Ask Stacy Blackman

Dear Consultants:

I am torn on who selecting between two candidates to write my second MBA recommendation. Both are going to give me extremely positive reviews. The former is more credible (due to work) and will give me a very very very good, if not great, response. The latter I volunteer with (so no full-time work correspondence and little bit less credible) but has offered to write me a "phenomenal" rec.

One choice is finalized and he is one of my direct supervisors.

The other rec is the one I am truly concerned about.

A.) One is another direct supervisor who treats me with care, compassion and mentorship. She is however, extremely honest and knows all my weaknesses as well as my strengths. She may simply argue that I am excellent as opposed to "truly exceptional." The positive is that she is a professional I have a working relationship with. She is also very busy and I am not sure if she is willing to invest the time to put in the effort for six applications. Because we share a working relationship, I have also been extremely professional in working with her (meaning that she hasn't seen the very funny and aggressive side of me). She has known me for seven months. Another positive is that she has openly told me that she'd write a good letter of recommendation for me. Negative is that when she invited me into her office to help her navigate through the directions, I think I saw at least one or two categories in which she didn't give me the Highest segment (top 5%, etc...).

B.) The other one is a contact outside of work. We serve on the board of directors of a major non-profit. He is the president and extremely salesy. Knows the game and will pump up my accomplishments like no one else. The only negative is that he is not a professional I share a working relationship with and it is only through the volunteering arena (though we each invest a few hours per week on this organization). We're also good friends outside of work (despite our 20+ year age difference) and joke about everything at bars and conferences. He has known me for eight months but have heard of positive reputations of me elsewhere from other people (we volunteer for a major non-profit in which I have contacts far and wide). A positive is that he knows the game and wrote two recs for two other board members last year and claims that he knows the game. He has even offered (without me asking) to write my recs. Negative is that the two people he wrote the recs for didn't get into the top few choices (one got a 790 on the gmat).

Who would you choose?

Please respond and shed some light on my dilemma.

Thank you,

-Brandon

Lisa:

Thank you for your advice. Upon further deliberations, I have decided to go with B for my first two applications for Wharton and Yale.

Both emphasize leadership and I wanted to highlight a side of me that my professional recs would not provide as much insight into. I already have one coming from a direct supervisor from work and that rec would resonate most of what the other professional rec would indicate. By going with B, I will be able to add more depth and dimension to my character.

But like you said, it is valuable for me to also have A on retainer. Gives me a good rotation to switch up my app depending on the school I am applying for.

Thank you for your feedback and I appreciate your advice.