[adabass]

Hello people.

I had a query about a very basic fundamental. I plan to apply to about 5-6 B schools in the next 4-5 months. I definitely will require recommendations for all of them. Do you ask the same recommenders again and again and again for recommendations? How do you work this out.

[chintan.lucky1]

Originally Posted by adabass

Hello people.

I had a query about a very basic fundamental. I plan to apply to about 5-6 B schools in the next 4-5 months. I definitely will require recommendations for all of them. Do you ask the same recommenders again and again and again for recommendations? How do you work this out.

No u dont ask them again and again fr the recommendations but take one letter from them which has it written on the top "To whomsoever it may concern".....no need to mention any institutes name in the letter..

If possible try to take 2-3 original letters...u can even sumit the xeroxed copies to the colleges n show them the original one during the interview..

[Nishant23]

Originally Posted by chintan.lucky1

No u dont ask them again and again fr the recommendations but take one letter from them which has it written on the top "To whomsoever it may concern".....no need to mention any institutes name in the letter..

If possible try to take 2-3 original letters...u can even sumit the xeroxed copies to the colleges n show them the original one during the interview..

But i believe that every School asks a different question to recommenders.
So is it really possible to generalise the reco.Also you need to show different sides of you to diff schools. A generalised letter may not be that effective.
But on other hand ,ur recommender's time is important.
Some trade off's have to be done.
Any strategy on this.. (People who are through with process, kindly reply)

[fordfirestone]

Originally Posted by adabass

Hello people.

I had a query about a very basic fundamental. I plan to apply to about 5-6 B schools in the next 4-5 months. I definitely will require recommendations for all of them. Do you ask the same recommenders again and again and again for recommendations? How do you work this out.

Different schools have different processes -

some schools ask the recommender two or three short questions. some schools totally leave it up to the recommender to write what he/she wants to. Some schools also have a small questionnaire at the end.

Totally up to the school..

My suggestion is that you give a lot of time for your recommenders to do this. Also, ,make sure you discuss with them your achievements at work/future plans/strengths etc. It might make a difference.

[ghk]

Originally Posted by chintan.lucky1

No u dont ask them again and again fr the recommendations but take one letter from them which has it written on the top "To whomsoever it may concern".....no need to mention any institutes name in the letter..

If possible try to take 2-3 original letters...u can even sumit the xeroxed copies to the colleges n show them the original one during the interview..

I dont this this would be a wise thing to do.. Most schools (atleast the top ones) have their own format, which needs to be filled by the recommenders. Here is what i did - talk to the recommenders and let them know the schools you are applying. Tell them the situation, and ask them to write a generic recommendation letter. Once this is done, it would be easy for them to fill in the recommendation letter template provided by the schools.

But ofcourse, give them ample time. The last thing you want to do is to annoy them and breath down their neck at the eleventh hour!!!

[rockyb]

yeah... also with online recos, the recommender would have to login each time and answer individual school specific qns

[captainzapak]

I will share my experience...
as someone rightly said, a 'generic' recommendation is of little use. You would not want to give the impression to school that nobody was interested to 'recommend' u...
as each school has different set of questions (though 80% are similar in nature), the recommender has to answer differently each time, based on the skill set to be highlighted. Also, almost all schools have online recommendation system, so recommender will login using username/password provided by school..
there is one bright side.... the first recommendation would be time consuming.. after that as I said.. it is more or less repetitive...

what u can do is... provide your recommender with a list of things u did, and u want him/her to highlight and focus on... coz recommender would not be able to (or willing to) recall all that u did and all that needs to be mentioned....
so best thing is start early... as soon u start the application fill the recommender details.so that both processes may run simultaneously...

[adabass]

Thank you all guys. I will start the process now. I see that the process for most of the school is online, but for IIMC PGPEX it is still paper based. I have already talked to the recommender that I would need his help, however 31 July seems to be fast approaching!

[sandeep.das]

Hi All,

Is there any format for writing recommendation letters for the 1 year MBA programs in India or abroad? Does the recommendation letter needs to be written in the company's pad/letterhead or it can be written in a simple plain paper containing the contact details of the writer.

I need recommendation letter from my workplace manager, but he doesn't have a company's pad/letterhead to write the letter. Will the b-schools recognize letters written in simple plain papers?

I need help from you in this regard. Please help me as to how I should go about asking for recommendation letters from my manager.

Sandeep

[bhumika.k.shah]

Hey ppl,
Well I need help for working on my recommendation letters.
The ones i google searched for are very stereotyped and quite OK to be honest.is there any website that you came across and found it good enough to take few pointers to write me Reco ..

Kindly revert asap.

Regards,
Bhumika Shah