How much would an alumni letter of recommendation help my application? I know an alumni through my dad and he frequently donates money to Vanderbilt so I was wondering if it would be worthwhile to get a letter from him.
It would help so do it.
Unless he is donating a ton of money, it won’t have any significant influence.
I would find some other reference without such a tie unless you worked for that person and they truly and honestly have lots of excellent things to write, in which case those things that they write will be more influential than who they are, but Vanderbilt receives lots of apps and appears to admissions more based on stats (and likely whatever EC’s you list) so I don’t know how much time should be spent finding the golden rec. letter writer. Just make sure that they are positive. And maybe request an interview if availed that opportunity. For other places, the rec. letter may be much more important, but it is still more about what is in it (though I’d imagine, if you did something like research, the writer, much like for grad. school, can certainly give a leg up if they are well known in the field).
Another angle to consider. My son met with a Vandy alum in our city (which is in VA with not many Vandy people). He only met with him to inquire about his experience at Vandy. At that time, our son was not keen on even applying to Vandy. We have a lot of nice state schools for starters.
There was no letter requested or sent from this alum who didn’t really know our son! However, son did incorporate a sentence or two re what he learned about Vanderbilt in a town where Vandy is not a favorite destination school. I really don’t know if alum letters matter or register if you have no personal contact with that person.
I would lean against it unless you worked for this person or are directly related. If for some reason this alum who gives to Vandy thinks you are a rare find and he really believes Vandy would benefit by landing you, maybe.
In some cities in Texas and in Atlanta for instance, where there was a tradition of sending students to Vandy, alum find themselves saddened. Vandy cannot accept alum-related students in high numbers anymore since becoming national in footprint in the student body. Hundreds of alum around. Obviously, they don’t write letters about good students who want to go to Vandy when they have learned this doesn’t signify much.
@Faline2 : Is such influence by Vandy alum in Atlanta really needed? It has certain privates (Pace, Westminster(sp?), etc) and probably publics that are essentially feeder schools (Other places send lots of folks to Tech, Emory, Duke, and some other places, especially top charters like GSMS and privates like Woodward academy) where admissions success to Vanderbilt is still very strong. And yes, these are very qualified students. But I guess I’m saying that the alumni link feeding from Atlanta need not be that strong. They have a very strong base that is very interested in and qualified to be at the school regardless. Atlanta will always be a big market Alum should be more happy about that than whether or not their vote of confidence has influence.
VA, I’m very surprised Vanderbilt doesn’t get lots of love from VA as it is like a smaller, more intimate version of UVa, everyone’s (exaggerating, but still…) favorite there. However, I guess it may be harder to pluck off students at a school that is more truly “east coast” in vibe (and with tons of really strong in-state or border state private and public options) because these folks will be interested in many places either directly in the vicinity or the “neighbors to the north”, Georgia basically just has 3 major powerhouses (with only 2 having great strength in pulling students out of state) and an up and coming school that not as many super high achieving students would be interested in (GSU). It is fairly easy to pluck off those folks because many are not STEM oriented and are not interested in Tech (and Tech has become a lot more selective stats wise, so elite privates can pick up some students who were perhaps “yield protected” out of Tech), and many are not interested in Emory/Emory like most elite privates, doesn’t recruit abnormally high % of in-state students (in fact, it is declining further) meaning that even a person in the top 75% may be denied or wait-listed for who knows what reason (it is one of those markets where a person may luck up and get into Vanderbilt somehow and be wait-listed or denied by Emory and believe it or not, I know some who this has happened to to my surprise. Emory likely selects the Ga students it thinks are most likely to yield and keeps it moving…this weird stuff makes elite admissions all the more annoying and unpredictable when the student doesn’t get into the safety or high match based on stats). UGA, Tech, and any top OOS schools recruiting heavily from Atlanta are likely huge winners in all this craziness.
Unless this man’s last name is Ingram, I doubt it will have any impact at all.
It is my understanding that when a significant donor recommends someone for admission, the development and alumni relations office is involved and a “green sheet” is completed to be placed in the applicant’s file. The reviewing staff in admissions are then aware of the connection between the donor and the applicant. I suspect the influence is greater when the donor’s child is the applicant as opposed to a friend or colleague’s child. With an overall admissions rate of around 10% now, the alumni and legacy influences are greatly diminished from what they were 10-15 years ago.
I recall that S & I were on campus for a tour and information session early in September of 2011 and part of the sales pitch was how the university would be developing the freshman commons model and how wonderful it would be for the students. While it only came to fruition as D’s undergraduate tenure wrapped up, it has certainly driven interest from a more diverse pool of applicants and coupled with the no-loans policy implemented in 2009, the applicant quality has improved to the point that influences that previously mattered no longer have much sway.
While @AnnieBot’s statement is humorous to the extreme, it’s almost the truth. I can’t imagine that any donor giving less than 5 figures annually could provide a recommendation that would yield a strong influence.
“Unless this man’s last name is Ingram, I doubt it will have any impact at all.”
Iconic.
Meanwhile, I wonder what role recommendations play period. I know some schools have more extensive interview systems, but when you are at or pushing 30k applicants, I have no idea how sorting works at less stats sensitive schools.
3 names can get you in: Ingram, Carell, or Eskind.
There are some other big names that could add polish to your file, one being the family name of a former Presidential candidate who has 3 generations of his family as Vandy alums (although he, himself, is not).