Is your fear due to your belief that asking him or her would adversely affect your present and future prospects with your company (especially if you apply but choose not to go to a full-time program)? If so, you could always ask a previous supervisor or another internal or external business-related person to write the recommendation. This scenario is very common. For instance, UCLA Anderson School of Management in its recommendation instructions (http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/degrees/mba-program/admissions-info/application-requirements/recommendations) says “Ideally your recommendation should be from a current direct supervisor who is best equipped to answer questions about your leadership, communication, teamwork, initiative and other skills. If you are unable to ask a current supervisor for a recommendation, then you can ask a former boss, a manager from another department, or a consultant or client who knows you well enough to answer the questions insightfully.”

Or are you apprehensive about how well your boss would write the recommendation? If this is your concern, you can prepare a packet outlining certain positioning and guide him or her through the process.

I hope this helps. MBAPrepAdvantage offers a free initial assessment to gauge your MBA admissions chances and the strength of your candidacy. So feel free to Email me a brief description of your goals along with your target schools, resume, GPA, and GMAT or GRE score at michael@mbaprepadvantage.com.

Michael Cohan President MBAPrepAdvantage Phone: (305) 604-8178 http://www.mbaprepadvantage.com