Hey everybody,
So I have a quick logistics question regarding B-School recommendations and wanted to see if there was a standard protocol on how I should go about this.
I am finishing out my analyst program at a strong group and feel like I'm in really good standing with all the senior bankers in my group. My group head is a fairly prominent figure in our space and I want to get him to write me a recommendation while I'm still relevant to the senior team. That being said, I am not anticipating going to B-School for another 3 or 4 years, if at all.
Thus, if I want him to be one of my recommendations, how should I go about doing this?
-Do I ask him to write me a recommendation now, give me the file, and then I will submit it myself in the future? Is this allowed?
-Should I just wait, ask in a few years and then hope he still remembers my time here well enough to write a convincing recommendation?
-Do I just submit the recommendation to all the programs I might later be interested in now and tell them I'm applying 4 years from now? (Not expecting this to be likely.)
-Some other method?
Any help you guys can give would be much appreciated. Thanks.
-NR
That's a great question. Having gone through the process, I think your best option is to approach the individual now, talk about how you potentially want to go to business school down the line, and want to know if he will serve as a referee for you and put together a series of points about your work that he could then reference as a basis for writing a recommendation down the line. You might even want to go on your target schools, create an application profile and send the referee the link now to see what they will be required to fill out, and work with them to respond to that now.
For most schools, your official referees (most ask for 2) will require the person to fill out a series of prompts and provide some radio button rankings based on their knowledge of you as a candidate. While many schools ask for similar things, the prompts do vary and referees are usually required to input the narrative into the response field. Unfortunately (for both you and for them) it usually requires a little more than having a generic letter of recommendation that you could simply upload.
Now, if you have other referees that you intend to ask to write recommendations for you to directly reflect on your performance and want to have this individual serve as a higher level/branded added support, you may be able to submit that in concert with your application and official referees to add that extra punch, but keep in mind not all schools will allow you to do this or want to see additional materials. That said, if the person were to email the admissions committee with a generic letter he/she writes at this point in time when you are applying, they might accept it and consider it with your package. Ultimately, you would probably need to decide if that person would be an official referee or a supplemental one, and that can help you drive the decision on what type of material you would be asking for and what it would need to contain.
Hope this helps.
consult2pe's response is great. It is unrealistic to have the person write you a rec now as the rec requirements are different from each school. Some ask multiple short-answer questions while others just require one long essay. You'll end up re-writing a lot if you try to write it now.
Realistically, what I think will end up happening is when you apply four years from now he will ask you to write the letter for him. Then he will approve it and submit it.
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