Wharton To Ask Rec Writers For ‘Essays’

Wharton School operations and innovation management professor Christian Terwiesch teaching class After a major review, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has decided to ask recommenders of its MBA applicants to effectively write two short essays on the candidates they are recommending. The changes, effective with the upcoming 2017-2018 admissions cycle, occurred after the school surveyed more than 1,200 writers of recommendation letters and asked about their experience with the process. Vice Dean Maryellen Reilly, who deemed the overall â€Å"significant,† said they were being made â€Å"in an effort to get a deeper understanding of a candidate’s personal characteristics and their impact on others throughout their career.† It’s a major changeup, in part, because business schools have been reducing the number and the length of essays for MBA applicants for several years now. At least on the surface, it seems ironic that a school would now decide to essentially ask recommendation writers for a pair of 300-word essays. The move also comes not long after several schools have moved to a common rec letter format to make it easier for recommenders to provide support for their candidates to several schools. IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK FROM ADMISSION CONSULTANTS MIXED But Wharton ostensibly thought it could improve on the current system after asking rec writers for their perspectives. â€Å"Utilizing their valuable feedback, in conjunction with conversations with writers at a variety of companies and Wharton stakeholders, we have revised and improved how recommenders provide information on who a candidate is both personally and within an organization,† wrote Deputy Vice Dean Maryellen Reilly in a blog post about the change. Several MBA admission consultants, however, weren’t nearly as enthusiastic about the change, largely because they saw it as an additional burden on recommenders. That could encourage more recommenders to ask applicants to write the essays for their approval. â€Å"For the personality traits, the good news is that Wharton is trying to get authentic and thoughtful responses from recommenders, rather than literally ‘check-the-box,† says Betsy Massar, founder of Master Admissions. â€Å"Because there are truly no right or wrong answers, hopefully, students won’t be as anxious about not being top at everything. For the qualitative questions, It’s great that the essay question specifically says up front, â€Å"give examples.† Maybe that will bring more substance into some of the high-praise-but-fluffy recommendations that don’t differentiate candidates in the least. â€Å"On the downside,† she adds, â€Å"moving away from the common application questions that have been asked by other top schools really does put more of a burden on the recommender. That has all sorts of repercussions that increases anxiety for the student and might even mean that Wharton loses some applicants. Not sure that’s an optimal outcome for anyone.† APPLICANTS MORE LIKELY TO SUCCUMB TO ‘YOU-WRITE-IT-I’LL SIGN-IT’ Linda Abraham, founder and CEO of Accepted.com, agreed. â€Å"Even those inclined to write their own recs are more likely to succumb to the time-saving temptation of you-write-it-I’ll-sign-it if they have to write two additional, distinctive responses to the open questions posed in the Wharton rec,† she says. â€Å"This would be especially true for applicants applying to more schools.† Jeremy Shinewald, founder and CEO of mbaMission, sees an upside and downside to the change. â€Å"Unquestionably, relative to other schools, Wharton will get more thoughtful and colorful letters from those who take the recommendation process seriously – the questions almost force that outcome,† he says. â€Å"Unfortunately, they may also serve as a catalyst for those recommenders who may not want to put the time in and who may not put the time in and decide to shirk their responsibilities altogether. Because a truly excellent letter of recommendation can be a very powerful differentiator for any applicant, we strongly advise our clients to meet with their recommenders and discuss the process and more so what it means to write a standout letter. â€Å"In doing so, we always advise our clients to be ready to diplomatically push back against a boss who says â€Å"write it yourself.† There is a reason why the schools want recommendation letters – they want insight that an applicant just can’t objectively and compellingly state about themselves. So, we may emphasize an extra level of preparedness for pushback to our Wharton applicants, because it will serve them well. They will have a better chance of getting in if they can persuade their recommenders to embrace the process.†