Hi, I am a rising senior who is applying to Princeton Early Action this year. Over the past three years, I have been heavily involved on a community service organization (showing significant leadership and initiative) and have solicited an additional recommendation from a mentor who knows me well. The recommendation is excellent but I am worried that it will clutter my application because it may seem repetitive. It seems to me that many people who include recommendations do so sparingly and include them from either research mentors or music teachers/conductors. Thoughts about including the recommendation?
If your gut says it’s repetitive, then I would listen to your gut. See: https://admission.princeton.edu/applyingforadmission/admission-faqs/letters-recommendation
If you can get this mentor to include some specific and memorable anecdotes, that would make it valuable. But if it only has general platitudes, then I agree that it’d just water down the app.
Try for the anecdotes. Good luck.
Remember the adage, “the thicker the file, the thicker the kid.”
Well, I’m going to disagree here a little with some of the posters (but I agree with T26E4). A mentor for an outside activity should have different things to say than a teacher recommendation. If that is the case - i.e., the recommendation speaks about a specific project you spearheaded or some specific leadership qualities you showed, then I think it could be useful. And if that’s your only additional recommendation, I hardly think it would clutter the file.
It’s up to you to discuss with the mentor the types of information that might be helpful. But if, for some reason, the recommendation is super-generic, then it’s probably not worth it.
Thank you all for the feedback!