<p>How do we go about submitting additional teacher recommendations? Would you just print out one of the evalution forms and send it in like you normally would? Say you get along with people, including teachers, really well and you submit an extra 8-10 recommendations, is this likely to annoy the admissions people? If its not a teacher that we've had in class or its a close friend, can they write their own letter and I mail it in/attach it to my application?</p>
<p>Yes, 8-10 recommendations will definitely annoy the Admissions people. Besides the two required recs, the Admissions folks have said you're welcome to send one or two further recommendations assuming they comment on some different aspect of who you are and what you've done with what you had availalble. A boss or sports coach or community service mentor or drama teacher for instance may have a different perspective on you than your two teachers and guidance counselor. In that case, they may just write a letter which can be sent directly to Admissions with your name and birthdate on it so they can match it up with your file. No need for any other teacher forms than the two required ones.</p>
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How do we go about submitting additional teacher recommendations? Would you just print out one of the evalution forms and send it in like you normally would?
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<p>This would work. Conversely, you can just get them to write a traditional letter and mail it in. Supplemental letters (and in fact, the original ones) don't need to be on the form provided, if I recall correctly.</p>
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Say you get along with people, including teachers, really well and you submit an extra 8-10 recommendations, is this likely to annoy the admissions people?
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<p>Well, each letter should provide some unique insight into your character. If there's a lot of overlap between the letters, it may not annoy the adcom, but it will almost assuredly bore them. Why submit redundant information? the admissions office has a policy of reading everything you send in, this can work for or against you. I would submit at MOST two extra recommendations, THREE if you really, <em>really</em> have three people with something unique and extraordinary to say.</p>
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If its not a teacher that we've had in class or its a close friend, can they write their own letter and I mail it in/attach it to my application?
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<p>Well, generally speaking, you should have a sort of mentor-student relation with the person writing the letter. While your best friend may have oodles to say about how awesome you are, chances are they have not experienced the company of the same breadth and variety of students as, say, a teacher or counselor. Aside from those two, I would recommend limiting your recommendations to people like your superiors within an organization, professors you've worked with, or employers.</p>
<p>In my opinion, it is better (or at least more proper) to have whoever is writing a letter of recommendation mail it in by themselves, sealed et al. Provide all the necessary postage accommodations.</p>
<p>Hope I helped... :)</p>
<p>EDIT: CURSES! Mootmom beat me to it. ;)</p>
<p>When I say "friend" I meant like accomplished adult "friend" haha, also I was thinking along the lines of 2-3 extra letters, I just threw out 8-10 as an astronomical figure. Thank you for the advice, it seems like everytime I have a question mootmom is right there with the answer.</p>
<p>mootmom knows everything. :)</p>
<p>Yes. mootmom does know everything. :-) I feel that the only time that you would want to consider several additional recommendations would be if you are a homeschooled applicant and that is a very, very small percentage of the applicant pool. In advising homeschooled applicants to various schools, I have found that most admissions officers would like to see at most 2 additional letters of recommendation. If you are coming from traditional schooling (public, private, or parochial) follow the guidelines given for the school to which you are applying.</p>
<p>(Aw, shucks... Where's the smiley for "blushing"? Just trying to help where I can... but thanks for the very kind words.)</p>
<p>mootmom. My son wants to sent 3 suppliment letters of rec from a prof. whom he did his research with, a community service adviser and third one from a Latin prof. who helped him with independent study in latin. So he is thinking about sending only one teachers rec. with 3 suppliment. What do you think? He knows that he will get an extremely overwhelming suppliment rec from all three. thanks for your advice</p>
<p>My thought (not Mootmom obviously) is that community service advice and the prof would be good. Latin is probably redundant, but might you want to use the Latin teacher as your humanities recommendation? Someone like your guidance counselor could also say good things about what the Latin teacher says about you.</p>
<p>J mom - I am not mootmom either. However I do believe that they want to have a letter of rec from the math/science side and the humanities side. Is your son not on good terms with any of his humanities instructors? How many letters of rec does he have thus far?</p>
<p>J mom -- Ben has been fairly clear about this in the past: do not disregard the requirement for the two stated recommendations. I get the sense that going around that, even if the other recs are great, is not a good thing. Is there any reason he couldn't ask the Latin prof to fill out the Humanities/Social Science rec?</p>
<p>thank you all of you for your comments</p>
<p>could we send in Latin prof rec as one for humanities and not as suppliment? I thought suppliment rec was anything you get outside from school</p>
<p>hsmom he is in good terms with his teachers but he thinks the ones outside school rec will be more personal</p>
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could we send in Latin prof rec as one for humanities and not as suppliment?
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I would say yes. If your son had this person as a teacher, why not? The MIT Admissions website says:
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Evaluation B is to be completed by a humanities, social science, or language teacher.
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Latin is a language, and this professor teaches it. The guidance does not say it needs to be a high school teacher: if it did, what would some homeschooled applicants do? (hsmom??)</p>
<p>so mootmom, the two required teachers rec could come from teachers outside your high school?
One from Latin prof for humanities-outside your high school
one from math/ science from your high school
This would be great!
Do you think it will be ok with HYPS too?</p>