Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

The Wharton and Tuck rec forms are particularly demanding, as many of you probably know. Can you give me any sense of how long the responses should be? Should there be long, flowery paragraphs after each question or more pointed (less detailed) answers? My recommender wants to know, as this is going to dictate how much time he spends on the task and whether or not to delegate parts of it to someone else. Any guidance? Also, does having overly long recommendations ever hurt your candidacy in any way?

The admissions staff is looking for information, not flowers. Keep the recommendations to the point and as concrete as possible. "Gary surpassed his sales goals by 30% last year" is far better than "Gary is a terrific salesman". Also, direct knowledge of you and how you work is the most important factor. If, in fact, you have worked closely with your recommender having him/her delegate the writing would be less powerful than direct personal reference. On the other hand, if your recommender feels he/she doesn't know enough about you to give detailed answers then you should rethink your choice. Remember, in the end, the admissions staff is evaluating you, not the recommender.

I don't know that overly long recommendations would hurt, but if they are so long that the reader gets lost and misses the point that will hurt.