Good mix of letters of rec?
Hi everyone,
I'm 4 years away from applying to b-school. I want to get into a top 7 program, so I'm starting my preparations early. One thing I have started looking at is letters of recommendation and who I should obtain them from. What do you think is a good mix of recommendation letters? Should they all come from work, or should each of the 3 be from a different source?
Here are possibilities I am considering:
-Recommendation from lower-to-mid level executive at my company (F100)
-Recommendation from someone I work closely with
-Recommendation from a leader in a non-profit I participate in
-Recommendation from university professor (I am taking some classes in finance over the next few years)
Consider whatever portrays you in the best way possible. Quality > quantity. I see you intend to take some finance classes in the near future leading me to assume you're not in a finance related field currently, if you don't mind me asking, what do you do at your F100 company?
I work in engineering. My work is geared much more towards project management than technical analysis - a lot of coordinating/managing people, running meetings, etc. Focused on the big picture in other words
Jeez, I work in engineering at a F100 company and most of my work isn't technical or design related either and I have ambitions of attending an M7 school in the future. Small world.
Haha seriously. I'm surprised by the number of MBA-aspiring engineers I see on here. Says something about the overall industry/career outlook, that's for sure
wait until 4 years from now and figure out who you made the most impact with and then go with them
voila
That's the best answer. Also just go look at the websites for the schools you plan to apply to, they are all pretty up front about what they expect to see, what they want to see and what they don't want to see. In the 'don't want to see' category...recommendations from professors. Most school websites and/or admissions folks will straight out tell you that these recommendations are a way for them to get a true testimonial into your skills and abilities and read about real results that you've produced. For a professor, their version is basically summed up in the grade you received, so not only are you telling them something they already can look up, you are wasting a valuable opportunity to have someone of consequence tell them about the impact you can make.
I've been to admissions events with a number of schools and you can go down the list of prominent people that write recommendations for potential applicants. Some of the people said they have seen recs from movie stars, musicians, senators, congressmen, the POTUS and, in one case, the actual pope. And for everyone's benefit, the kid that submitted the recommendation from the pope did not get accepted.
Of course, that doesn't mean never use a famous person or a person with substantial authority from your company, but only do so if they can provide tremendous insight, from personal experience, into what benefit you can provide an organization. I would say that applies to the professor question, as well. If it's just a professor you chatted with after class, then NO...if it's a professor you helped with a cool research project, etc. then MAYBE. Maybe...simply because you should have better options from current and/or past supervisors and clients.
Regards
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