Alumnus as a Recommendation

[AarondoesSA]

Hi,

How helpful is it to have a non-peer recommendation come from the business school to which you're applying? For my 2nd recommendation to Kellogg, it's a toss-up between a director-level alumnus of Kellogg (MBA and MEM) who left the company almost 9 months ago and a soon-to-be resigned Senior VP. They both supervised me for equal amounts of time.

So all things being equal, does a director-level recent grad trump the Senior VP? The Senior VP has a PhD in operations research. He does not have an MBA.

Thanks!
Aaron

[Jon@Admissionado]

If he's higher up, yes, the Director trumps the Phd (I feel like we are playing a complex card game here ), but the mother trump of them all is how excited they would be to write you an AMAZING recommendation.

[AarondoesSA]

Hey Jon & Precision Essay,

Thanks for the advice. Indeed, the substance of the essay counts above all else! At my company, Senior VP is one level below CEO and "director" is much farther down on the totem pole. Hence, assuming they are super excited to write my essay, I'm going to ask the SVP.

Thanks Again,
Aaron

[thb_1981]

Recommendations take time. They're both qualified. Who have you work with longer? Who knows you better and is willing to invest in writing you a solid recommendation?