Tag Archives : Letters of Recommendation

Every business school application requires you to submit at least one letter of recommendation. These letters corroborate your admissions story, providing additional evidence of the leadership skills, analytical abilities, teamwork skills, and maturity that you have highlighted in the rest of your application. The best person to do this is normally your direct supervisor, but what if you can’t (or don’t want to) tell your boss yet that you’re applying to business school?

Recently we talked to a new client who just went through a rough Round 1 of the MBA admissions process. Although the round isn’t over yet, the way his interview invitations are going, it looks like he’s not going to have much success. Once he saw the writing on the wall, he came to us for help. We took a look at the applications that he submitted to his Round 1 schools, and just about everything seemed to be in order: strong work experience with a history of increasing responsibility, essays that tell interesting personal stories of growth and maturity, a solid undergraduate university, and a GMAT score that puts him above the mean score at most top schools.

Yesterday Harvard Business School Dean of Admissions Dee Leopold wrote a blog post dispensing some good advice to HBS applicants regarding their MBA letters of recommendation. While what she wrote is all consistent with what we have written in this space many times before, much of it bears repeating.

The University of Chicago blog, A Day in the Life, which was detailed here yesterday, has also posted a helpful missive on the elusive letter of recommendation.