Importance of recommendations

Hey All, I’m a newb. I did my bachelor’s in a US university, and because of utter lack of foresight, failed to strike a rappo with many professors. I didn’t do research (only internships or summer school). I have a great GPA but very weak reco…

Hey All,
I'm a newb.
I did my bachelor's in a US university, and because of utter lack of foresight, failed to strike a rappo with many professors. I didn't do research (only internships or summer school). I have a great GPA but very weak recommendations (since no CS professors know me very well).

So...
2 small recommendations from academia
2 good recommendations from dev leads at a leading software company (assuming they'll agree to write it)

Is this ok for MBA institutes in Europe/Singapore (LBS, LSE, INSEAD, NUS, etc)?
What about ISB, Great Lakes?

Thanks & Regards,
Harsh

Harsh .

Most B Schools prefer recommendations that are professional in nature. Very franly academic recommendations are not entertained very much unless you are sitll very close to the academia and the profs know you in professional capacity

2 leads : well if they can bring out the whole of your personality, it will be good. They need to talk about your leadership, teamwork

Hey All,
I'm a newb.
I did my bachelor's in a US university, and because of utter lack of foresight, failed to strike a rappo with many professors. I didn't do research (only internships or summer school). I have a great GPA but very weak recommendations (since no CS professors know me very well).

So...
2 small recommendations from academia
2 good recommendations from dev leads at a leading software company (assuming they'll agree to write it)

Is this ok for MBA institutes in Europe/Singapore (LBS, LSE, INSEAD, NUS, etc)?
What about ISB, Great Lakes?

Thanks & Regards,
Harsh


Hi Harsh,

pls use the following link for your queries....
http://www.pagalguy.com/gmat

Thankx
Azeem
Hey All,
I'm a newb.
I did my bachelor's in a US university, and because of utter lack of foresight, failed to strike a rappo with many professors. I didn't do research (only internships or summer school). I have a great GPA but very weak recommendations (since no CS professors know me very well).

So...
2 small recommendations from academia
2 good recommendations from dev leads at a leading software company (assuming they'll agree to write it)

Is this ok for MBA institutes in Europe/Singapore (LBS, LSE, INSEAD, NUS, etc)?
What about ISB, Great Lakes?

Thanks & Regards,
Harsh




Harsh,

Dont bother too much abt your academic recommendations......Recommendations should come from your immediate work supervisors at your job.........The only exceptions to this rule are fresh graduates who do not have any work ex......r u a fresher?....u have'nt posted ur profile to solicit a relevant advice.

Best Wishes
Harsh,

Dont bother too much abt your academic recommendations......Recommendations should come from your immediate work supervisors at your job.........The only exceptions to this rule are fresh graduates who do not have any work ex......r u a fresher?....u have'nt posted ur profile to solicit a relevant advice.

Best Wishes


I will have nearly 2 years of work ex after bachelors, and an internship before (which I believe doesn't count numerically towards work ex). There was a re-org because of which I've already had 2 managers, and I have a lot of visibility o/w in the group. So I can get 2-3 solid recs from work + a couple of vague ones from the GM etc.

It's definitely not enough experience for a lot of places.
Also, my responsibilities at work are still limited by my lack of experience.

recos are only one of the parameters used in app process which includes undergrad gpa, gmat, essays, extra curr, workex as well. since your workex is only 2 yrs, try to present a stellar appln in all other aspects, essays are very critical and a good gmat. and for recos, you can get from one of your team leads and if you have an accomplished colleague, he/she can vouch for you as well. or one of your client managers can give u a reco. if your interaction with the gm is not on a regular basis, try to avoid his reco. its not necessary that your evaluators be in neil armstrong league, but they should be knowing you and your work well enough to evaluate you.

all the best
cheers

Hi
I just attended a QS World Tour Seminar in Delhi on 8 July.
I got a chance to ask questions to Thomas Caleel
Director, MBA Admissions and Financial Aid, The Wharton School
While he was answering the questions What striked me most is he said "Dont get a recommedation from a Professor ever, profs are horrible recommenders"

Also He said we look for you as the person in whole, not just ur GMAT , essays are critical, and we verify everything. So be honest, tell us about urself and the thruth. It doesnt matter if u get a recommendation from a King of something or from a President of the country. What we look for recommendation is opinion about you from a person who is with u, who worked with.. be it ur Supervisior, ur Client with whom u spend ur most of time. The title of the person who is recommending doesnt matter to us at all. What wil i do if i see a reco letter from a President of some country while looking at applications for admission? Perhaps show my peers around my office that hey look this guy got a reco from president... but in application it wil have negative impact on that applicant and we might not take you.. ya if u have worked as a agent "A" for him and worked for atleast a year then u get a reco, its wil be considerable but dont get a reco just like that.
Try to get a reco from ur supervisior ...And if you are not getting ur recommendation from ur supervisor, then we give n option essay to write, in that specify the reason why u not getting recommendation from him. If you explain in one line that i m not getting reco from supervisor becuase my company doesnt know that i m applying to MBA and the supervisior wil fire me, or wil kick me out of my job, then its perfectly fine, We will look into it, its just u shouldnt hide from us. Tell us everything n every reason.
Perhaps thats solve Harsh Problem, but heres mine: I am a fresher, where from should i get a reco? If B'School's director itself says do not get a reco from prof then from whom should i take it?

gr8 man, your memory is awesome !! i cant even remember the professor who taught me in college, for that one should attend classes !!
anyways, jokes apart, the adcom will want to know how you've fared in your worklife, your interaction with colleagues, maturity level, focus, team work, leadership ability blah blah. recos is an ideal way to know all this and also serve as sort of verification of all crap you've written in the essays !! some schools even speak to the recommenders if they require any clarifications:wow: , some dont even bother....

if you've workex -> failure to get recos fm immediate/previous bosses can even be interpreted as poor "BOSS Management" or inability to communicate well to senior management:neutral: .

I'd collected 5 recos from current and previous bosses as well as functional VP and then finally decided on 2 most useful for me

cheers

Bhaskar, if you dont have any work ex, you should reconsider applying to US b schools in the first place. Its true that some b schools have recently started considering applicants without work ex too, but it is unlikely that an international applicant without work ex be admitted unless he/she has some extraordinary achievements/internships during his study. if you dont have anything so strongly compelling, you might wanna wait a few years before apping.

quality78, if you're using the online application format to apply, then the recommendor you select is given the password to your online application and fills in his recco directly online. once you choose who has to recommend you, you generally dont have much control/choice over who writes what.

hi crash

you are given 3 options !!

1. you can print the evaluation forms and send the same to your recommenders, and then fill and sign on the back of the envelope, then you sent to school

2. the school sends a hyperlink to the recommender's mail id and he/she can complete the form by accessing school website

3. the school sends softcopy of reco forms to recommender and he/she sends to the school directly

most schools dont assume that all recommenders have access to internet or time to access website to complete the process

gotcha....