SOP & LOR

LOR for Management Courses: How to Write Letter of Recommendation for Management Courses?

Author_Image
Rohan Deshmukh
2.3k views

The LOR for management courses is an integral part of your study abroad application. Through this document, the admission committee can get a recommender's view of your candidature and eligibility for admission. With the help of the recommender's insights and observations, you can establish your interests, skills, personality traits, achievements, and also your contribution to the academic, volunteer, and professional spheres.

In addition to the other vital documents such as SOP, and resume—the LORs help build a holistic picture of the student that is realistic and backed up by real-life examples. These documents together help the concerned university to make a decision regarding the selection of promising and qualified candidates for their management program. Hence, it is essential that the recommender is familiar with your professional or academic background. So whether you are writing it yourself or choosing a recommender for the same, go through the…

Suggested: Letter of Recommendation for MBA

Types of LOR Required for the Management Courses

Most applications for management courses require two types of LORs, they are:

  1. Academic LOR: Drafted by or on behalf of a student’s faculty, project guide, internship guide, or mentor at your college. It highlights the academic life of the student and talks about their progressive journey. It also focuses on the projects, classroom behaviour, and co-curricular participation of the student.
  2. Professional LOR: Drafted by or on behalf of your team lead or the person you directly reported to, manager, project lead, or other senior management members. At times, even clients can be approached to write a professional LOR.

Each of the LOR should be within 500 words unless other prerequisites are mentioned on the university website.

Suggested: Letter of Recommendation Guide for MS, MBA, and Others

How to Write Letter of Recommendation for Management

You can write an actionable LOR by including these sections:  

Introduction

The letter of recommendation for management must begin with an introduction to the recommender. What is their designation? Their relationship with you—manager/team lead/mentor? Be sure to include the duration of your association with them, your role in the organisation, the name of your team, and an overview of your growth. This paragraph should end with the recommender's general impression of you.

Body paragraph

The following paragraphs should focus on your notable characters. The next two paragraphs can portray your qualities and the recommender needs to substantiate them with anecdotes.

How did the recommender observe these qualities? What were the incidents? The specific examples will help you elaborate on the qualities in depth. You can include the qualities in order of importance. Add details of the tasks performed, including the tools you used, the title of the project, its objective, your contribution, roles, responsibilities, etc. Include anecdotes that highlight your capabilities.

Key Qualities Management LORs can Highlight—team management, organisational abilities, communication skills, time management, leadership, and initiative. Each quality mentioned needs to be included along with a situation/example where this skill was demonstrated? Be sure to include only 2 - 3 qualities in one LOR to ensure it is balanced.

Next, mention any participation in extracurricular activities in college or at the workplace, if applicable. How will the skills demonstrated here help you in the future? Next, if you have any achievement/s at the workplace you can mention that as well. What helped you achieve this, and how does the recommender attest to your skills?

Conclusion

Summarise the qualities that establish you as an ideal candidate for the management program. Here, the recommender can encourage the reader to contact them for any additional information. The LOR for management courses can be concluded with a proper business closing along with the signature.

Suggested: Write an SOP for International Business Management!

LOR requirement for Top Management Universities

The LOR for management courses usually remains unchanged for different reasons. So, one recommendation works across different college applications. In LORs for management courses, aspirants can focus on qualities mentioned in the program's outline, including communication, management, and leadership, to make the letter stand out. However, some management universities do include specific prompts for LORs. Let’s check the details:

  1. The University of British Columbia (UBC)
  2. The Wharton School (UPenn)
  3. INSEAD, France

University

LOR Requirement for Management Courses

The University of British Columbia (UBC)

Three academic references are required; however, professional references will be allowed in the following cases:

The applicant’s credential was received less than 5 years ago, one professional letter is allowed.

Between five and 10 years ago, two professional letters are allowed.

More than 10 years ago, three professional reference letters are allowed.

 

The Wharton School (UPenn)

This university requires two LORs.

Recommenders will be urged to choose about 3 from a list of 10 characteristics that may best describe the candidate.

The next section contains two free-form questions that would require the recommenders to include examples that would highlight why they believe the candidate will contribute to Wharton and why they believe the candidate will be successful throughout their career.

Both of the LORs have a 300-word limit.

INSEAD

Two professional letters of recommendation are required that elaborate on the leadership and management skills.

It should come from recommenders who know you from a professional setting.

Lastly, academic LORs are acceptable but they are not encouraged as they do not elaborate on your ability to manage, work, and lead.

Suggested: Sample LOR for Masters (MS)

Important Tips to Write LORs for Management

While writing the LOR, adhering to the format mentioned above might seem simple; however, do keep the following tips in mind to ensure your LOR does not miss any important aspects.

  • First and foremost, be sure to communicate with the recommender about the LOR and stay in touch when you plan on requesting the recommendations.
  • As it is a letter, keep the content crisp and ensure all the formalities remain on the left-hand side as per letter-writing conventions.
  • Each of the LOR must have distinctive anecdotes and qualities to demonstrate. This will help establish a holistic picture of the student and ensure that each LOR is different from the other.
  • Use the LORs to present your strengths and capabilities honestly without exaggerating. This will build a clear view of the applicant's journey to showcase development and growth.
  • Stick to the word limit and use it wisely to target the purpose of the letter. Be sure to end and begin on a positive note.
  • Establishing familiarity between the student and the recommender is essential. Sufficient information must be provided for observations. For example, if the Economics professor mentions the student's extracurricular activities, the link between the two must be established.
  • Each LOR should focus on different capabilities and interests, and the observation should be specifically mentioned with examples and anecdotes.
  • Once you have completed the application documents, it is best to share your resume and a copy of the LOR with your recommender to ensure they can vouch for you to the best of their understanding.

As you must have gathered from reading the above sections, LORs truly are an essential part of your application. While your resume is a formal document that provides an overview of your credentials, an SOP is an essay to establish your goals and state the reasons for further education; a LOR is a recommender's close observation of an individual's work or academic performance established through situations. Together, these documents make a robust application and help the admissions committee understand the student's background and motivation toward their goals.

With so many steps, a student or recommender can get confused about what to include and what not in a LOR. But don’t worry, Yocket is here to help you understand the nuances and draft a succinct sample LOR for management courses in terms of format and guidelines.

However, to enjoy our end-to-end guidance or a customised service plan you will have to choose Yocket premium. In this, our well-qualified and trained counsellors will mentor you for a successful study abroad ride.

Articles you might like