MBA申請者為什么自己動手寫推薦信?
????MBA申請者自己撰寫推薦信的壓力也因行業而異。約有一半具有金融或會計背景的MBA申請人被要求撰寫自己的推薦信,而在具有技術背景的申請者中,僅有約28%的人被要求這樣做。“試想一下,申請人可能是一位身處鄉村小鎮的雇主。但更常見的情形是,申請人是頂尖公司的咨詢師,銀行家或私募領域的專業人士——這是文化的一部分,”伊斯阿丁索這樣說道。她曾經擔任哈佛商學院(Harvard Business School)的招生官員。 ????此外,男性被要求自己撰寫推薦信的可能性遠大于女性——43%比27%。 ????大多數情況下,商學院都不愿承認招生工作中存在這樣一個問題。有些招生官員聲稱,他們不知道還有這檔事。對于這種態度,入學顧問表示難以想象。克賴斯伯格說:“這種看法真是太天真了。” ????即使有些商學院承認這一問題,其中大多數也很難采取行動。“這種事情肯定有,這項調查證明了這一點,”哈佛商學院二年級學生亞歷克斯?克萊納說。“我從來不會心情舒坦地做這種事。但如果你是一位招生主任,我真的不知道你應該怎樣對付這種局面。你或許可以更加明確地表示,‘如果被我們發現了,你的入學申請將被自動拒絕’。除了態度非常強硬之外,我覺得沒法阻止這種行為。” ????許多學校更愿意掩飾這個問題。學生們也采用了這種“不問不說”的應對之策。前MBA學生克里斯托弗表示,沉默的動機顯而易見:“你可能會因為學術作弊被踢出局。不過,一旦真正被錄取了,沒人會在乎這件事。” ????然而,入學顧問和一些頂級商學院正在提出一些想法,以遏制這種由申請人自己撰寫推薦信的行為。斯坦福大學已經明確表示,“申請人自行起草或撰寫推薦信——即使是應推薦人的要求——是一種違反申請程序要求的不正當行為。” ????入學顧問安娜?艾維建議商學院采用統一的推薦表,以顯著減少推薦人的工作量,從而使他們不大可能推脫為MBA申請者撰寫推薦信的請求。“一些推薦人不得不寫比申請書還要多的文字。如果用這種工作量乘以3、4、5,那種感覺就像是推薦人自己在申請商學院,”她說。“這種要求確實有些過于苛刻。”(財富中文網) ????譯者:任文科 |
????The pressure on MBAs to write their own recommendation letters also varies by industry. Half of the MBA applicants with finance or accounting backgrounds were asked to write their own letters, compared with only 28% in technology. "You'd think it'd be an employer in a small rural town somewhere, but more often than not, it's the consultants at top-tier firms or bankers or private equity professionals -- it's part of the culture," says Isiadinso, who previously worked as an admissions official at Harvard Business School. ????Men (43%) are also significantly more likely to be asked to draft their own recommendations than women (27%). ????For the most part, business schools are reluctant to admit there's a problem. Some admissions professionals claim they didn't know it was happening, a position that admissions consultants find hard to believe. "That's pretty na?ve," says Kreisberg. ????Even among schools that acknowledge the issue, most would be hard-pressed to take action. "It definitely happens and the survey proves it," says Alex Kleiner, a second-year MBA student at?Harvard Business School. "It's something I would never feel comfortable doing. But if you're an admissions director, I don't really know how you combat that. You could be more explicit and say, 'If we find out your application will be rejected automatically. Other than being really tough, I don't think you can stop it." ????Many schools prefer to push the issue under the rug. This don't-ask-don't-tell approach applies to students, too. Christopher, the former MBA student, says the motivation for silence is obvious: "You could be tossed out for academic dishonesty. Once you're in, nobody cares." ????However, consultants and some top B-schools are toying around with ideas to curb self-written recommendations. Stanford already makes it explicitly clear that "drafting or writing your own letter of reference, even if asked to do so by your recommender, is improper and a violation of the terms of the application process." ????Admissions consultant Anna Ivey proposes a common reference form, which could significantly cut the workload for recommenders, making them less likely to push the letter back on MBAs. "Some recommenders have to write more words than the applicants' essays. If you multiply that times three, four, five, it's as if the recommender is applying to business school," she says. "That's asking too much." |