Sample Recommendation Letter

How long have you known the applicant and in what capacity?
I have known the applicant since 2006, as his undergraduate degree capstone project
and master degree thesis advisor, and also as his supervisor at Accenture. Philip has
demonstrated his exceptional attributes in academic as well as professional arena. As a
student, he excelled in my Valuation course. His capstone project on estimating the
Catholic Church market value and his master degree thesis on the Brazilian short-term
interest rate were original, effective and impactful. Certainly, he belongs to the top five
percentile among all the students and employees I have already supervised. As a
consultant at XXX ( name of company), he demonstrates excellent analytical capabilities
and strong leadership skills. Also, he has been responsible for several initiatives under
my direct supervision.

What characteristics or attributes best describe the applicant?

As mentioned before, Philip combines excellent analytical capabilities with strong
leadership skills. He is also very self-motivated. In our last project, he was the only full-
time consultant allocated to the client, so he kept himself and the client team engaged,
managing most of the interaction with the client with minor supervision. Philip has
demonstrated strong leadership skills and emotional intelligenceinthe projects we have
worked together. He acted as a project leader, coordinating teams composed by
Accenture and client team members. He also developed an excellent relationship with
the clients team, formed mainly by public servants with years of work experience in the
public sector, establishing proper communication between our firm and the client.
When he joined our team, I warned him that we were facing a relationship gap with the
clients team. He was able to address this situation by building rapport with key contacts
on the client side, and succeeded in resolving friction with the client, delivering high
quality solutions in the scheduled time and forecasted budget.

In what area is the applicant most exceptional?

Philip has strong interpersonal skills. He is our focal point for the client and solves
issues related to the interaction of both teams. With his positive attitude and intellectual
curiosity, he copes well with the common pressure in consulting for fast results. For
example, as soon as he arrived at the project, he had to develop a new model for
estimating the aggregated credit risk of a special portfolio in just two weeks. He was able
to handle this situation, suggesting a Bayesian model and comparing it with a baseline
model to show the potential gains in forecasting performance. Besides that, he noticed
that the client team was inexperienced in Bayesian models, so he offered a workshop to
transfer knowledge.
In what area does the applicant need the most improvement?
I consider that Philip must continue improving in keeping the models simple. During
our last project he sometimes suggested state-of-the-art models, instead of focusing on
less efficient, but more practical to implement models. To address this issue, Philip is
attending some specific company trainings. He is aware of his potential point to
improve, and I believe he will be able to address this gap shortly.

How well do you feel the applicant handles disappointment or

differences of opinion?
Regarding disappointment handling, I have seenPhilip several frustrating events, from
not being allowed to take some elective courses to being offered an initial salary at
XXXX a little lower than in his previous job. What was common to these situations was
his determination to find alternatives to reduce frustration and, when there were no
alternatives, his resilience and maturity to deal with the situation.

Please indicate to which group you are comparing this candidate

(i.e., co-workers, MBA graduates, etc.)
With co-workers, undergraduate students and graduate students (PhD and MSc), asI
have known Philip as a professor/advisor on undergraduate and graduatestudies, and
also as a direct supervisor while working at XXXX.

In terms of the qualities listed below, please give us your appraisal

of the applicant:
Above Unabl
Average(
Exception Outstandin Average BelowAverage eto
Middle
al(Top 5%) g(Top 15%) (Top (Bottom 1/3) asses
1/3)
1/3) s
Intellectual

ability
Analytical

ability
Judgment
Maturity
Motivation/I

nitiative
Integrity
Ability to
work with
others
Oral
communicati
on
Written
communicati
on
Managerial

potential
Overall Rating

Strongly recommend Recommend Recommend with

reservations MaleDo not recommend
Other comments
I believe Philip has the skills needed to attend well the MBA Program at Goizueta,
combining technical knowledge with managerial capabilities on a high level. It is
important to highlight that as a result of his strong performance he was rated as an
above performer in his first year as consultant at Accenture, something that is really
uncommon. My final comment is totally based on our experience together, in different
contexts both in academia and industry. Therefore, I strongly recommend his admission
into Goizueta MBA Program.
 1. How long have you known the applicant and in what
context? How long did he or she work for you? If part-time, how often did he or
she work?

I have known Catherine for 1.5 years now. She worked for me for about a year first as an
intern and then as a Junior Analyst. This was full time employment. I was her direct
superior in the Eurasia Area of Responsibulity (AOR)

2. What duties did the applicant perform?

A lot of research, mainly on security/political/economic risks in Western Europe.

3. What observations are you able to make with regard to the applicant's
work ethic, intellect, degree of motivation for professional achievement, and
potential for professional growth?

Work ethic is extraordinary, as is motivation. She has a lot of room to grow, especially in
leadership capacity. Her intellect is definitely there, but she can sometimes be reserved
and not let it come out as much as she could.

4. What can you tell us about the applicant's character and personal
qualities? Are there special strengths and weaknesses that we should consider?

Nothing to really say about her character other than she is extremely hard working and
committed to professional advancement. A very warm and decent person. Can be
reserved and shy.

5. Please comment on the applicants ability to work with a team. If given a

choice, do you believe he or she would prefer to work independently or as part of
a group?

She is a great team player, but rarely does she take the leadership role. I think she is
fine working either in a team or independently. Independently she can focus on a task
and excel without problems, but in a team she can play the role of the facilitator, so she
is really good either way.

6. To the best of your knowledge, can the applicant be trusted with

confidential information?

STRATFOR is a global intelligence organization that works for a number of Fortune 500
clients and handles a lot of confidential information, much more than most private/legal
businesses. If Catherine was unable to handle confidential information, she would not
have passed our thorough background checks, or earned the trust of analysts at the
company.

7. Please rank the following on a scale of 1 to 5, one being below average and five
being excellent:

Verbal Communication skills: 4 (shy) Organizational skills: 5

Attention to detail: 5 Written Communication skills: 5
Self-confidence: 2 (way too hard on herself) Motivation: 5
Punctuality: 5 Ability to meet deadlines: 5
Trustworthiness: 5 Work product: 5

8. If the applicant were eligible for rehire, would you rehire him or her?

YES

9. Please indicate below any additional thoughts, comments, or observations that you
believe to be relevant for LEGALSOURCE when evaluating the applicant for
employment:
How long and in what capacity have you known the applicant?
I have already known her for three years since she entered into Capital Medical University. As her
undergraduate tutor, I talked to her with the goal of gaining a better understand the young girl sometimes
and make friends with her, as I did with other students in my group. She enrolled in two of my classes
Chemistry of Chinese Medical Pharmacy and Specialized English from September 2013 to January
2014.
(2)What is your assessment of the applicant's intellectual ability?
Although she is not the most intelligent girl in the class, she has intellectual sophistication on the basis of
world-class education she can undertake. As far as I have observed, Ms. Zhao performed to her capacity
for independent thinking in my class. Since I ve known Zhao in her freshman year, I witnessed exactly
how this talented young lady grew in both academic and research fields.
(3)What is your opinion of the applicant's motivation towards and suitability for a career in the chosen field
of study?
She demonstrated her intense interest in biotechnology on my experiment classes which was developed
in basic medical and chemistry courses. With great enthusiastic in biology and chemistry, talents and
abilities, she is suitable to receive biotechnology education, which made her decide to contribute to the
further development and evolution.
(4)What do you consider the most outstanding characteristics of the applicant?
The course I taught was made up of two parts: theory and experiments. Ms. Zhao showed more interest
for the experimental classes than the theoretical courses. When I asked a question during the experiment
classes, especially when the question was related to how to conduct the entire experiment in an
appropriate and efficient way, she was always the one who could face it down and choose the best
methodology. She really applied the knowledge she gained from the literature and put it into practice.
After finishing an experiment, I could easily see her attitude related to the subject and her participation in
discussion after class of the results and analysis in experiment reports.
(5)What are the major weaknesses of the applicant?
She is stiffness, sensitive and shows her self-consciousness in the process of communicate with people.
So the expression in writing or orally was out of her league sometime. Besides, she is stubborn and not
easily change her mind.
(6)Any additional statements you may wish to make concerning the applicant's capacity for pursuing the
program indicated above.
Ms. Zhao pays attention, has a unique sense of responsibility and cooperates with other members; she
can also do a good job independently. I believe Ms. Zhao possesses all the knowledge, skills, and
abilities needed to become an excellent graduate student in her chosen field; I feel sure she could
become a fine addition to your campus.
Recommendation Letter for Marcus Kee Woon Tan

My replies:

a. How long and in what capacity have you known the applicant?

Marcus is my cousin and we have maintained regular contact.

b. How does the applicant stand out from others in a similar capacity?

Marcus is brilliant, articulate, and a born leader. I put him under star category for his
ability to solve problems and to inspire others. I rate him as one of the top three young
adults I know in his cohort.

c. Please provide an example of the applicants impact on a person, group or

organization.

In NUS, Marcus was placed in the Accelerated Masters Programme, a highly selective
program that is only offered to the most outstanding undergraduate students. Marcus
produced a thesis that was truly first-rate. His research in microwave technology
involved complex mathematical analysis of novel microwave transmission lines. Using
the conformal mapping technique, he was able to derive simple mathematical equations
of key characteristics of the asymmetric coplanar waveguide. Previously, the
asymmetric coplanar waveguide can only be analysed by using long polynomial
equations (developed by Prof Yamashita) that have to be solved by a computer.

Marcuss research had significant application in real-world microwave circuit

analysis. In December 1998, he was the only Singapore research student to do an
oral presentation of his Master research work in Asia Pacific Microwave Conference
(APMC) 98, Yokohama, Japan. Subsequently, his Master research paper was
accepted for publication by IEICE Transactions.

d. Please provide a representative example of how the applicant interacts with other
people.

Marcus has the rare gift of inspiring others. He is a team-player and an asset in any
group task. He knows how to get people going without making them feel pushed.

e. Which of the applicants personal or professional characteristics would you change?

I see his major weakness as lack of patience. When Marcus was younger, his
impatience could come across as arrogance. Marcus was aware of this problem and
has been making good progress towards correcting this. He is now very sensitive
towards others needs.
f. Please tell us anything else you think we should know about this applicant.

Marcus wants to be a high-tech entrepreneur. This purpose fuels his drive, passion,
and motivation for work. He is so well-read in high-tech businesses that I sometimes
consult him about happenings in the industry (when preparing for my MBA classes). I
believe his determination will make his dream come true.

Marcus is a great leader and communicator. I have no doubt he will assume a senior
management position in the years to come.

Yours truly,
Teck-Hua Ho
William Halford, Jr. Family Professor of Marketing
University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business