Hey,
A very important person (professional writer) offered me to write a letter of recomendation, I think it would be a huge impact for my application but everything is already done and I’m waiting for all decisions to come out late march. Do you think colleges like Harvard, Yale, Emory, etc are willing to add a last minute item such as a letter of rec to my profile?
thanks guys.
This late, they probably won’t take it since there’s a good chance your application has already been evaluated. Of course, if you tell this to the recommender and they’re still willing to write the letter, you can still send the recommendation and maybe you’ll get lucky. At worst the universities will most likely just refuse to add it and you’ll have wasted the recommender’s time.
Do it. No reason to not submit it.
No. Not really worth it because at this point the admission evaluation is almost complete.
Well unless your recommender says things like you saved the earth from the super black hole or made a cure for Harlequin ichthyosis, then not really
Submit it no need to hold back, but keep in mind that by this time your application has already been reviewed by the committee in all probability, so it won’t make a difference.
What does this last minute LOR say about YOU that is so significantly absent from what you already submitted? What aspect about YOU and YOUR ability to contribute as a scholar or member of a college community would be covered by this person’s LOR? Why wasn’t it inserted earlier? You’re 100% mistaken if you think that the pedigree of the LOR writer matters a whit to Yale and Harvard. Who WRITES the LOR is IRRELEVANT – what is important is what it says about YOU.
PO: Please yourself in the Harvard/Yale/Emory Admissions Officer’s place;
a. S/he may never have heard of this author, s/he may question how well the author really knows you (thus, the validity of the recommendation), and s/he may be unimpressed with his credentials;
b. S/he will question if this recommendation exceeds his university’s policy regarding the maximum number of recommendations (if so, don’t you believe the rules apply to you and/or are you attempting to receive an unfair competitive advantage in comparison to other applicant?);
c. Unless there is new and highly-pertinent information in the LOR, s/he will almost certainly wonder if you have much common sense and/or common courtesy (decisions will be rendered in about two weeks, your decision may well have already been made, AND this letter will arrive at THE least propitious time – after all, it is THE busiest couple weeks in the entire annual admissions cycle);
d. Based on the foregoing, s/he may even think, “Harvard admits 5 percent of its applicants, this individual’s questionable judgement suggests s/he doesn’t belong, notwithstanding excellent GPA, SATs . . . and we only have tens-of-thousands of other equally distinguished applicants from whom to select, so the university won’t he hurt in any way if we deny.”