College recommendations by a UNC teacher?

<p>I'm a legacy for UNC (OOS). My father went there and he still has several close friends in that area, one of whom actually teaches at UNC. Tomorrow, he's going to call him and ask if he would feel comfortable writing me a recommendation.</p>

<p>My questions are:</p>

<p>1.) Would this ACTUALLY, HONESTLY help with improving my chances of getting into Chapel Hill. My 11th grade English teacher has already written me an excellent rec. </p>

<p>2.) Would it be possible to submit two?</p>

<p>3.) How much does being a legacy OOS actually matter? When I was on the tour, they said it gave you almost as much of a chance as an in-state candidate. Then, I looked at the numbers and only about 25% OOS legacies were accepted every year. What have you guys heard?</p>

<p>i don't know about the numbers, but i remember reading somewhere that the only time being a legacy would really help you is if there were two candidates with nearly identical scores, grades, etc... the legacy would get the edge. obviously, being from out of state, everyone has fantastic grades and scores, so that legacy bit may give you the extra edge.</p>

<p>my only question is: how well can the prof know you if your dad has to call him to ask him to write the letter?</p>

<p>I agree, i think that legacy is mattering less and less each year....it just provides an additional edge for tied students....I think that it is better for a close teacher to right a recommendation than a distant unc teacher. there are so many professors and TA's at carolina that a recommendation from one of them may be a little generic. Plus,,,,the admissions committee is primarily outside counsels. The admissions office hires people from off campus to come in and evaluate your application so they will probably know alot about the professor anyways.... if you have any more questions email be back at <a href="mailto:dakota@unc.edu">dakota@unc.edu</a></p>

<p>I think that your status as an OOS legacy actually gives you a huge leg up over other OOS applicants. Legacies don't mean less each year, but there may be more of them applying each year! I can't stress how important it is for you to get accurate information from the web site of the Admissions Office at UNC. While all of us posting on this site are well-meaning, most of us are not professionals and have no real knowledge of how admissions really works! We're just putting in our two cents worth. I agree with other posters that having a rec written by someone who doesn't know you would be practically worthless---that rec by a teacher is going to be sufficient, and far more helpful.</p>

<p>to clarify a few things:</p>

<p>haha, yes! i do know the person who would write the letter! we visit him everytime we go to north carolina. it's not just some random person my father has connections with, don't worry. i do thank you for your concern, though.</p>

<p>my quibble was the fact that he didn't know me AS WELL as my english teacher. </p>

<p>so the fact that he's UNC staff doesn't mean a thing?
it's almost a sigh of relief. i didn't want to call and ask this close to the deadline. i'd feel bothersome.</p>

<p>thank you so much for you help!</p>

<p>I am sorry I misunderstood your original posting, and assumed that the UNC professor didn't know you, but knew your father. I think you are a great candidate, with or without his/her letter. </p>

<p>I am going to unsubscribe to this thread because I realize that I know as little as anyone else about admissions at Carolina, and participation perpetuates the idea that any of us really know what we are talking about! Plus, there's a real edginess to so many of the posts and subsequent responses that really bothers me a great deal. It's so easy to be uncivil when we will never see one another face to face. Anonymity makes it far too easy to say things that we wouldn't necessarily say in person.</p>

<p>I wish you the very best of luck with UNC---a great place to be.</p>