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Informing your employer of B-school

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Informing your employer of B-school

by dmateer25 » Sun Feb 21, 2010 8:28 am
I am just curious to see where applicants stand.

-Have you informed your employer that you plan to attend b-school?
-If yes, how did they react? If no, when do you plan to?
-Did your supervisor write you a letter of rec?
-Are you staying with the company until you start b-school?

I think this could be an interesting topic that can help future applicants out. I know this is a difficult subject for many applicants to discuss with their employers. I am very interested to hear how this went for our members.
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by Bryant@VeritasPrep » Sun Feb 21, 2010 7:12 pm
I would just like to offer my two cents on informing your employer, and that is, that most b-schools look more favorably on applicants who have at least one recommendation from a current employer. While they realize the current job environment is not a good one to risk alienating your supervisor, it is still advisable to submit recs from this source.
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by money9111 » Sun Feb 21, 2010 8:13 pm
I like this topic because I've been wondering the same thing lately. It seems like more people keep it hush hush until the time comes to ask for that Rec. I havent decided how I'm going to approach my employer yet... i think i'll wait until after the promotion!

i just find it odd that you're basically saying "hey... boss... im leaving the company next year"
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by jaroth04 » Tue Feb 23, 2010 6:51 am
I thought about this for a while myself, in the end this is what I came up with:

I'm applying to business school. I'm not going to business school. I'm asking them to help me with an application for an opportunity that I can't possibly know whether or not I'll actually take until I have it. It'd be one thing if you got admitted and only subsequently asked for a recommendation, but in this case, I don't think it's much different than asking someone to be a reference for you when you take out a loan or apply for a job. I have two people from my office writing me recommendations, including my current supervisor.

I understand that people and bosses differ in their interpretation of what it might mean to apply to business school. My boss asked me point-blank recently whether I'd be planning on continuing on with the company, and I told him, "At this point, I have no other choice: I haven't actually been admitted anywhere yet."

Again, your mileage may vary; I know that I personally wouldn't be happy working somewhere that didn't support my growth and advancement.

I hope this helps, this was one of the more stressful parts of the application process for me.
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by dmateer25 » Tue Feb 23, 2010 2:44 pm
jaroth04 wrote:I thought about this for a while myself, in the end this is what I came up with:

I'm applying to business school. I'm not going to business school. I'm asking them to help me with an application for an opportunity that I can't possibly know whether or not I'll actually take until I have it. It'd be one thing if you got admitted and only subsequently asked for a recommendation, but in this case, I don't think it's much different than asking someone to be a reference for you when you take out a loan or apply for a job. I have two people from my office writing me recommendations, including my current supervisor.

I understand that people and bosses differ in their interpretation of what it might mean to apply to business school. My boss asked me point-blank recently whether I'd be planning on continuing on with the company, and I told him, "At this point, I have no other choice: I haven't actually been admitted anywhere yet."

Again, your mileage may vary; I know that I personally wouldn't be happy working somewhere that didn't support my growth and advancement.

I hope this helps, this was one of the more stressful parts of the application process for me.
Interesting take on this, Jaroth04. I like how you approached it. I feel that is a really good way to approach your supervisor when asking for a letter of rec.
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by money9111 » Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:57 am
I agee I liked this post as well! I had this conversation with a friend of mine and he said that in some cases, when you tell a supervisor that you're applying to business school... yes they know that if you may not be with the company the following year, but in a company that doesn't support ones growth... they probably won't be at the company either!
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by hk » Wed Feb 24, 2010 7:34 pm
Just trying to chip in my view. In my case, it was easy. I had a very cool boss - the kind of guy you can take out for a drink. And i told him of my plans even before selecting b-schools. In fact he was one of my recommenders.

On the other hand, if you have a problem telling your boss, I think thats fine too. But once you get the admit, how to tell your boss about your MBA plans would be the pressing question. Of course you would not want to break a good relationship. so in that came i suggest, come out clean. As you convinced the adcom that you need an MBA and that too right now, convince you boss that an MBA at this time is the appropriate step towards your career goals.
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by adityataneja86 » Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:58 am
really great topic i must say ... i myself am trying to figure out what to do for the lor ... my biggest problem !!!

the thing is that i plan to change the industry i work in .. and on top of it ... i have the shittiest boss ... u know the kind of boss who works really hard to make your day at work as miserable as possible ...

i am in a real fix as to what to do for my lor ... one i can get from a colleague ... but the other one i am not able to figure out ... i once worked under a really great boss for 2 weeks but i guess that is too short a period .. and in the near future also i will have to work with the same shitty boss for another year or so ...

can someone recommend me if these 2 options for lor are ok :
1. my colleague
2. an hr guy high up in the organisation ... with whom i have really good relations
OR
the boss under whom i worked for 2 weeks (i guess thats a no no ... ?)



one imp thing ... if none of the recommendations is from my current (or ex-)bosses ... will that be ok .. or will it have a negative effect on my application
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by adityataneja86 » Sun Mar 28, 2010 6:44 am
some1 plz advise me what to do ...
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