The Wharton MBA program doesn’t ask you for the Common LOR questions – one about constructive feedback and the other about how you stand out from similar well qualified individuals in similar roles.
Wharton Recommendation letter Questions are two:
• Please provide example(s) that illustrate why you believe this candidate will find success in the Wharton MBA classroom. (Word count: 300)
• Please provide example(s) that illustrate why you believe this candidate will find success throughout their career. (Word count: 300)
Each 300-word question asks the supervisor about the candidate’s potential to succeed at Wharton and in their career.
The skills required to shine in a class are different from the career but there are several overlaps between the two roles.
Excelling in a diverse classroom like Wharton require
1) Extraversion
2) Multicultural perspective
3) Affinity to take initiative
4) A sense of community to volunteer
5) A Quant-oriented mindset that can connect trends and find insights
6) Open Mindedness
Excelling in a career in an executive role or a senior functional role require
1) Extraversion
2) Growth Mindset
3) People Management Skills
4) Open Mindedness
5) Strategic Thinking
The common traits to excel both in the classroom and career are:
1) Extraversion
2) People Management Skills
3) Leadership Skills
Once you know the common traits, you can strategically split examples between your two supervisors in such a way that your contributions are all meaningfully mapped to attributes. If you need help with brainstorming and guiding your supervisors with a guideline document, Subscribe to F1GMAT’s Recommendation Letter Editing Service
Common MBA LOR Questions in other schools
• Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant’s response. (Recommended word count: 500 words)
• How does the candidate’s performance compare to those of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? Please provide specific examples. (500 words)
The constructive feedback question in the Common LOR is to measure the open mindedness of the candidate to take new insights about themselves, the clients, the markets and the strategic direction the company is heading.
Although this aspect of the candidate is not covered in the 2 questions for Wharton, the question on whether the person will find success in career should include the applicant’s open mindedness including the person’s attitude towards feedback.
The challenge is in fitting the narrative into two 300-word narratives. A similar challenge exists for MIT Sloan as well where only one recommendation letter is allowed.
In such constrictive word limit, writing any example will not work out. Choose the examples carefully and guide supervisors to include them.
