Your recommendations

Recommendations are an integral part of your application package. Your recommendation letter adds a plus point to your estimation of getting selected. You are someone who will certainly say the best about yourself, but when your senior appreciates you, it proves that you have got the potential to hit success. Letters of recommendations nudge alongside essays in their importance. Many applicants drag all their effort in their essays and don’t try hard to get that good recommendation. Go for the person who knows you well and can talk really concretely about your experience. 

Carefully review the contents of your recommendations. If possible, show the recommendations to your admissions consultant or whoever else can give you a second opinion. Consider changing one or more of your recommenders. Your recommender is a person who would describe your potentials at work, so give your recommenders ample time to review your accomplishments and jot them down impressively into the paper. Approach your recommenders before hand and give adequate time to your recommender so that they can sit down, digest what you’ve asked them to do, take you into consideration, and put together a nice recommendation for submission.

What if I Don`t Want My Employer to Know That I`m Leaving?

This is a tough situation, and causes a lot of worry, but you need to tackle out the problem with some solution that will make difference. You can just include a letter stating why you can`t get more recommendations. The schools will understand as they go through the same process where a few applicants like you approach them every year.

The Quality of Your Recommendation Letter

The quality of your recommendation is closely tied to your recommender`s ability to write your recommendation letter. Some recommenders are very good writers, and some have even gone to top MBA schools and know what to write about. But some others are terrible writers and don`t understand what exactly the admissions people are looking for.

A significant percentage of applicants to top B-schools write their own letters of recommendation. It isn`t that applicants are trying to cheat; the problem is that most recommenders cannot afford to spare time in writing a long letter or fill in the "grid boxes" found in some recommendation forms. So they ask the applicant to do the extensive work and agree just to sign the finished product. Don’t miss to take advantage of this opportunity to bring out the best of you in your recommendation letter.