<p>@TopTier: Yep, you are right. I was consulting our very detailed spreadsheet from last year, and I stated she applied last year. I see that this year’s instructions are different, and I apologize if I have offended you.</p>
<p>So what would this mean for me since I have gone over the limit. 
Would it be ok if I contacted admissions? Would it be possible to ask them to disregard a recommendation?</p>
<p>Honestly, I would just let it be. Asking them to disregard one just brings attention to it, and you have no idea which one to tell them to disregard as I assume you haven’t read them. Nobody here knows for sure what effect (if any) that number of recommendations will have on your candidacy. I highly highly doubt they’ll reject you for submitting too many – you are almost certainly freaking out unnecessarily. This is akin to going over the word limit on the short essay, which I can tell you happens often enough and isn’t an automatic reject trigger.</p>
<p>The admissions staff is very busy and has limited time, and thus it makes sense for them to set some material boundaries to thwart having to go through a huge number of pages of material for every applicant. However, if you’re an interesting and strong applicant that – in the eyes of the adcom – would contribute significantly in a positive way to the Duke community, an additional recommendation simply serves to reinforce that view. In fact, I went through a fake admissions process with Guttentag for a real life applicant file (all personal information was redacted) as part of a small alumni dinner event, and he stated that recommendations are typically used to reinforce – or refute – the rest of an application. If it seems consistent with everything else they’ve read and the impression they’ve formed, then they can be all that much more confident in their admissions decision. If the recommendations are at odds with something (demonstrating a different personality ormotivation perhaps), that might give them pause. Based on this,dI’d say the biggest risk is not that you’re over the limit, but rather the fact that something in those seven recommendations will refute one another. </p>
<p>In summary, I’d stop worrying about it – you’ve put your best foot forward and it’s out of your hands now. Good luck! </p>
<p>@Hersheybar315: I entirely agree with @bluedog. You “fouled up,” but now you should:
• Stop worrying about it, I virtually guarantee it will have absolutely no tangible impact on your acceptance decision (and I strongly recommend you do NOT contact Duke);
• Learn for this mistake (IMHO you were somewhat careless in reading, understanding, and especially complying with Undergraduate Admissions’ published, detailed instructions) by being thorough and precise in future situations.</p>
<p>The one thing I’m somewhat incredulous about is that Duke limits its recs to a maximum of 4, including the counselor’s rec. The site only states what Duke requires and describes the option of sending in an additional rec, but I don’t see where it says or even implies that this is the absolute maximum even though on the Common App they allow you to send in a maximum of 6. Maybe I’m just not looking in the right places, I don’t know, but my mother swears she saw somewhere that applicants can send a max of 3 teacher recs and 2 additional recs. She’s just not sure where.</p>
<p>@Constantius (re #38):</p>
<p>“Also, unless I’m missing something, the Duke site only states how many recommendations an applicant is required to send . . ., but it doesn’t specify the true maximum it allows. I assumed that the real maximum would be defined by whatever is on the Common App, which is 3 teacher recs and 2 additional recs.”</p>
<p>I respectfully – but staunchly – disagree. <a href=“Apply - Duke Undergraduate Admissions”>Apply - Duke Undergraduate Admissions; provides the current and detailed requirements AND limitations for recommendations in the Class of ‘19 application cycle. The Common Application is NOT Duke’s instructions to applicants; the Duke Undergraduate Admissions’ website is. </p>
<p>@TopTier I don’t necessarily disagree, but I still find it strange that there’s a discrepancy between what the website states and what the CA displays. I don’t mean any disrespect to Duke when I say this (it is my first choice after all), but for other schools I’m applying to RD, the information their website provides coincides exactly with what the CA shows for their respective applications, so I just think it’s unusual that Duke would not do the same.</p>
<p>Thank you, however, for all of your clarification in your past few posts.</p>
<p>@Constantius (re #44): Your mother’s recollection is excellent, BUT she is remembering the Class of 2018’s (last year’s) instructions regarding recommendations (three teachers and two others), NOT the current year’s (Class of 2019) directions from Duke Undergraduate Admissions (look at posts 35, 39, and 40 as a shortcut to explain this situation).</p>
<p>In addition, Duke’s current directive (<a href=“Apply - Duke Undergraduate Admissions”>Apply - Duke Undergraduate Admissions) indicates the following concerning recommendations: (a) one mandatory from the GC; (b) two (not three) mandatory from recent teachers; (c) one (not two) optional from an unspecified individual; and (d) potentially, one optional from an unspecified individual, if an admissions interview is not offered. I believe it’s obvious that, for example, when Undergraduate Admissions states two recommendations from teachers are required, it means exactly two (and that certainly does not sanction more than two). </p>
<p>@Constantius (re #47): I agree with you, but I truthfully have no idea how and when Duke provides unique application directives to the Common App folks. Maybe Duke made it’s Class of '19 admissions documentation decisions after the Common App’s deadline? Or maybe the Common App people didn’t update in a timely manner? Or maybe there have been changes since you downloaded the Common App stuff (no offense intended, obviously). I honestly don’t know. </p>
<p>What I do know is this. Every year Duke receives more – and much stronger – applications. However, Duke’s Undergraduate Admissions’ staffing (remembering that many jobs reviewing and evaluating application are intense and VERY demanding, but only for about six months each year) is quite costly, as is the entire Undergraduate Admissions effort. Therefore, we need to find ways to reduce costs and processing time. One way to do both is to limit the number of recommendations. Earlier in this thread I noted that only two more recs from each of the approximately 33,000 '19 applicants, would add over 65,000 recommendation documents to be processed, reviewed, analyzed, evaluated, filed, and potentially discussed at the Committee level. That’s a LOT of probably needless time, effort and capital. </p>
<p>Alrighty thanks so much everyone for their input and time! I guess I will just forget about it and hope for the best! Good luck all! </p>
<p>I think I sent an extra recommendation and I still got in, but I’d like to think the extra one added something to my application. </p>