Stanford推荐信的问题

ben3ben4

我是老人了，刚发现原来CD是个这么好的地方，后悔早该多来看看。我今年准备申请stanford，可是不大明白推荐信的一些细节，求牛人来指教一下。我先来罗列一下问题：
For Your 2 Professional/Workplace recommenders

Please briefly describe your relationship to the candidate, and describe the circumstances under which you have known her or him.
How does the candidate’s performance compare to other well-qualified individuals in similar roles?
What (if any) legacy has this candidate left on your organization?
Describe the most constructive feedback you have given the candidate. Please also detail the circumstances that caused you to give the feedback.
Is there anything else (positive or negative) we should know about the candidate?

我不明白的是：
1：这5个问题是不是每个都要在推荐信里面一一反应？我不能保证我的老板都会找到恰当的例子来反应每一个问题，如果老板就按照他自己的思路来写可否？

2：每个问题都需要像做问答题一样的写，一道一道的，还是按照letter的格式写满一篇？

3：第4个问题是问的一个特定的问题么？还是说整篇letter都必须是constructive feedback？我不大明白这里feedback是什么意思，是说针对一次事件老板的feedback，还是说这个letter都要是feedback？对这句话有些confused。哪位大牛可以解释啊？

4：不知道去年的推荐信的问题是不是一样的，有申请成功的朋友指点一下么？推荐信的比重到底占多少啊？我觉得这对我来说找对个推荐人还是挺重要的，可是总不能要求人家像咱自己写essay一下，每个问题都反应的面面俱到，可是如果不这样做，如果写的并不是所有的都是stanford要问的问题，也不好。真是发愁啊...

请教牛人帮忙指点一下。感激涕零啊。。。

ben3ben4

自己顶一下...

没有牛人解答一下吗？

oicit

同问：）

ben3ben4

upup..

没有牛人出现帮忙解惑一下？

JonFrank

Lets take all your questions in order, shall we?  : )

1) Yes, each of the letters should include all of these questions.  If the recommender doesnt have the ability to answer all of them, then he can just write that.  "Not applicable - we have never been in this situation together."
2) It should be a Q and A, yes.  You want to make it very clear that you are addressing each of the questions, in order.  Hopefully, your recommenders will have the patience to handle it this way.
3) Here, they are looking for an example from real life.  Let me try to phrase it differently for you.  "Tell us about a time that you asked this applicant to do something differently.  Was she able to change?  How did she handle the feedback?"  Does that make sense?  Or, they could have phrased it this way, "Talk about a time when the applicant was doing something incorrectly, and you asked her to change.  How did he/she respond to your guidance?"  
4)   I got into Stanford, so I can help you here.  : )  Yes, letters of recommendation do account for about 20% of your application.  If they are extremely strong, they can count for more.  If they are extremely weak, they can count for less.  But if you use them correctly, they can add a great deal of help to your application.  The challenge is to fill them out the right way!

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Jon Frank
HBS Class of 2005
Founder,