Jeremy Shinewald, the founder and president of mbaMission, offered some commentary in a Fortune article this week concerning what he refers to as an “open secret in the admissions world”: MBA applicants frequently get to look at their recommendation letters before they are submitted, and they are often asked by recommenders to write the letters themselves. “We’re not going to sit there and line edit something,” Shinewald says, addressing the role of the admissions consultancy industry, “but we will do a sanity check to make sure there’s nothing in there than can be harmful.” mbaMission emphasizes that candidates should always push their recommenders to do the writing, explaining that applicants need that authentic third-party point of view in the application process. While we at mbaMission are happy to review a letter and give feedback that could strengthen it, that letter will have maximum impact when it is written by the recommender him-/herself!