MBA Admissions Officers have hinted that it is all right to give writing guidelines for a recommendation letter, but it would be unethical to review the recommendation letter in the same manner as essays are reviewed both by consultants and by the candidate.
So to what extent should recommendation letter be reviewed by the applicant?
1) Give Clear Guidelines
Start with what you are trying to convey through the essays. The recommendation letter should support the values, and principles that you stand for. It should not be tailor-made for your essays though. Let the recommenders convey other aspects of your personality that support your basic qualities. Like for leadership, effective communication is a pre-requisite. If you have mentioned effective communication as a quality, the recommender can add instances where you have led a team with precise planning and communication.
2) Check Spelling and Grammar
Before uploading the recommendation letter, check the grammar and sentence structure. During the process of sentence correction, don’t modify the style of the author. Admissions officers forgive if they spot a few minor grammatical errors, but the style of the writing should be unique. Excessive tweaking can change the recommendation letter to an artificial promotional letter with no soul in the message.
3) Meet Deadlines
The most important role that an applicant can take during the Recommendation letter writing process is that of a facilitator, which means keeping an eye on the deadlines and the progress that recommenders have made on the questions. Discuss the schedule with your recommender. Things might not go as planned, so it is better to add some buffer to your schedule.
What happens if the writing is not inspiring?
Often time, recommenders might not understand the required style of writing or the importance of keeping the word limit. It is better to purchase our recommendation letter editing service and let us start a communication with the supervisor. Our guidelines will help them create a winning recommendation letter.
We divide the recommendation letter editing process into three stages – draft1, draft 2 and final copy.
During the first draft, we review the letter for the tone and ensure that it is respectful and formal.
During the second draft, we check whether the letter gives a complete picture of who you are.
During the final stage, we review the letter for grammatical mistakes.
During each stage, we avoid the temptation of reviewing each line on style but set guidelines on the accepted format and best practices. There is a very thin line between reviewing, and changing the style of the letter. The admission team is expecting a unique voice. We don't want to change that.
Purchase our Recommendation Letter Editing service and let us worry about the process
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