Recommendation questions

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Recommendation questions

by rwrangler » Tue Dec 18, 2007 8:27 am
I am a current senior in an undergrad program and am applying for MBA programs that begin in the fall of 2008. The question I have is about recommendations. One of the schools I am applying to requires three recommendations and I know exactly which three people to ask (One professor from my major, one business professor whom I've had many classes with and my boss from a summer internship).

My problem comes with another school that only requires two recommendations. I think I would get the best recommendations from my two professors but my boss's recommendation is sort of a wild card. I know he will say good things but I'm worried it will be more about that I'm a hard worker vs a strong leader (it was a short internship and I was given more grunt work than projects to lead).

Am I better off just asking my professors to give recommendations or will I be docked for not having anything from work?

thanks for the advice,

Joe
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by Amy » Thu Dec 20, 2007 6:10 pm
Hi Joe,

Professional recommendations are very important; professors are accustomed to writing academic recommendations which are very different from the type of letter MBA programs are looking for. If you read some of the questions asked you'll see that academic data isn't going to be incredibly useful. Your business school professor will probably be decent at the letter writing, but I would definitely use a professional recommender in addition. For the school with three recommendations, can you use a letter from a volunteer activity for the third? I would avoid using two professors.

Good luck!

Amy
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