<p>Hi guys! So I am a current junior and plan to apply to the University of Virginia (In state). However, I am extremely nervous as some of my peers were accepted with 4.2 GPAs 2000 SATs and stellar extracurriculars. Anyways, planning ahead, is it a good idea to send in supplemental recommendations? For example, I hope to get one from my neighbor who is on some board at the university. That one I am sure I will send in. However, I know three or four other graduates of the university who would be willing to send a recommendation on my behalf. So, should I send them in, and if so, how many should I send? I don't want to come off as annoying per say.</p>
<p>Check with the college the maximum recommendations they allow applicants to send and the recommended number of supplemental recommendations (besides the 2 teacher and 1 counselor). Call or email them. If they allow supplements, go ahead and send them ! can’t hurt</p>
<p>Rec letter from a neighbor on some random board? This isn’t a country club application. UVA wants rec letters from two teachers who know your in-class performance and maturity.</p>
<p>Even if by “some board at the university,” you mean the Board of Visitors, I think T26E4 is exactly right. </p>
<p>A letter from an influential person who can’t say anything specific about your academic abilities isn’t going to be helpful to your case. </p>
<p>And realistically, letters from random alumni would be a waste of everybody’s time: yours, when you solicit them; theirs, when they write them; the admissions officers’, when they read them. And if I were applying to a selective institution, where the admissions committee is deciding whom to accept among a pool of well qualified applicants that far exceeds the number of spaces in the entering class, I’d be very wary of wasting the admissions officers’ time. JMO.</p>
<p>From all I’ve heard, the only useful recommendations from people that don’t know you in an academic or artistic context are from <em>big</em> donors to the school. Others are likely to viewed as nuisances. An employer that had great things to say about you might be an exception.</p>
<p>^ Even this is debatable. Real big donors don’t need to write rec letters. The call up their contact in the Developement Ofc and put in a word for you – if they are willing to call in a favor on your behalf. Otherwise, they aren’t that “big”.</p>