Hello,

I'm researching business schools, and I plan to apply in the Fall of 2012. I have a Manhattan GMAT prep program scheduled in December. I've targeted 5 schools that I'm very interested in. I notice they all seem to request slightly different letters of recommendation from professional sources and academic sources. Most want 2 or 3 sources. They want the recommender to provide slightly different perspectives or information. How can this be addressed? I don't want to require each of my sources to write 5 different letters (one of each school). This would be highly inconvenient. While I feel that they will write great letters of recommendation for me, I am not especially close with any of them. They are professional and academic acquaintances who seem to like me and sincerely appreciate my work. Asking them to write multiple letters would be asking too much. Should I ask them to address every school's desires in one letter? How is this usually handled by applicants?

Thanks in advance!

Christopher Carver

Hi Chris,

Unfortunately it's rare that a school simply asks for a "letter:, it's often a series of questions that get longer answers from the writer. Most likely you will have to ask the writer to write multiple letters. Some recommenders will indeed only write one, in which case you should secure a very comprehensive letter and recognize that you can submit it but the school may find certain pieces of info are lacking. It may be worth exploring alternate recommenders. Also you mention you are looking at academic recommenders -- MBA programs usually specify that they want professional references.

Best of luck,

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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