<p>how much or how little can this help an early decision applicant?</p>
<p>bump bump bump</p>
<p>ok let me reword the question...any alumni writing a rec....</p>
<p>depends on who is writing the letter and what they say about you. For instance, if you have someone who graduated in cals writing for your architecture application...well i'm not sure it's really relevant except maybe for personal references. Whereas if you got a famous architect alumini to write a letter for you. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>no not really cornell alum are cornell alum?</p>
<p>he's saying that if someone is going to speak on your behalf it helps better if they are in a field related to your interests. it's really not necessary to have an alumn write a letter for you unless they are a big donor, trustee, on the board of a program, etc. if it is just some random alumn who doesn't do much for cornell, it won't do much for you. </p>
<p>that being said, as the poster above mentioned, if the person is in the field you are interested in, and can speak to your abilities and how well they would apply to that field, it would help. otherwise, just stick to teacher/job recommendations.. they get enough paperwork.</p>