I am applying to Yale SCEA and am considering submitting an extra letter of recommendation from a professor of an online class I took over the summer. The class was through Brown University and my professor earned two degrees from Yale and also used to teach at Yale, though he now teaches at Brown. I feel that it would look good to have him write me a letter of recommendation, but I’m not sure that he really knows me well enough. I put a lot of effort forth in the class and was very enthusiastic. I also think the quality of my work was pretty high. I’m really unsure of whether I should ask him to write me a letter of recommendation (I know that if I’m going to I need to do it soon) because the class being online made it difficult for us to establish a real relationship beyond just discussing my coursework. The Yale admissions site does say that additional recommenders should “know you well personally or have mentored you closely in some capacity,” but I’m not sure that this mentorship was close enough.
Please let me know what you guys would do in this situation! Thanks!!
“but I’m not sure that he really knows me well enough.” This is reason enough NOT to have him send in a positive but frankly, extraneous and unhelpful rec letter. It’ll only water down the other rec letters from enthused teachers who know you well. Being an online course, the instructor didn’t see you interact w/other classmates. Think about what he can say (ignore his pedigree – his employer or what schools conferred his diplomas – they are irrelevant) – it’s not much, IMHO.
@T26E4 Thanks for your response. I’m going to put the class in the “additional information” section of the common app (I don’t have space in the activities section). I’ll put the course name, the date, and the professor (with his Yale degrees and the years he earned them in parentheses, I think), and maybe a description of the course. If it were you, would you anything else? Would you include the description of the course? Thanks so much (again)!
Include the course description, omit the info about the prof’s Yale degrees. Completely irrelevant.
You seem to think his pedigree means something special about you – it doesn’t. It was serendipity and everyone knows it. What if he was a Stanford alum? Or a Akron State university alum? Would it be a negative? Then why would Yale think that his being a Yale alum is a positive?
The only benefit is that you performed well in a course (which I assume is normal for you). I get that you’re trying to put your best package together. Focus on other areas. This prof’s background isn’t the hoped for boost you thought it might be. Good luck.
I have a published research paper (not a great journal, just publishes quickly) in pattern recognition/biometrics (CompSci). I am not very sure of its standard. Although I would submit it after some edits.
-So should I send a different (but same topic) unpublished research paper in the supplementary material?
-Or would a letter of rec from the professor would suffice?
and if i had to send an abstract, I would not send the published one.
-Basically, will my chances of admission be reduced if they do not find the paper impressive?
btw, international student where its terribly difficult to get involved in research.
@ohmymy, IMO, I would not submit a re-edited published paper or an unpublished research paper. Iirc, DS included the title of his IB Extended Essay somewhere, but not an abstract or even less, the whole paper.
I might be mistaken, but you don’t sound convinced that it’s impressive, so I’d let it go. Sometimes, less is more.
Yale is clear on what an acceptable additional LoR is.
Take this advice in the spirit in which it’s offered, but remember that I haven’t read any of your papers, don’t know your professor, etc.
Admissions Officers are on the clock. To get through thousands of applications, AO’s must read about 5 applications an hour, meaning they have 12 minutes to read your file. That includes looking over your course rigor, transcript, GPA, test scores, reading your high school’s profile, teacher recommendations, essays, guidance’s Secondary School Report (SSR) and interview report. And then they have to make notes – all within 12 minutes.
The MORE you send them, the more they must SKIM your file – reading the first and last paragraph of your essay and teacher recommendations. The more an AO skims your file, the LESS likely they are going to capture the essence of who you are. Many students don’t understand that even one additional recommendation makes an Admissions Officer start to skim. That’s why Yale has this warning on their applications page, along with this video: http://admissions.yale.edu/advice-putting-together-your-application#supplementary
Okay. So all I can submit is a very impressive, published research paper. Else not. Lets see if i can manage former in 20 days (foolish optimism) Anyway, thanks a lot on the advice!
Read the fine-print on Yale’s webpage. At the discretion of the Admissions Office, a research paper might be forward to the appropriate faculty. Not all submitted research papers get forwarded to faculty. My guess is that few do.
And remember, when you apply to a school like Yale, Harvard or Princeton you are competing with the best-of-the-best applicants in the world. Some applicants have won Intel or Google Science Fairs with their research project. While your research paper may be wonderful at the local level, can it really stand up to something huge like this? My guess – without even reading your paper – is no. If you send your research paper, it’s going to be compared to a student who has achieved something like this. http://www.businessinsider.com/shree-bose-google-science-fair-winner-2016-5
@ohmymy, you say you’re an international applicant. Given that, how familiar is your counselor with Yale’s admissions policies, and how many of his students have been accepted to Yale? Yale is very clear about what they want from you; I think you ignore them at your peril (btw, your peril is greater than that of your counselor’s).
@ohmymy, I sometimes tread carefully, and I think I did you a disservice by suggesting that perhaps an impressive published paper would be good to submit. MY BAD. Gibby has good advice for your counselor. Do what Yale says. Other schools might well be different.
@ohmymy, I know admissions can be scary. I think perhaps the reason that my son wasn’t overly scared was because he assumed that he had very little chance. His stats were fine, but as the NY saying goes, “great SATs and a token will get you uptown.” I am convinced that he was admitted because of his essays and the recommendations he received from his teachers. I would put my energies there.