The Art of Getting the Right Recommendation

Recommendations are a vital part of any application to business school and it is important you get them right. Ann Graham spoke to The Princeton Review about who candidates should approach for recommendations.

How many people should you approach for recommendations?

Each business school's application specifies how many recommendations an applicant needs to submit. Most business schools will ask for two recommendations, while some ask for up to three.

Who should you approach for recommendations?

If three recommendations are required, a younger applicant (two-three years of work experience) may submit two from professional supervisors and one from an academic supervisor. Each supervisor should have spent at least six months (or an academic term) evaluating the applicant, although longer evaluation periods are preferred.

If two recommendations are needed, the applicant may prefer to choose professional referees. If the applicant has only worked on one assignment (job), or, an academic supervisor from undergraduate studies can make useful comments about an applicant's suitability for an MBA and career in business afterward, it may be a good choice.

Applicants with several years of work experience may choose all of two or three recommendations from professional supervisors from their recent past. Colleagues and friends do not make good choices to seek recommendations from. While a recommendation from a friend (or anyone where a personal relationship is apparent) may disqualify an applicant, only rarely will a business school ask for an applicant to seek a recommendation from a colleague.

When you are approaching someone for a recommendation what should you consider?

A letter of recommendation is a third person's perspective on an MBA applicant's strengths and suitability as a prospective student. Therefore, the referee should know the applicant well and share a cordial relationship with him or her. It is also best for the applicant to approach someone who will spend the time and energy writing a favourable recommendation.

A well-ranked business school (for example the business schools which feature in the Financial Times Top 100) usually asks referees to complete a question and answer form. This seeks responses from referees on questions such as:

• how long they have known the applicant
• what the applicant's achievements are on the job
• if those achievements compare favourably with others the referee may have evaluated
• if the applicant is a team player
• if the applicant has leadership skills or potential
• what the applicants strengths and weaknesses are
• if the applicant is committed to overcoming limitations and possesses the motivation to capitalize on strong areas
• if the applicant will be successful in particular at the MBA program

Applicants should ensure that their referees fill out a letter of recommendation with as much detail as possible, using anecdotal stories to substantiate any comments they make about the applicant's MBA candidature. Apart from obtaining a character reference, applicants should remind a referee to include any achievements or successes they may have been awarded or complimented for in past work history, so that these are included in the letter.

How recent should your recommendation be?

Recent recommendations work the best since they highlight that the applicant is highly motivated in a current assignment(s), and is not wishing to start an MBA program simply to escape difficult circumstances or stagnation. They alert a recruiting business school on your up to date suitability for an MBA.

What can you request of someone you are asking for a recommendation? (If you can request anything at all?)

Applicants should diplomatically, if not upfront, request a referee for a detailed letter of recommendation. A general letter, which simply states broad positives about an applicant without qualifying them with personalized comment or anecdotal evidence, may not differentiate him or her from the large pool of applicants.

Very often, MBA applicants may not wish to disclose their plans of studying for an MBA in the near future to current supervisors since this may negatively impact upcoming salary revisions or promotions. Ultimately, MBA aspirants may not accept any offers of admission they may receive if job conditions improve. The cost of doing an MBA is not just the tuition fee but also the salary forgone by going to business school. In these cases, applicants may seek recommendations from previous employers. If the employer is over three years old, applicants may do well to add an addendum to their business school application explaining why they are not seeking a recommendation from a current supervisor.

How should you prepare someone for writing a recommendation about you?

It is best for applicants to seek an exclusive personal meeting with a supervisor. During this time they should disclose plans of applying for an MBA and seek the support of the supervisor by requesting the supervisor to be a referee. This should be done several weeks before the application deadline so that the referee has enough time to write a considered opinion about the applicant's candidature.

During this meeting applicants could provide the supervisor with an updated resume mentioning key assignments, which were undertaken and received positive evaluations. MBA aspirants could set the tone of their expectation for a good recommendation by informing the supervisor about how competitive business school admission is, and how their support could make the difference between an admission or rejection since business schools place great faith in a third person's evaluation of a candidate.

How should you use these recommendations?

Most business schools have online applications these days. An online MBA application will ask an applicant to register referees (name, designation, official email address and telephone number etc). The online application will then send an automated request for recommendation (with the question and answer format) to the referees.

Very often, an MBA application provides referees with the option of directly sending in their recommendations in hard copy to the admissions office of the business school (instead of submitting them online). This is done to ensure the applicant does not have any opportunity of changing what has been written.

Most referees or supervisors will not "humor" an applicant by filling out an online recommendation or sending one directly to a business school. They may instead provide a signed and sealed letter to the applicant to send to the business school along with other components of the application like academic transcripts.