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miccarlo
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Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Last visit: 26 Apr 2010
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Location: San Francisco, CA
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management
Schools:Haas, Booth, Kellogg, Stanford
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Who would you pick for a recommender? 23 Nov 2009, 15:36
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Trying to decide on my last recommender, who would you pick?

#1) Managing director. My direct supervisor for the last 2 years and knows me very well personally and professionally. Does not have an MBA.

#2) CTO of our firm. I have worked with him on a few projects 3 years ago before he was CTO. I have known him personally since the start of the company, but the last 2 years, I have not worked directly with him (still in communication and still aware of my projects and accomplishments). He is currently getting his Executive MBA at Kellogg.

This would probably be for at least Kellogg and Booth.
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asimov
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Concentration: General Management, Strategy
Schools: Duke (Fuqua) - Class of 2012
Schools: Duke (Fuqua) - Class of 2012
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Who would you pick for a recommender? 24 Nov 2009, 11:45
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I'd go with #1. Your managing director would probably come up with much more insightful examples of your abilities.

All the schools emphasis that title recognition is less important and concrete examples of your abilities.
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teabiscuit
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Who would you pick for a recommender? 24 Nov 2009, 13:57
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Why not both? You do need two recommendations anyway.

If you have to pick one, I would go with the CTO because he is a Kellogg student and you're applying there. Second, he's not some random exec you don't know. You actually worked with him and have stayed in contact. Third, because he's gone through the MBA admissions process, he will probably understand the content and timeline of recommendations much better.
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miccarlo
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Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Last visit: 26 Apr 2010
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Location: San Francisco, CA
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management
Schools:Haas, Booth, Kellogg, Stanford
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Who would you pick for a recommender? 24 Nov 2009, 18:33
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Using both is still an option. One of my recommenders for Booth is an alumni and frequently gives lectures at the school (he is also our past CEO and I worked directly with him for about 3 years). I still might use him for Kellogg as well.