor, who will be my 1st recommender, but I'm struggling with another 2 for HBS or another 1 for any other school. For some reasons I can not refer to previous work places.
Can a recommender be my university mate, who knows me for a long time and can comment on my academic background and experience? In case of two recom. requirement, what would be of more preference - to ask a colleague to be the second recommender or to ask a university class mate? Both recommenders can provide interesting and positive feedback with good examples, but I would personally prefer my university mate.

Thanks!

FutureWorks · Answer

Hi Intern,

Would you have any clients or business partners that you worked with give you recommendations than that would be ideal.

DrShelle · Answer

From Dr. Shel Watts, https://www.mbaadmit.com

Sign up for our Buy-1-Get-a-2nd-Set-Free Special - Valid until the end of October 2011.

MBA Admit.com: Proudly, one of the most affordable top-quality MBA admissions consulting companies, with prices nearly 50% lower than our direct competitors.

Hi NewMBAApplicant,

The choice of recommendation writers is very important. I would not advise you to use your college mate. That will scream to the committee that you lack the needed professional references from the workplace, which can make the admissions committees believe you have not performed well enough to have strong support from your professional superiors and colleagues. For the second letter, you can use a letter from a work colleague successfully, rather than one from a superior, assuming that the letter is written in the right language and emphasizes the topics that business schools most care about.

As for HBS, which requires three recommendations, for the third I believe you should try to secure a recommendation from a client or business partner, or even a former colleague from one of your prior business experiences. You can also use a recommendation from someone who is working with you on a very meaningful business-relevant extracurricular activity (i.e., activity such as work on the board of a nonprofit… getting a letter from someone who runs marathons with you won’t have the same relevance, so I don’t advise that).

The recommendations do play a very large role in enhancing your odds of admission, so take care to try to get some outstanding recommendations to support your application.

Good luck in the admissions process!

Best wishes,
Shelly Watts
MBA Admit.com
https://www.mbaadmit.com
Email: [email protected]

Admissionado · Answer

Friends make poor recommenders, because obviously they would never write anything bad, plus they don;t have the capacity to evaluate your work. Clients and partners are less good than managers, which you know. For Harvard I would suggest getting a second recommender from your same workplace. And then for the other schools and third recommender, you will have to dig. Maybe there is a professor you "Worked for" as a Teacher's Assistant? or Research Assistant? OR another good place - maybe you had someone oversee you in a community service/volunteer work?

Anyhow, if you want more specific advice, feel free to drop us a line:
https://www.precisionessay.com/services/ ... sultation/

NewMBAApplicant · Answer

Dear consultants, thank you all for your replies.
Looks like everyone is on the same page. But I still have some concerns. Could you please comment on them?
1. none of recommenders will ever provide 'bad' feedback otherwise I would not choose that recommender and given that even in US, many rec. letters are firstly written by applicants and only after that (if ever) editted by recommenders, we can not expect any 'objectivity' here
2. what if my college mates might provide better examples of my leadership/charity experience or business-related traits than my clients? 
3. many consultants point out frequent mistake that packages overconcentrate on work experience. Don't we make same mistake when choose current supervisor + peer colleague rather than current supervisor + college mate who knows me well for many years (not only in past but also in present)?
4. don't my CV + job description essay + recommendation from current supervisor (who knows me for years and since the first day of work in the last place) say enough about my professional background. Will a recommendation from a colleague add much here??
5. I do know cases in which the second recommenders were friends and even wives/husbands/mother(!) and that was not a deal-breaker though I don't know the statistics of unsuccessful applications. seems that alone it's not a factor

Upd. the college friend I have in mind is not my 'buddy' or 'best friend' it's a person who knows me well and can provide examples of my leadership experience and of course I have good relations with him

Admissionado · Answer

1. none of recommenders will ever provide 'bad' feedback otherwise I would not choose that recommender and given that even in US, many rec. letters are firstly written by applicants and only after that (if ever) edited by recommenders, we can not expect any 'objectivity' here

True Dat! Buuuuut there are good recommendations and there are friggin AMAZING recommendations. And usually the difference is that the recommender is REALLY excited to help you out and participates in the process to make the recommendation even better.

2. what if my college mates might provide better examples of my leadership/charity experience or business-related traits than my clients?

It doesn't matter. They won't be worth anything.

3. many consultants point out frequent mistake that packages overconcentrate on work experience. Don't we make same mistake when choose current supervisor + peer colleague rather than current supervisor + college mate who knows me well for many years (not only in past but also in present)?

I don't necessarily agree with the first statement. So, no, not really.

4. don't my CV + job description essay + recommendation from current supervisor (who knows me for years and since the first day of work in the last place) say enough about my professional background. Will a recommendation from a colleague add much here??

No. A recommendation is not read for the information as much as it is used to gauge how your management feels about you. Yes, everybody gets good recommendations. But no, not everybody gets stellar literary works of art written by VIPS (but some do)

5. I do know cases in which the second recommenders were friends and even wives/husbands/mother(!) and that was not a deal-breaker though I don't know the statistics of unsuccessful applications. seems that alone it's not a factor

So do I, but only when there's a good reason (usually family business), and then usually candidates explain the reason and it makes sense to the Adcom. After all no one is going to throw away an application of a candidate from a good strong family business just because their uncle wrote the recommendation!

Please help with selection of recommenders

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards