Letters of recommendation play a critical role in any academic institution’s admissions process. While often viewed as a formality that is ancillary to the other components of a prospective student’s application, letters of recommendation should not be left to chance. Every component of the application should be given full attention, and this critical component is no exception. In what is an extremely competitive admissions process for all top institutions, you need to make sure your letters of recommendation give you that much needed extra edge.
Deciding who should write your recommendation requires some serious thought. The various criteria that should be considered are as follows:
Relationship to you and how well this person knows you Standing within society Alumnus, alumna or donor of school being applied to Reliability Willingness to write positive things about you
Choose somebody who knows you and can write insightfully about you and your character. This is critical since the purpose of a letter of recommendation is for the admissions committee to get a clearer picture of who you are from a third party perspective. A letter full of generic platitudes adds little to your overall application. A well-crafted letter of recommendation with specifics about you, along with anecdotes, goes a long way to paint a positive, compelling picture of who you are.
First, make sure to closely check the application to see what types of recommenders the school is looking for. This tends to vary based on academic program. For example, law schools generally prefer professors while business schools favor supervisors.
Broadly speaking, bosses tend to make good references since they would have worked closely with you and can talk about qualities that will be of interest to an admissions committee such as intelligence, work ethic, discipline, soft skills, etc. For similar reasons, professors make strong recommenders as well. Even better if your boss or professor is well-known and prominent.
On the topic of prominence, if you have a connection to someone who has high standing and name recognition in greater society, such as a famous politician or CEO, these individuals might also make good candidates to write you a recommendation. However, your first choice should always be someone who knows you really well. Someone prominent but that does not know you very well (yet is willing to write you a recommendation), should only be used as a supporting recommender.
Similarly, if you know an alumnus, alumna or donor of the school being applied to, such an individual might be able to write you a good supporting (not primary) recommendation, even if you don’t know them that well. On the other hand, if you do have a close relationship and this person can speak to who you are on a personal level, this recommender should jump to the front of the pack!
Make sure that whoever you approach to write you a letter of recommendation is reliable – i.e., someone who will not miss your deadline and leave you hanging! From your side, give the individual at least a month advance notice and follow up with a courtesy reminder close to the deadline to confirm the recommendation was sent.
While this should go without saying, it is important enough to repeat. Make sure that whoever you approach will write good things about you! When you ask someone for a recommendation ask them whether they are able to write you a positive or favorable recommendation.
Finally, one last thing to consider is that if you have the chance to have some influence over what goes into your letter of recommendation, try to make sure that there are details and anecdotes – basically, things that will stick out in an admissions officer’s mind. Stories are better than generic compliments. For example, “When one of my analysts was called out of the office due to a family emergency, Jack volunteered to step in, despite being a vice president, and stayed in the office till 12 a.m. to complete a critical report that was due the next day to the firm’s most important client. This experience solidified my image of Jack as a team player with a tremendous work ethic.” This is certainly more memorable than “I have always known Jack to be a team player that works hard.” If you have some control over what goes into the letter, by all means use it to your advantage – just keep it believable and don’t go over the top by making it sound like you are the most wonderful human being in the world!
While letters of recommendation, from an overall work standpoint, are one of the least taxing components of the admissions application process, don’t blow it off. Put some thought into it and follow the steps above to gain a critical edge over your competition.