Stanford MBA recommendation letters (questions, tips, examples)

Your reference letters are one of the most important parts of your application to Stanford Graduate School of Business. This guide explains how to put everything in place to make sure you get the high quality MBA recommendations that you’ll need.

Below, we lay out the exact letters process, and we explain how to ace it. We also provide two example letters to show the level you should be aiming for, plus a handy summary you can send to your recommenders.

And here’s our first tip: think very carefully before putting your current supervisor as a recommender!

This is an outline of what we’ll cover:

• Stanford MBA recommendation letters process (2022)
• Stanford MBA recommendation letters questions
• How to get great MBA recommendation letters
• Choose wisely
• Guide your recommenders
• Two example Stanford MBA recommendation letters

Let’s go!

1. Stanford MBA recommendation letters process (2022)

To get into Stanford GSB, you need to stand out. It’s very hard to achieve this with your GMAT score, and you’ve got limited space on your resume. So, along with your essays, recommendation letters are your best opportunity to set yourself apart from the crowd.

Let’s start off by taking a look at exactly how recommendation letters work at Stanford. If you already know this part, you can skip straight to the sections with the recommender questions, our tips, or our example letters.

1.1 Overview

You’ll need to get two people to recommend you for your MBA at Stanford:

Person 1: Your current direct supervisor at work (or the next best alternative if you’re self-employed, don’t want to tell your supervisor, etc)

Person 2: Someone else who has supervised you (see section 3 for help on choosing this person)

Once you submit their details, you’ll be asked whether you want to notify them straight away. Click “yes,” and they’ll receive an email explaining that you’ve nominated them. You can add a message for them too, if you like.

They’ll click on the link and will be taken to a form where they’ll need to answer various questions, rate you on 10 different skills, and attach their letter of recommendation (specific details below in section 2).

1.2 Waiving your “right to view”

When you add a recommender to your Stanford MBA application, you’ll be asked whether or not you waive your right to view the recommendation letter. If you decide not to waive your right to view the letter, you will be able to see it after the application process is finished, and only if your application was successful.

While Stanford says that “your decision to waive or retain that right will have no bearing on your admission decision,” we highly recommend you should select “Yes” to waive your right.

Why? Many people say that not doing so will send a red flag to the admissions committee, as it suggests you somehow want to game the system. This is debatable, and we think Stanford GSB should be believed when they say it has no bearing on your admission decision.

However, we do believe that not waiving sends the wrong signal to your recommender. If you don’t waive, your recommender sees the following phrase in the email they receive from Stanford:

“Please note that NAME has not waived his/her right to review this letter of Letter of Reference.”

They could easily perceive this as a lack of trust from your part. It certainly isn’t the sort of signal you want to be sending to them just as they’re about to do such a big favor for you.

There is really no upside to not waiving. You’d only get to see the letter after the application process is finished, by which time it wouldn’t be useful to you.

1.3 What is and isn’t allowed

Stanford GSB lays out some strict guidelines around recommendation letters, and you should be sure to keep within them.

You won't be writing the recommendation letters, but you should still do everything you can to make sure they're both high quality. Making sure your recommenders understand what’s needed of them is perfectly above board, and we’ll go into more detail on this in section 3.

However, sometimes candidates can take their involvement in the process too far. Let’s take a look at what Stanford does not allow.

Many consultants offer to review your recommender’s letter and give rounds of feedback. At Stanford GSB, this is prohibited, as it clearly states on the website:

“You must not have any involvement in the drafting, writing, translation, or submission of the letters, including having any outside party review the letters before they are submitted.”

We advise you to avoid consultants and coaches who offer these unethical practices. Not only is it unfair for the rest of the candidates who stick to the rules, but it’s unnecessary: follow our advice in section 3 and you should be confident of getting the high quality recommendations you deserve.

Stanford's admissions committee would prefer that you didn’t see a letter before submission. After all, if the recommender knows that you won’t see what they write, they will feel more comfortable being completely honest about you.

Some recommenders may want to share their answers with you for confirmation that they’ve done a good job. However, if you make sure they are properly prepared and aware of what is needed from them, that shouldn't be necessary.

Now we’ve given you an overview of the letters process, let’s take a look at exactly what questions your recommenders will have to answer about you.

2. Stanford MBA recommendation letter questions

Stanford GSB uses the common recommendation letter process. This is a single, common set of questions used by all participating business schools. This is good news for you, because it saves your recommenders having to write out different answers for each school you’re applying to (provided the school uses the common LOR).

You can see more information about which business schools use the common LOR, as well as download the common LOR questions in various languages (useful if your recommenders are non-native English speakers), on the GMAC website.

Let’s take a look at exactly what your recommenders will see when they log in to submit their Stanford GSB letter of reference.

2.1 Details and context questions   

After giving their contact information, your recommenders will need to fill in some details about how long they’ve known you and the nature of their relationship with you.

2.2 Leadership Assessment

Your recommenders will then be asked to rate you on 10 different leadership behaviors:

"Listed below you will find a number of competencies that contribute to successful leadership. Within each category, please mark the one button corresponding to the behavior that the candidate most typically exhibits. We acknowledge that all candidates have both areas of strength and areas of development. If you select the highest rating, please provide specific examples in your letter."

We recommend that you think carefully about these leadership behaviors when choosing your recommender. You’ll want somebody who will give you strong, accurate ratings. We’ll look at this in more detail in section 3.

2.3 Summary

After rating you on the ten leadership behaviors, your recommenders will be asked to provide two overall ratings.

We highly recommend gauging your recommenders' answers to these questions in your initial chat with them. Clearly, you do not want to nominate a recommender who will give you an “Average” or even “Below average” rating.

2.4 Letters

Finally, your recommender will be asked to upload a document with the references they’ve written for you, which answer the three questions that Stanford poses.

Now you’ve seen exactly how the recommendations work, let’s take a look at how you can make sure you get two strong ones.

3. How to get great recommendation letters for MBA

There are two stages you have to do properly if you’re going to get the great letters of recommendation you need to get into Stanford GSB.

First you have to choose wisely. As we laid out in section 1, you’re required to list two people as recommenders, and they should both have supervised you in some capacity, preferably at work.

Secondly, you have to provide these recommenders with the necessary (and fair) guidance to make sure they write a detailed recommendation that gives an authentic sense of who you are.

Let’s take a look at both stages.

3.1 Choose your recommenders wisely

Before reading our tips, take a look at this short video produced by Stanford GSB. It covers a lot of what we mention below, and has some great insights straight from someone who’ll likely be reviewing your application, Kirsten Moss (Assistant Dean and Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid at Stanford GSB).

Right, let’s get into our tips.

#1 Start early

You should start thinking about this choice very early on in the application cycle, for two reasons.

Firstly, it gives you time to approach someone else if one of your choices can’t or doesn’t want to do it.

Secondly, it gives your recommender plenty of opportunity to organize their time. This makes it more likely that they’ll do a good job for you. Remember, writing (and submitting) recommendation letters can take a long time, especially for people who will be writing more than one.

Don’t procrastinate on this step!

#2 Don’t feel obligated to choose your current supervisor

Stanford recommends that Person 1 should be your direct supervisor. However, you are given the option to use someone else under various circumstances, including if you “Have not notified your direct supervisor that you are applying to business school.”

Before naming your direct supervisor as Person 1, we recommend considering how strong your relationship is with them, and what perception they hold of you.

Take a look at the questions in section 2. Do you think they’d recommend you to Stanford without reservations? Would they rate you as at least above average compared to your peer group? Have you worked with them closely enough so that they can paint an impressive and authentic picture of you, with examples, in their letters?

If the answer is yes, that’s perfect!

If you don’t know, perhaps you could ask for an informal “performance review” from them, in order to gauge their opinion of you.

If you conclude that the answer to these questions is “no”, don’t be afraid to choose someone else. Stanford suggests various alternatives: “a previous supervisor, an indirect manager, a client, a member of your board of directors, or any other individual who supervises your work.”

Remember, a great recommendation from another supervisor will do you more favors than a mediocre one from your current supervisor.

#3 Choose someone who knows you well

Don’t be tempted into putting an impressive-sounding person (e.g your CEO) or someone who went to Stanford as your reference, unless they have genuinely supervised you. They’ll need to know you well enough to create a letter with “detailed descriptions, candid anecdotes and specific evidence.”

If they haven’t worked closely with you, their letter will be generic, lacking in detail, and won’t help your cause.

We recommend looking closely at the leadership behavior ratings in section 2. Ask yourself if your recommender will be able to answer accurately on each behavior. If the answer is yes, they should have plenty of positive examples they can write about in the letter section.

This quote from Kirsten Moss (Assistant Dean and Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid) is a great summary of how you should make your choice:

“Find someone who knows what you have done, who’s really been in the trenches and can describe not just what happened but how you did it, and how the way you did it might have been different from how others would have done it. So don’t worry about the title of the person, don’t try and get the highest title.”

#4 You CAN choose outside work for person 2

Stanford GSB have adapted their advice over the years. For your second reference, they now say that "the strongest recommendations typically come from your workplace."

However, don't think that this means you'll be penalized for going elsewhere for your second reference. If you don't have a strong second option from your current or past workplace, extra curricular activities are fine, as long as it is someone who has supervised you.

Read this interesting interview with a Stanford GSB admissions officer, who says that one of the best recommendations they read was from a candidate's soccer team-mate. That would no longer be applicable, as it now must be a supervisor, but the point is that recommendations from outside work can still be powerful.

#4 Ask them properly

Before putting someone’s name down, you’ll want to have discussed it with them first and made sure they’re happy to do it. We recommend a phone call, or if you work with them, buy them a coffee or find a quiet corner for a 15-minute chat.

We don’t recommend using email for such a request, because it’s too impersonal, and written messages aren’t ideal for the honest conversation that you’ll need to have.

In your chat with them, explain that the commitment entails:

• Being happy to recommend you (ideally “strongly”) to Stanford
• Setting aside at least 3 hours of their time to write the recommendations 
• Writing a detailed, honest, and positive appraisal of you
• Submitting their recommendation a few days before the deadline (preferably earlier)

Show them the questions from section 2 so they can judge how long it will take and what sort of things they’ll need to answer about you.

Make it clear that you don’t expect an answer straight away. Tell them that they should sleep on it, and you’ll check back in with them soon to confirm whether they want to do it.

This gives them more opportunity to say no if they’re not keen. This is important because if someone is reluctant to recommend you but does so because they feel obligated, they’re unlikely to do a great job.

3.2 Guide your recommenders

Once you’ve chosen your two recommenders and they’ve agreed to do it, you need to make sure you provide them with the necessary guidance:

• If possible, you’ll want to sit down for another chat with them. They’re doing you a favor, so arrange a time and place as convenient as possible for them.
  

• Bring a list of positive things that they’ve seen you do, and go through the list with them. Be clear that you’re not trying to tell them what to write, but that you want to jog their memory on experiences that might be worth including.
  

• On an emotional level, you should make them feel like they’re a part of your journey. Tell them why you’re applying for the MBA and what you’re hoping it will help you achieve. Share your excitement with them. This way they’ll be more invested in doing the best they possibly can for you.

Once you’ve made sure they’ll have plenty of positive things to say about you, you need to check they understand the type of recommendation they need to write. Make sure they understand these instructions from Stanford:

“The most useful recommendations provide detailed descriptions, candid anecdotes, and specific evidence that highlight the candidate's behavior, actions, and impact on those around her or him.”

Let’s expand a bit on this advice by outlining three key pieces of advice that your recommender should follow.

#1 They need to go into detail

It isn’t possible to communicate the level of detail they’re looking for in just a couple of paragraphs. Stanford suggests that your recommender uses up to 500 words on each of the two questions they ask: we recommend they should take 350 words as a minimum for each.

#2 They should be willing to include criticism

Some recommenders might think they’re doing you a favor by giving you full marks in all ten leadership behaviors. They’re not. Kirston Moss says that this either conveys a lack of accuracy, or that you’re such an incredible candidate that an MBA wouldn’t do much for you anyway.

Let your recommender know that they should be honest in these ratings, and in the answers they write. Nobody is perfect, and they don’t have to try to pretend that you are. A letter that mentions one or two of your flaws and what you’ve done to address them will be more authentic than one that only gives praise.

This is particularly important in the second “feedback” question, which asks your recommender to describe constructive feedback they gave you and how you responded. Stanford includes this because they want to see evidence that you can take on real criticism and address real weaknesses.

#3 They should show enthusiasm

Kirsten Moss says that the best recommendations that she reads “are written from both a head space and a heart space.”

The recommender’s genuine appreciation of you should shine through, not through generic “they’re fantastic” platitudes, but by including heartfelt anecdotes and examples. Make sure your recommender understands this, and encourage them to include specific details to make their stories as real as possible.

3.2.1 Recommender handout

You may well want to share this article with your recommender and encourage them to read it through.

However, we appreciate they may be pressed for time. That’s why we’ve created a 1 page pdf for you to share with your recommenders. It lists the key things they should keep in mind when writing their answers.

Just put your email in the form below and we’ll send it to you immediately.

Now we’ve covered best practices around recommendation letters, let’s take a look at a couple of examples.

4. Two example Stanford MBA recommendation letters

Below, we’ve laid out two examples of really strong recommendation letters that would impress the Stanford GSB admissions committee. 

We’ve provided these examples in order to illustrate some of the tips we went through in section 3. This is what “detailed descriptions, candid anecdotes and specific evidence” looks like in black and white.

Feel free to share these examples with your recommenders to give them a point of reference. However, bear in mind that they are not templates that must be followed. After all, there are many ways to write a strong recommendation letter.

Also, don’t worry if your recommenders’ writing ability isn’t as high as displayed in these examples. The quality of the content (details, examples, etc) is much more important than their style of writing.

4.1  Letter 1 (from current direct supervisor)

Question 1

Note how the answer gives detailed examples to illustrate the candidate’s strongest character traits. It even mentions some of the candidate’s mistakes, but does so in a way that gives extra authenticity to the praise that follows.

Question 2

Notice how this answer describes a genuine, relevant weakness the candidate was displaying (rather than a cop-out “too much of a perfectionist” type answer) and gives a detailed account of how the candidate took the feedback to heart and developed in this area. This conveys growth very effectively.

Question 3

This one is probably a touch on the long side for this optional answer. But it shows how the recommender can use this question to outline a strong and relevant character trait that they haven’t yet touched on (and one that is very relevant to Stanford’s collaborative environment). 

Again, it is full of extremely specific examples that give us real insights into the candidate’s character.

4.2  Letter 2 (from current direct supervisor)

Question 1

Again, this letter focuses on the candidate’s character and soft skills, rather than hard skills which can easily be covered in their resume.

Question 2

Again, notice how the recommender paints a picture of growth and self-development.

Question 3

This recommender has used this question as a chance to give a small summary:

Ace your Stanford MBA application

This guide should have given you all the information you need to get the best possible recommendation letters. But of course, recommendations are just one part of your Stanford MBA application. Check out our other guides to make sure you’re acing every step:

• Stanford and the GMAT
• 7 ways to optimize your MBA resume for Stanford GSB
• 11 essential tips for your Stanford MBA essays (2022)
• Stanford GSB interview guide

Good luck!