<p>Hi, Im going to be a senior next year and would love to attend Columbia. Based on my current stats (~3.85 gpa, 31 act) Columbia seems like a significant reach. However my grandfather in law happens to be a former prof from the university. I was wondering if a LOR from him would carry more weight and improve my chances more than a teacher rec or would it make little difference? Thanks in advance, Cole</p>
<p>Grandfather in law? I’m not sure how you’re saying he is related to you. Are you married? I don’t think it will give you that much of an advantage based solely on the fact that he taught at Columbia. From what I’ve read, admissions officers take family LORs with a grain of salt since few family members will say anything negative about other relatives. And honestly, if everyone tried hard enough, I’m sure we could all find some connection to a college who would be willing to write us a letter. The only edge you might get out of it is if he writes a truly good LOR, I don’t think any edge will come from the fact that he is connected to the school.</p>
<p>Teacher recs are important because they know you as a student - relative to a large pool of other students. A relative doesn’t necessarily know that. He would, however, know you in a different way and have some perspective on the type of student that thrives in that environment. Total conjecture here but on the margin, if he were at Columbia for a significant period of time, and is still in contact to some degree with the University (and has a good rep), I would think the additional LOR would help (would not replace teacher rec). </p>
<p>Thanks for the help guys. and for what it’s worth he is my aunt by marriage’s father. </p>
<p>Are you actually close to him? He is by no biological definition of the term your “grandfather,” and unless you two are particularly close, it looks like you’re grasping at straws. I’m from a huge, close Italian family and I couldn’t even tell you the name of my dad’s brother’s wife’s father. I’m not questioning your relationship with this name, but I’m saying unless you prove a clear, close relationship with him, it’ll look to the admissions officers like you’re really reaching, because if he doesn’t know you very well, the letter will be generic, bland, and a waste of precious application space.</p>
<p>His connection to you is tenuous at best so I would say not to waste your or his time with the recommendation. It would have essentially zero impact.</p>
<p>This will actually hurt you if you submit it. Nepotism letters are generally a waste.</p>
<p>I agree with other posters that using him as a LOR would be a bad idea. What you could do though is ask him more about the university. Was he in the section you would want to be majoring in? If so, even better. You could mention in the supplemental essay (why columbia?) about talking with him and relate to how what he has said about columbia would help you achieve your goals and what you would like to contribute to columbia in this area. E.g. - he was in the engineering department and has told you about the facilities available there. You would like to do engineering and research x and y which has so far not been carried out at columbia and x and y resources would enable this. So you can casually name-drop without going so far as to include a LOR from a relation. In fact, you could not mention relation at all, just mention conversation. </p>