Leveraging a B-School
Contact Into an Admissions Advantage
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where a prospective
recommender suddenly appears? What would you do? Senior Consultant Susan Shaffer
weighs in.
"Networking opportunities can spontaneously pop up as people tell friends, family, and business associates that they are in the middle of the application process," says Susan.
"Friends of your parents will say, 'I went to school such-and-such! I'll write a letter!'
Or colleagues at work will mention a contact."
All of these contacts present applicants with the potential to add another letter of support or a positive note to their file. But, Susan says, applicants need to think carefully about who should send in a letter of support.
"As one of my best MBA professors once said in a strategy course,
'It depends. It always depends.' And he was right," says Susan. "There is no rule to follow, but there is always an
'if' to consider!
"A formal letter of support is what I call a letter sent in addition to your recs by an alum or other supporter of the MBA program. By that I mean a very prominent person or an alum who is very involved with the school, not just an alum who graduated 10 years ago but has no connection to current campus life.
"A targeted letter of support from someone like this can make
all the difference... if you are already in the competitive range for the
program. If the letter is the one thing that can tip the scales in your favor.
If the letter is from someone who has a track record of engagement with the
school. If that person supports only a very few candidates.
"You can also ask current students or less illustrious alumni to send a friendly e-mail supporting your application to the
admissions committee – if they are comfortable doing so. I used to use contacts of this sort to gauge applicant interest in the program," says Susan, referring to her past experience in the admissions office of NYU's Stern School of Business.
"I loved to see a short e-mail from a student or alum who took the time to send me a 'look out for Samir! e-mail, and I would start a file for Samir.
But would this make a difference in the admissions decision? Only if the
applicant was on the border – a waitlist candidate profile."
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Contributed by
Senior Consultant Susan Shaffer. Susan is a Stern MBA
and former Senior Associate Director of MBA Admissions
at New York University's Stern School of Business.
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