Recommendation letters - Harvard, Kellogg, Chicago, Yale

Free advice from the world's top MBA consultants
This topic has expert replies
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 1:20 am
Thanked: 1 times
Hi,


I am looking for my prospective suite of candidates to draft my recommendation letters. I am considering one (or a couple of parties in the form of a combined letter) party from each major stage of my life draft a letter to show consistency in leadership etc. and to validate what I state in my essays.

As such, I would have:

1 letter drafted by a university professor who also worked with several social committees I chaired
1 from my most frequent manager at Bain and Company who also co-chaired the office social program with me
1 from my current manager, the President of my business unit

My questions are as follows:

Is a university professor a bad idea because it looks like I am reaching; or does this seem like it might have some legs? Woud it be more beneficial to have an additional letter from my current employer? Would you recommend a different strategy by school?

Thanks in advance for your time and help -


C
Source: — Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant |

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
MBA Admissions Consultant
Posts: 193
Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2008 10:57 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Thanked: 22 times
Followed by:2 members

by Eliot » Tue Jun 30, 2009 7:00 am
ctimpano,

Thanks for your note. As a general rule, adcom prefers recommendation letters from your current supervisor and your former direct work supervisors. Thus, you should clearly pick your current business unit manager and your former manager at Bain as your two recommenders for all schools.

While it is fine to pick a university professor as your third recommender, it would be better if you could pick someone who can either add more perspective on your work experience (perhaps another Bain manager) or someone who can attest to your leadership outside of work.

By the way, I wasn't sure what you meant by a combined letter. You really should have one recommender write one letter and another recommender write another letter.

Feel free to contact me for a free initial phone consultation if you would like to discuss this in further detail.

Sincerely,

Eliot Ingram
Clear Admit LLC
Eliot Ingram
Clear Admit, LLC
[email protected]
215 568 2590

Stay Informed with Clear Admit!
Read our Blog for daily MBA admissions tips and updates.
Follow us on Twitter for breaking b-school news.
Download our Publications on MBA programs and admissions strategy.
Visit our MBA Admissions Wiki to read and share application insights.