In a recent post to her admissions blog, Harvard Business School(HBS) Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold provided advice to prospective applicants about whom to select to write letters of recommendation as part of their MBA applications. Though intended specifically for HBS applicants, several of Leopold’s suggestions may be useful for prospective applicants to a range of MBA programs. Also, the advice comes handy for students appearing for the GRE exam. They will also find much needed tips for optimizing and maximizing the return from their letters of recommendation.
Leopold advises against asking current HBS students to write to the admissions committee on a prospective applicant’s behalf outside of the formal recommendation process. “Candidates are not advantaged in the application process by either professional or personal associations with our students,” she says. This is a very important point, since students are observed to a very high weightage to getting a good word from an insider in their b school application. So much so, that this is considered on par with a good GMAT score.
If you have any concerns about how HBS may interpret your choice of recommenders, feel free to provide a brief explanation in the “additional information” section of the application, Leopold suggests. The tips will come in handy for every student – be it a GMAT aspirant or a GRE aspirant.
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chandra_avinash said – Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:48:13 -0000 ( Flag Edit Link )
Great academic background, good work experience, a nice GMAT score, good recommendations and all.
For more details, you should talk to someone who is studying there or perhaps to an alumni.