In the 1946 classic movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, there is a poignant moment when Angel Clarence shares a characteristic of George Bailey – the protagonist, who gave up on his dreams to carry the burden of his family and society.
“George can’t resist helping others”
When during a moment of desperation, George decides to end his life, Clarence, the Angel, appears in human form and pretends to drown. Seeing another person in despair, George postpones his plan. Narrating his bad luck and wishing that he never existed, Bailey is shown an alternate universe where his kind action is absent and the cascading effect it has on his family, and the people of Bedford Falls.
Now you don’t have to be as righteous as the protagonist to earn a recommendation letter but if we must capture why Recommendation letter in one sentence, it is to:
“Evaluate how you have made the world better for your colleagues, supervisors, clients and the larger community”
Story vs Narrative
It might not be obvious to all, but the world’s millions of stories could be broadly categorized into two themes - one is the journey of the hero (you). Another is the journey of the villain (obstacles, constraints, conflicting motivations, and physical and mental blocks). The conflict between you and the villain generates a story that captures the attention of the admission team. Since the sections of your life journey to highlight or leave determines your admission chances, planning, customizing (based on the school) and interpreting an MBA applicant’s journey becomes a creative exercise.
Narratives become the lifeline for interpreting the events in your story. Depending on your creative prowess or the imagination of your admissions consultant, mundane obstacles could turn into interesting anecdote on your personality, values and motivations. Unfortunately for the admission team, applicants have caught onto the power of narratives, making It tougher for them to choose between an applicant with an interesting story from the one with an interesting narrative. The word-count and the number of essays was the first casualty as the small team of MBA admission team could target fewer reading material to separate the competitive from the creative storyteller.
Recommendation Letter became the lens to observe the Rashomon effect
Rashomon effect
The subjectivity of perception often leads one away from the truth. The Rashomon effect invites interpretation of the same event from multiple narrators. Instead of breaking down personality traits just from the essays, the admission team can now spot inconsistencies in your narrative by comparing with the narrative from the recommendation letter. The multi-choice evaluation option of the leadership assessment grid, the influence, the people, the personal qualities and the cognitive abilities sections, of the recommendation letter application, would further spot the contradictions.
The delicate nature of matching the narratives makes it paramount that you choose the right recommender.
MBA Admissions