Recommendation Letters- Some questions?

[johnjbruin]

I am currently finishing up my bachelors and am planning on applying to MBA/MD concurrent degree programs.
The question i had was this.

When I ask my recommenders, do I ask them for two letters one for B-school and one for MedSchool or just one that focuses on both aspects.

The other thing was that all schools have a different reference letter form. When I ask them for a letter it will just be one letter and I doubt they will fill out so many forms. Is this ok. I mean they can discuss the general stuff that you put in a rec letter but do you still need to fill out the forms or the various schools will accept the one letter that they give me. This also poses another question because UCLA has this service at its career center where you submit a letter and they mail it out for you to different schools for like 5 bucks each maintaining all that authenticity stuff...(signs, official etc). If I use this service, they only send out the letter and will not deal with the reference forms.

So i am sort of confused right now. Is it ok to just send the letter and not the forms that are part of the official application?

thanks

Edit: More answerable single question:
A lot of you have applied to grad schools. Did you use the reference letter given by the school? or did your recommender just give you one generic letter that fit all the schools demands...?

 

[johnjbruin]

bump for the late crowd

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

before you do MBA/MD combined degree, you better have a REAL good idea of why exactly you want to do both rather than one or the other.

as for your real question, no idea.

 

[johnjbruin]

Originally posted by: FrontlineWarrior
before you do MBA/MD combined degree, you better have a REAL good idea of why exactly you want to do both rather than one or the other.

as for your real question, no idea.

yeah, i realize my life will be school and nothing else for the next 5+ years...

anyway. I realize the concurrent degree thing is rare so... i think nobody here knows about that.

Other than that, A lot of you have applied to grad schools. Did you use the reference letter given by the school? or did your recommender just give you one generic letter that fit all the schools demands...

 

[Jfur]

I have applied at both the master's and phd levels and the approach below worked well for me. Since then I have also written many letters of rec for various programs (although no dual degrees).

There are several factors to consider.

Do you have a favorite school? Ideally, you want a tailored letter, especially if your profs have*contacts* there!!! They could say something like, "I know John will fit in with your blah blsh specialty offered at X". If you know the profs well, you might ask them to cutomize the letters (it is really a matter of cut and paste), but make sure you give them SASEs and all of the information they need about each school ( a summary sheet). ALSO, be sure to give each prof a short cheat sheet about you, eactly when you took their classes, what classes, your major projects, and also a resume that has more info about you and your goals. If you have already written a strong statement of purpose for your grad apps, attach this as well. This helps the writer to craft a apersonalized letter (which will be much stronger). If you are applying to concurrent programs, do you apply to both at one or only one? If you have three or less schools, I'd try for the process above. But if you don't know them well or are applying all over the place, perhaps go in and ask the profs what they feel confortable with.

Let me know if you need more details or clarification

 

[johnjbruin]

Originally posted by: Jfur
I have applied at both the master's and phd levels and the approach below worked well for me. Since then I have also written many letters of rec for various programs (although no dual degrees).

There are several factors to consider.

Do you have a favorite school? Ideally, you want a tailored letter, especially if your profs have*contacts* there!!! They could say something like, "I know John will fit in with your blah blsh specialty offered at X". If you know the profs well, you might ask them to cutomize the letters (it is really a matter of cut and paste), but make sure you give them SASEs and all of the information they need about each school ( a summary sheet). ALSO, be sure to give each prof a short cheat sheet about you, eactly when you took their classes, what classes, your major projects, and also a resume that has more info about you and your goals. If you have already written a strong statement of purpose for your grad apps, attach this as well. This helps the writer to craft a apersonalized letter (which will be much stronger). If you are applying to concurrent programs, do you apply to both at one or only one? If you have three or less schools, I'd try for the process above. But if you don't know them well or are applying all over the place, perhaps go in and ask the profs what they feel confortable with.

Let me know if you need more details or clarification

thanks
clarifications and questions:
When I apply to concurrent degree programs its like applying to the schools separately. Two applications go for one program. Eg. UCLA MBA/MD program means regualr Med school application and another UCLA Bus. School application. They have nothing in common other than a box you select indicating that your are applying to concurrent degrees. Admission is also totally separate. You could get into one and not the other. Hope that cleared it up...

I am planning on applying to 8-10 schools. Which means abot 16-20 applications and I dont think even the professors I know well on a casual basis would like to fill out 20 different refernece letter forms.

So i am still confused. The service that the career center here has is that you get the letter from the prof addressed to the career center and each student basically has a file in which they keep these letters. When you apply to schools, you give the Schools addressed envelope to them and they just stuff a copy of that letter in your file into the envelope and stamp it confidential and then mail it.

My question is do i use the service or use the 20 different forms?
It will really suck if I have to make the profs fill out all those forms...

 

[Jfur]

Originally posted by: johnjbruin

Originally posted by: Jfur
I have applied at both the master's and phd levels and the approach below worked well for me. Since then I have also written many letters of rec for various programs (although no dual degrees).

There are several factors to consider.

Do you have a favorite school? Ideally, you want a tailored letter, especially if your profs have*contacts* there!!! They could say something like, "I know John will fit in with your blah blsh specialty offered at X". If you know the profs well, you might ask them to cutomize the letters (it is really a matter of cut and paste), but make sure you give them SASEs and all of the information they need about each school ( a summary sheet). ALSO, be sure to give each prof a short cheat sheet about you, eactly when you took their classes, what classes, your major projects, and also a resume that has more info about you and your goals. If you have already written a strong statement of purpose for your grad apps, attach this as well. This helps the writer to craft a apersonalized letter (which will be much stronger). If you are applying to concurrent programs, do you apply to both at one or only one? If you have three or less schools, I'd try for the process above. But if you don't know them well or are applying all over the place, perhaps go in and ask the profs what they feel confortable with.

Let me know if you need more details or clarification

thanks
clarifications and questions:
When I apply to concurrent degree programs its like applying to the schools separately. Two applications go for one program. Eg. UCLA MBA/MD program means regualr Med school application and another UCLA Bus. School application. They have nothing in common other than a box you select indicating that your are applying to concurrent degrees. Admission is also totally separate. You could get into one and not the other. Hope that cleared it up...

I am planning on applying to 8-10 schools. Which means abot 16-20 applications and I dont think even the professors I know well on a casual basis would like to fill out 20 different refernece letter forms.

So i am still confused. The service that the career center here has is that you get the letter from the prof addressed to the career center and each student basically has a file in which they keep these letters. When you apply to schools, you give the Schools addressed envelope to them and they just stuff a copy of that letter in your file into the envelope and stamp it confidential and then mail it.

My question is do i use the service or use the 20 different forms?
It will really suck if I have to make the profs fill out all those forms...

I suppose the career service, although if you have a strong preference for one school I would definitely ask for a custom letter for that one. Also, if your profs have contacts at a preferred school then a custom letter would be good. I've written several law school apps that are sent to a central law school app place. In general, admissions boards will prefer a personalized letter than has their school's name and shows the writer has some knowledge of that program (of course, your personal statement sent to each school should list attributes of the school and why it is a good match for you). However, they understand that that is not always possible. If the programs you are applying for do not have an established relationship between them (i.e. a joint MBA/MD) then just treat them separately. The professors can reference that interest in the other field and you can support it in your personal statement. One good idea is to ask a trusted prof what he or she would do, or you might even call one of the schools and ask for guidelines to be sure.

 

[johnjbruin]

thanks Jfur.
I will most probably give some of the schools a call.
Just wanted to have some idea as to what i am heading towards...

Is usually 1-2 months good enough time for profs to write letters?

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

Originally posted by: johnjbruin
thanks Jfur.
I will most probably give some of the schools a call.
Just wanted to have some idea as to what i am heading towards...

Is usually 1-2 months good enough time for profs to write letters?

I gave my recommenders 1 month and they all finished within that time. I did remind them every week though. I don't know if they got annoyed, but it worked. I would give them 1 month, and give yourself 6 weeks, in case the recommender flakes or suddenly becomes too busy. (i.e. give them a different deadline than the absolute last date)

 

[Jfur]

Originally posted by: johnjbruin
thanks Jfur.
I will most probably give some of the schools a call.
Just wanted to have some idea as to what i am heading towards...

Is usually 1-2 months good enough time for profs to write letters?

Yes, especially if you give them the summary sheet and resume mentioned above. In addition to reminding the profs, it is a very good idea to call the schools in advance (~a week before due dates) to MAKE SURE everything got there. Just say you are checking on the status of your application and want to make sure all your materials are in.