Admission officers: Writing a letter of recommendation for my friend...?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>My best friend is applying ED to one of the "top colleges" in the nation, and I want to help her. She REALLY wants to go!</p>

<p>I was thinking about writing a letter (perhaps with the help of another close friend---we are a close trio) and mailing it in to the college she is applying to. She is such a wonderful, quirky, good-hearted person (who is intelligent as HECK!), but she is also somewhat inhibited, so the teachers may not understand her personality as well I do.</p>

<p>I want to help tip the scales for her as much as possible, but at the same time, I was wondering about how it could go wrong. I mean, what if admissions officers think that the letter was composed by her, pretending to be a friend? What if adofficers think it's cheesy?</p>

<p>Would a letter like this help a little bit, help a lot, have no effect, or be a detriment? I don't want to risk sending in a letter that would sabotage her chances.</p>

2

<p>I guess my answer is "depends on the school". Some small selective colleges have a page in their application packet for an optional peer review. Check the website of your friend's dream school to see if they have something like this. Some colleges do not like to get huge stacks of additional papers or CD with art/music recordings for them to review...</p>

3

<p>Dartmouth college actually have a section that allows a peer to write a letter about the applicant.</p>

<p>Look for the section that starts as::</p>

<p>Dartmouth requires applicants to file two supplements in addition to the Common Application:</p>

<ol>
<li>Pre-Application </li>
<li>Peer Evaluation </li>
</ol>

<p><a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/apply/admissions/firstyear/components.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/apply/admissions/firstyear/components.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

4

<p>What about Amherst? I can't seem to find it on their site.</p>

5

<p>So Authentic,</p>

<p>I actually had to write one of those peer evaluations. Unfortunately I don't know if it helped much because my friend was put on the wait list. Oh well.</p>

6

<p>PorkFried,</p>

<p>Naw, As far as I'm concerned its not part of their admission. You can call them and ask if its ok to do it though.</p>

<p>Tokyo, I geuss the peer rec. wouldn't carry as much weight as the teacher rec because come on, after all, its a peer rec. What good friend will say something bad about you unless he/she is two-faced?</p>