Question on letters of recommendation

High all. I have been lurking on this discussion board for sometime now and I have decided to jump in and ask a question.

I am just about finished with my BS in marketing from the University of Phoenix and I am considering going on to a DL MBA program. One of the things that I have noted about some universities admissions requirements is the necessity for letters of recommendation. Silly question here, but are these letters academic letters of recommendation? Or can I just have my best friend write a couple of them for me?

Thanks I am sure that I will have a number of other questions as I wade through the process of selecting a school/program.

 

Hi,

I am also about to get my degree from UOP and am in the same boat as you w/ grad school.

Generally schools want Academic letters of recommendation (from what I have seen with GMU, GWU, Georgetown, UVA, VA Tech), aside from maybe an executive or accelerated MBA program where they would ask for professional references as well.

I would say talk to your current teachers, and check through and see if you kept any of the information from your previous professors and ask them if they will do one for you. I even went so far as to talk to a teacher I had back at NVCC who was happy to write me a letter.

 

Thanks Myles,

I thought as much. I have been putting off contacting my prior instructors but now that I have confirmed my suspicions I will start sending out e-mails asking for the letters.

By the way when do you graduate?

I am in my second-to-last class now and my capstone class starts on February 10 ending on March 16th. Glad I am almost done and I am looking forward to moving on to other things.

Thanks again.

 

Hi Mike,

I will be done in June, I am looking forward to other things as well. I actually work for apollo, so I am considering doing the master's here because it's basically free, that's the reason I am pursuing the BSB/M. I actually hold a degree in English from Longwood U, but I didn't want to go into a graduate business program having never taken a business course in my life. I only had to take 30 credits here thanks to course waivers .

Either way, there are alot of good non-traditional grad schools out there, and you won't have problems getting into state schools if you have a decent GPA and do well enough on the GMAT, GRE, LSAT or whatever they require.

Good Luck!

 

Hello,

Just some advice if you have never asked for academic letters of recommendation before... it can be kind of complicated.

-- When you ask your recommender to write the letter, include a few points of information for them to use, like "Please talk about my class performance during ___" or "Please talk about my job/volunteer duties during ____ and how you believe they relate to my capacity for higher learning. You may also want to focus on my performance during ____. The following timeline of my history with the organization might be helpful as well:______" This will help the recommender write a better letter, because they might not remember facts and dates about you. Including a resume is also helpful.

-- If you can't meet the recommender in person, mail the person a large self-addressed stamped envelope. Inside that envelope include a blank envelope for each needed copy of the letter of recommendation. Include instructions for the recommender to 1) write their letter on official letterhead 2) sign each copy of the letter 3) place each letter in a blank envelope you provided 4) seal the envelope and sign the envelope again across the seal of the envelope. Doing this will ensure that you get letters back in the proper form as quickly as possible.

For an MBA program a letter from a supervisor is usually the best kind of letter, although some programs ask for both a supervisor letter and an academic letter.