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I'm An Older Applicant—Who Should I Go To For An MBA Recommendation?

Kristen Lindeman and Shauna LaFauci, associate directors of admissions at MIT Sloan School of Management, answer your Applicant Question of the Week

Thu Dec 6 2018

BusinessBecause
It's time for another BusinessBecause Applicant Question of the Week!

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Every week, we give you the opportunity to ask one of our chosen admissions experts anything you want to know about getting into business school. One question each week is chosen for our expert to answer.

This week, our question comes from Allen. He's an older applicant looking to use an MBA to transition from the education sector into business, and launch his own startup. But, he's is unsure who to go to for a recommendation.

His question is answered by Shauna LaFauci and Kristen Lindeman (pictured right), assistant directors of admissions at MIT Sloan School of Management.


Applicant Question of the Week:

Dear BusinessBecause, 

I'm an older applicant (52) looking to do an MBA to transition from the education sector into business. However, at this age, though I have many successful peers they cannot speak of my merits as a student under their supervision, or my work ethic. Who should I go to for recommendations?


The Answer:

When applying to an MBA program, it is generally recommended to include a professional recommendation versus an academic recommendation, unless the school specifically asks for an academic letter of recommendation. Anyone coming directly from an undergraduate program may want to include an academic recommendation if that faculty member can speak to leadership and team experiences, or work outside of the classroom such as research assistantships, or serving as an advisor to a project.

Your recommenders should be people who know you best and can speak to your professional accomplishments and leadership development. In most cases, this would be someone who has supervised you directly; however, business schools understand that not every applicant is in a position to ask a current direct supervisor to write such a recommendation.

Fortunately, there are several alternatives.

If your prior work was entrepreneurial in nature, you might consider asking a client, mentor, or co-founder for a recommendation. It is likely these individuals have witnessed your abilities firsthand.

You might also consider reaching out to a previous supervisor, if this seems appropriate, and ask that they speak to your past performance.

An important consideration is selecting someone who can effectively answer the recommendation letter questions, which often revolve around how your performance compares to that of peers, using specific examples along with any constructive feedback you may have received.

Most schools list these questions within their applications for you to review in advance, so a good rule of thumb is to ask yourself if the person you are considering can best speak to those questions and provide specific examples.

In addition, many business schools’ applications contain an optional section, where you can provide an explanation about your choice of recommender along with how your personal situation has influenced your choice. Clarifying this for those of us in Admissions gives us more insight into the reasoning behind your selection, and improves our ability to evaluate you.


Ask an Admissions Expert a Question!

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Need advice on your MBA application? Unsure about admissions requirements or where to apply? Ask an expert!

Next week, Tamara Huf, MBA admissions officer at Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, will be here to answer YOUR admissions questions.

Tamara has worked in MBA admissions at Frankfurt School since 2014, so she knows the tricks to succeed on your business school application.

You can submit a question on our TwitterFacebook, or LinkedIn pages, send us an email to info@businessbecause.com, or simply post a comment below! 

Student Reviews

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management

Student

Verified

11/11/2019

Modern and global

Frankfurt School provided me with one of the best experiences of my life. I was an Erasmus student for a semester and could learn a lot. I took some mainstream courses like marketing and supply chain management, but also some innovative courses like applied persuasion and event planning. The professors are not only germans but from different parts of the world, mostly with international experience. The student life is great, the FS Bulls are a great community that is definitely worth being a part of. The best part is the campus, newly built with ultra modern architecture located in on the of the best neighbourhoods in Frankfurt am Main. You can find accomodation right next to it, many student residences at a fair price.

Student

Verified

30/09/2019

Career Oriented

I am a first year at the Frankfurt School and have been a prt of it for only a month; however, I can say for sure that the university provides its students with all the opportunities to grow professionally and personally. The majority of the professors are or have been successful professionals who easily relate the course material with real life and make lectures enjoyable. The extra curricular activities provided by the university are also a great step to life after graduation and give a head start for the students career.

Student

Verified

27/09/2019

University giving its students education of high quality and career prospects.

This university has helped me gain knowledge and experiences, that I lacked in my home country. Being in a great international surrounding, I have the opportunity to prosper and learn every day. The study program is very engaging, and the lecturers help you grow.

Student

Verified

17/11/2019

FSFM

I’m a bachelor student at Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and my overall experience was better than I expected. The classes have a small number of students, which makes the relationship with the professor better because they become easier to approach. During my years of study, I had both practical and theoretical classes, like innovation management, big data & analytics, econometrics. But the theories and concepts are directly applied to real-life problems due to many professors working in banks or consultancies, which is really good. FS supports students in finding internships and semesters abroad, but when it comes to housing not so much because it’s not that easy in Frankfurt. FS offers dorms, but it is only to a limited amount of students and the facilities aren’t the best. In terms of student organizations, there are a lot of different sport clubs for almost every kind of sport, also student consulting, student investment club, student politics club, music, arts, etc. Living in Frankfurt is good, it is very multicultural in Germany, with lots of cultural actives, museums, parks, etc. The nightlife is also nice with proper nightclubs compared to the size of the city, Gibson, Velvet, Adlib to name a few, and there also is a bar district in Alt-Sachsenhausend and a lot of bars where bankers go in the city center. The campus is not really comparable to an actual campus like the American universities, but it’s a big modern building that was built 2 years ago. I would definitely recommend it to a friend if you're willing to pay that much for uni, because there are still a lot of public unis in Germany that are comparably good (Mannheim, Goethe, LMU Munich...).

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