A recommendation letter is a personal and confidential letter written by a recommender to the admissions committee of the program you are applying to. The recommendation letter serves as an opportunity for the admissions committee to get an opinion about the applicant from a person who have been a faculty or at a supervisory position to the applicant.

Let me just clarify one thing here - The recommendation letter is not a letter written to verify credentials. A weak recommendation letter would be a letter that would simply state the applicant’s achievements. For eg: “…she has secured 70% in my subject and had won the third prize in our technical paper presentation….. she was awarded the national merit scholarship in school ….. she has taken part in our college drama and won the second prize in the college singing competition…” Apparently these things are already evident from your transcripts and your resume. You don’t need somebody to vouch for you. The recommendation should talk about your qualities, your traits, a track record of your improvement, and maybe even your weaknesses and how you have worked at overcoming them. Well there is a lot that’s can be written on what makes a good recommendation letter, but I will leave it for some other time.

For more details on recommendation letters, refer this link

As a closing remark: If the university has provisions for online recommendations, then preferably use them.

As study abroad counselors if we come up with a list of Frequently Asked Questions by Students, then I would say “Which Universities should I apply to?” would top the list, and irrespective of the university we recommend, a question that almost certainly follows is “Is it worth going there?” So let’s step back a little and discuss ‘how to select universities that are worth applying and going to’.

When you start looking at an MS degree abroad, what exactly are you looking at? Try asking yourself:

• Why do I want to do an MS?
• What are my expectations from an MS?
• Where do I want to see myself 5 years from now?

If you are looking at the MS program just as means of getting to the US, you can probably go for any university (cheaper the better). But if you are also looking at a serious career option, then you need to be a little careful while selecting universities. Here are some factors you should consider:

• Reputation of the university: Check if the university is ranked. US NEWS is the most reliable source of ranking. (BEWARE of other sites that give their own rankings). While ranking is a good indicator of the university’s reputation, you need to understand that ranking depends on several factors and as a graduate student you may not be affected by all of them. So a university ranked 23 is not necessarily better than a university ranked 24. From a student’s perspective, they would be the same. But a university ranked 23 is definitely better than a university with rank 53. Basically what I am trying to say here is that you use rankings as a guideline to get an idea of the reputation of the university.
• Statistics: Statistical data is a fair indicator when it comes to predicting admission trends. So look at statistics of past students of a particular university. This will give you a good idea of what profiles of incoming students does the university prefer. Again remember that there aren’t any hard rules here. Just because somebody with a 1250 on his GRE with a 65% aggregate his academics got it last year, doesn’t mean that you will definitely get in even if you have a GRE score of 1400 and 70% on your academics. You need to understand that admission is a subjective process and your overall profile (which includes your recommendation letters, your resume, your SOPs) counts.
• Experience of past and current students: Talk to current students of the university. With emails and forums, it’s easier these days, but at the same time don’t SPAM. And don’t ask vague questions, because if you ask vague questions you get vague answers. Most students would send an email to a current student at a particular university asking “I am applying to your university, how is the ‘funding’ and ‘job’ scene there?” and all you get as a reply “Bad”. Now how do you interpret this answer? Most of you would interpret it as “If I go to this university I won’t get any funding and after graduation I won’t get a job”. And a few months later you realize that this same person who said the situation is ‘bad’ had an assistantship during his/her second year and secured a full time job on graduation too. So what exactly did he/she mean by ‘Bad’? Anyways the point is ‘Ask questions that make more sense and don’t leave too much room for assumptions’. You can ask “how many or what percentage of students get funding or campus jobs” “how many of them get those in the very first semester”  “Do MS students get to participate in research” .“do companies come to campus for recruitment” “If they don’t, how do students go about their job search”
• The Big City advantage: Yes there is definitely an advantage of studying in a big city, especially when it comes to jobs after graduation. A lot of small and medium companies in big cities prefer to hire locally from universities close by. So does this mean that San Jose State University (SJSU) which is located in the San Jose – the Silicon Valley, better than Texas A&M University located in College Station, Texas with hardly any IT company around? Definitely NOT. But yes studying at SJSU would bring you more career opportunities than a comparably ranked school in the interiors of USA.
• Your career interest: This should preferably be your most important criteria. Ask yourself again “What are my interests when it comes to a career. What subjects or topics interest me the most”? Having completed your bachelors, or being on the verge of doing so, you should preferably have an answer to this, but unfortunately most students don’t. So it wouldn’t hurt looking back at what you learnt in the past years. Also take a look at the university department pages to understand what research is going on in a particular university. If you find some professors research interesting, do not hesitate to call and ask more about their interests. Trust me international phone calls are not as expensive as you think and professors would be more than willing to talk to you and answer your questions.
• Cost factor: Take a look at the fees the university charges. If you think you cannot afford it, there is no point in applying there even if you think you might get admission there. Apply only to those universities where you can afford to go.
• Be realistic: You need to understand that wherever you do your MS from, you are NOT going to get a red carpet welcome, neither by the department where you are doing your MS or nor by companies where you apply for jobs after your degree. There is competition and you will have to face it. So if your expectations are that immediately after your MS you will start getting calls from companies offering you big fat pay cheques, then trust me that wont happen (whichever university you graduate form). Job search is an activity that you will have to carry out on your own. Your university career center and other recourses at your university would assist you with it, but eventually it’s your responsibility to make your career, and you will have to work hard at it.

And finally a question that we get asked often is “How many universities should I apply to”? Our answer to that is ‘7 to 8 universities”. Applying costs you money, so ideally we advise you to apply to not more than 8 universities.

The ‘Brand’ value: Many applicants pride themselves in saying that they work for brands like Accenture, Cap Gemini, Morgan Stanley, KPMG, Lehman Brothers, P&G, Deloitte …(and I am trying to think of other biggies in the industry, but anyways). The point is it does not make any difference if you work for Accenture or you work at Infosys or some XYZ & Sons. Get over the misconception that the big brand on your resume is going to pave your way to the MBA program.

CEO’s Recommendation: Getting a recommendation from your company’s CEO/VP/Director etc is NOT recommended unless you have been working with this person day in and day out. Your recommendation should be from a person holding a supervisory position to you and whom you have been working on a regular basis. Only then can this person write details about you.

Dad’s Friend’s Reco: Your dad’s friend might be an influential person (maybe even the president of the country, or the CEO of a Fortune 10 company), but his/her recommendation is not going to help you at all. So don’t waste your time and efforts getting that reco.

Topper in School: “I was a topper in my school/college. I won the National merit Scholarship in class 10th and I was ranked 56th in some All india Exam” and I ask “So what?”

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask and I will try my best to answer them.

Since most of my clients are Indians, I have decided to discuss things from an Indian applicant’s perspective.

Most Indian applicants have an engineering background and a significant amount of these are employed with an IT company (irrespective of what stream of engineering you came from). Some feel that this is an advantage, while many feel that this is a disadvantage. Now before we proceed further, let’s first get a few things clarified. Weather you are an engineer or hold any other degree, whether you are employed in a well reputed company or you work for your family business, it really doesn’t matter. Neither is it an advantage nor a disadvantage.

I often get asked by applicants if working for a small company is a disadvantage, and my answer is that it doesn’t matter where you work or what you work as either. A software engineer is no better than an accountant or a lawyer or a call center employee. What matters is how you distinguish yourself from others. In an MBA application what is really important is to make your application stand out from the rest.

So how do you distinguish yourself from other applicants?

• High Scores: A good academic track record and especially high GMAT scores are always a plus.
• The value add factor: Ask yourself this question: What impact have you made to the team, group or the organization you work for? How have your contributions added value to the work environment and your team?
• Leaders Wanted: Emphasize on leadership roles you have taken at work and outside work. Talk about times when you led teams, the impact you had on the situation, the challenges you faced and how you overcame them.
• Initiatives: What initiatives have you taken over the past few years, both in your professional and personal life, to grow as an individual/professional? For example, if you work as a software engineer, have you taken any initiatives to understand the company’s business plans, identify new business segments, take steps to add value to the client you are servicing? The same applies if you have been working for your family business or any other industry.
• It’s OK to Fail: If you have had a failure in life, don’t try to hide it. Talk about it, but make sure you also talk about lessons learnt from the failure. If you were to encounter a similar situation again, how would you handle it differently? Talk about what changes this situation has brought in your attitude and your personality.
• Extracurricular: Most Indians have a lot of extracurricular activities (at least on their resume) and are always active participants in their college or company’s social service group. Well my advice here is ‘Don’t lie’ and at the same time ‘Don’t underestimate yourself’. Another problem (and yes this is a problem) that most Indian applicants face is that their involvement in extracurricular activities comes to a screeching halt the moment they step out of college and join a job. Take out time from your job and pursue other interests in life. A full time job is just a 40 hour a week commitment, not an 80+ hour long ordeal.
• Social Service: A lot has been said by many experts about ‘social service’, and most applicants feel that it is absolutely necessary to have a social service experience on your resume. My only suggestion here, don’t just get involved with an NGO (or worse just write about it) just for the sake of your MBA admissions. However if you are passionate about a cause, then it isn’t too late to get involved with it.

Think of the MBA application as a ‘sales pitch’, and your audience is looking for future leaders – leaders who can take on responsibility and bring about a change in their environment. So the bottom line is to show that you have the leadership potential in you.