Hi there,

There have been schools that ask about recommenders using a company email address vs gmail/yahoo.... but that said, they can only do what they can do-- if they do not have a company address or cannot use it for some reason, they should do what makes sense and if you're concerned you could suggest they include a brief mention of the reason why they had to use gmail etc (again ONLY if a school mentions this in the instructions-- if not mentioned, do not worry about it at all; it is a fairly recent scenario that schools have been mentioning it). Worse case it just might be 'subject to additional review' where applicable.

Regarding number of schools, that is a high number you are right... most applicants apply to 3-4 programs, or maybe 5-6 at times.. the number who complete 8-9 apps is more limited. Biggest reason for this is how time consuming each application is for the applicant-- they truly do need to be tailored, it is not a one-size -fits -all approach or application for every school. Many find they would sacrifice the quality of their applications if they bump up the quantity that much. Keep in mind that each app should look like ITS THE ONLY ONE YOU ARE SUBMITTING.... which makes sense because to each given school, IT IS!! The 2nd reason that a long school list is tough is what you have touched on-- the recommendations can be a lot to ask!

Generally the schools ask different questions and prefer some tailoring as well; a standard letter can be done if truly needed but really the recommenders need to do the process and log in etc. They may ask for ideas for content and you can provide them with your resume and reminders about work you've done with them, info about why you're applying to b-school, etc, but that is usually the extent of it.

Generally professional recommendations are preferred to academic recs, as they are more recent and more relevant.

Hope that helps, good luck to you!