Letters of Recommendation

Lets talk about those letters of recommendation.  My opinion on letters of recommendation is that it is MUCH more important to get someone who knows you and worked with you than it is to get someone with a big title or some fancy degree.  If you read the type of questions they need to be able to answer (listed on the LFM application page) you will see that the recommender does not even need to be your boss...they just need to know you.  Now I do think it is a good idea if one of the recommenders is your current boss or a previous boss (I understand that someone people don't want their current employer to know that they are thinking of leaving for MBA school), but it is NOT a requirement.  Having addressed the supervisor issue, lets get back to that whole "personal knowledge" of you...thing.  You want your recommender to be able to answer questions about you with actual real life examples.  This means that they need to have worked with you on more than one occasion (sitting next to you in a meeting does not count as work).  It is not a bad idea to sit down with your recommender and talk to them about why you want to go to back to school and what you hope to get out of it.  This helps them understand where you are coming from and it gets the recommender to start thinking about your abilities (if they have not already).  I am not saying that you should tell the recommender what to write about or focus on.  I think that is overstepping the line.  They need to be free to give an honest assessment of you and your abilities.  I just think it helps them write about you if they have an idea about your career goals and the LFM program.   Plus, this should be a good opportunity for you to talk about applying to business school and your career with someone you respect and hopefully have a good relationship with.  This will help you with your application essays.

[caption id="attachment_267" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="Why do you want to go back to school?"][/caption]

You will notice that you need one recommender to be able to speak to your technical abilities if you apply through MIT Sloan and two recommenders if you apply through MIT's School of Engineering.  I know it says "academic source"...but this can be misleading...I say focus on the part that says "someone who can speak definitively of your technical skills."  Personally, I don't think professors make very good recommenders unless you did research with that professor or spent extensive time with him or her.  Again, this gets back to the recommenders ability to speak about you and your personal traits.  Some professor that taught you a few days a week...and that you visited in office hours a couple times in a semester...does not really know you.  Getting an A in a class is not a technical skill.  The admissions committee has your transcripts if they are interested in your grades.  (assuming you are currently in an engineering or R&D field) I think your supervisor or co-worker should easily be able to speak to your technical skills.  This might be one aspect of the questions that you want to explain to them beforehand.  Just let them know that technical skills include technical problem solving or really anything engineering related.

[caption id="attachment_265" align="alignnone" width="112" caption="You need someone who knows that you can navigate this chart to "No Problem""][/caption]

Also, I think it is a great idea for one of your recommendators to be from outside the work environment.  This goes along with what I said about your application essays.  I think it is important to show how well rounded you are.  Show the admissions committee that you have a life and passion outside of work.

And once again (as mentioned in the application essay blog) when selecting a recommender, think about their ability to speak to your leadership abilities and potential.  LEADERS for manufacturing.  Lets just say the leaders part is kind of a big deal.