This book is available for purchase as a PDF digital download.

“You write it and I’ll look it over.”

This book was written for the many MBA and EMBA applicants (and more generally graduate school applicants, scholarship or fellowship applicants, young and mid-career professionals, etc.) whose recommenders ask them to either write their own recommendation or create a recommendation outline (a.k.a. talking points).

This guide will help you identify and manage your recommenders and give you a simple method for structuring and generating content for your recommendation. It also contains over 25 professional recommendations from successful applicants to elite MBA and EMBA programs as well as examples of recommendation outlines (a.k.a. talking points).

Recommendation questions from the following programs are also included: Berkeley Haas MBA, Chicago Booth MBA, Columbia MBA, Cornell Johnson MBA, University of Virginia Darden MBA, Dartmouth Tuck MBA, Duke Fuqua MBA, Harvard Business School MBA, INSEAD MBA, Kellogg MBA, London Business School MBA, Michigan Ross MBA, MIT Sloan MBA, NYU Stern MBA, Stanford MBA, UCLA Anderson MBA, Wharton MBA, Yale MBA, Chicago Booth EMBA, INSEAD EMBA, Kellogg EMBA, MIT Sloan EMBA & Sloan Fellows, Stanford MSx, and Wharton EMBA.

From the author, Leah Derus

After earning my MBA at MIT Sloan, I joined a well-known MBA admissions consulting firm but soon took issue with their business model: lots of ‘advice’ but none of the practical, time-intensive help clients really needed. I decided to chart my own course, and over the next decade worked intensively and successfully with a smaller client base doing high-touch-point MBA and EMBA admissions consulting through resumeSTORY.builders. The result has been a 98% admit rate, year after year at business schools such as Harvard, Stanford, MIT Sloan, and Wharton.

My approach gave me the latitude to hone my storytelling craft. Today I apply it to the entire MBA or EMBA application process – from recommendation writing (in this book) and essay and resume writing (in other books in the MBA & EMBA APPLICATION GUIDE Series).

Thank you for your interest in my work! Let’s connect on LinkedIn or at resumeSTORY.builders/books where you’ll find free resources.