Getting recommendation letter from an Ivy professor? 4 questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<li>My friend was watching a tv show and told me that students in the show managed to get recommendation letters from professors whilst visiting on campus - given that they have never met the professors before. I'm in Australia, and I'm unable to travel so far. Is there anyway I can get a recommendation letter from an Ivy professor? I'm only in grade 9, and I want to major in Economics at Harvard or Stanford. I know that you CCers out there are thinking that I'm a stereotypical teenage girl with unrealistic dreams, and perhaps they are unrealistic, but I have my backups in Australia, nothing is impossible and I understand its a crapshoot. My question, how can I get a recommendation letter from someone of significance?</li>
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<p>Additionally, I go to a public school, and the school I go to (alike most Aussie high schools) don't tend to send students overseas to study, hence, my teachers knowledge in writing recommendation letters isn't even the bear minimum. Recommendations letters play a significant part in the admissions process and I'm genuinely concerned that this could be detrimental to my application. Especially since we change teachers every semester. </p>

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<li><p>Am I allowed to get recommendations from other people? For example, I'm in a youth parliament program, similar to Model UN, although we don't have that. Would it e good if I managed to get a recommendation letter from one of the people organising the Youth Parliament? Additionally, I'm in the Youth Council for my local area, would it help to get a recommendation letter from a person in my council? </p></li>
<li><p>This is irrelevant to the recommendation letters. But I currently just started tennis, and my couch says I'm a true talent. I'm currently in the Gifted and Talented art program at my school, and the Specialist Tennis invited me to join. Irregardless I was planning on graduating GATE at the end of 2015. Would this show schools I'm not committed long term? </p></li>
<li><p>I'm currently doing Crimson Consulting, they have past Harvard admissions officers. One past admissions officer is regularly consulting me. Is this the same as college counselling as they offer in USA. Could I get a recommendation letter from her and would it significantly help given she is a past Harvard officer?</p></li>
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<p>Really? You’re basing getting a letter of recommendation (from an Ivy League professor, no less) off a TV show that your friend watched?</p>

<p>You can get other letters of recommendation, but the main ones that you need are one to two teacher/guidance counselor recommendations. They are required by almost every top school, and you cannot substitute other letters of recommendation for these.</p>

<p>Also, you’re worrying about this far too early. You’re in your freshman year of high school – getting worried about this now won’t help you at all.</p>

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<p>I have 8 weeks left till the end of the school year - summer holidays are in December/January. I will be Year 10 very shortly. The ex-Harvard admissions officer who has been counselling me for the past year, does that substitute a guidance counselor recommendation? @micmatt513</p>

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<p>You should probably be directing your questions to the consultant who’s been counseling for you for over a year. I’m sure she would tell you that even if you could get a recommendation from a Harvard professor who never met/worked with you, it would have zero impact. In fact, it might even have a negative impact because it would seem like you are desperate. Furthermore, a recommendation from a “paid” consultant would be worthless for obvious reasons.</p>

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<p>@akova1,</p>

<p>Think it through. Of what use would be a letter of recommendation from someone you don’t know, and more importantly, doesn’t know you? The “who” of the letter is less important than the “what” of it. Not that “who” is entirely meaningless. If you actually knew a Harvard professor, and he or she had been your teacher or advisor on a project, or a close mentor, such a letter would probably be worth a great deal, provided the professor wrote well of you. But what they write is more important than who they are.</p>

<p>The best letters of recommendation will come from folks who actually taught you, and who characterize you with superlatives, like, “best student I ever had,” or “strongest math abilities I ever saw,” or “incomparable skill at [fill in the blank].” Good candidates for letter writing will especially include teachers who teach you more than one course, and/or those who also work with you on other activities outside your curriculum. </p>

<p>Testimony to your decency as a human being also helps. </p>

<p>While my older son probably got into Harvard based on comments from his letter writers like, “best student I’ve had in 30 years,” “strongest classics student I’ve ever taught, already functioning, in some ways, at a grad school level,” my younger son probably got into Harvard because of a letter that related a short anecdote. Early in his senior year, my son saw a fellow student in distress, someone with whom he’d never gotten along, and for whom he really had no use. Privately, he arranged to make available significant, long-term assistance for the fellow student, in a way that would have put a crimp in my son’s life for the remainder of the school year. The letter writer was aware of this, and wrote about it in his letter of recommendation.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t worry too much about the fact that your teachers don’t write many letters of recommendation. Your consultant, if he’s worth anything near what he’s being paid, can provide an outline for your letter writers to follow. But you must select folks with whom you’ve formed a good, constructive relationship, and who have seen your best side, and are enthusiastic to tell others about it.</p>

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<p>yeah… watching TV shows about hints to getting into Havard is probably not a good exhibition of the analytical skills you want to master if you’re truly a Harvard aspirant. Think about it</p>

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<p>^^ lol</p>

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<p>@T26E4‌ it was my friend who told me - she knows how badly I want to get in. It is rude of you to automatically assume and judge witho no core knowledge of who I am, what I do and my achievements. You think about it. </p>

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<p>@akova1: Every day, thousands of students from China, Korea, Japan, Germany, France, Spain, Canada, Russia, Mexico, South America and Australia tour Harvard. There are so many tourists on campus, they sometimes get in the way of the student’s attending the school. Think for a moment: if just half of the tourists tried to get a professor – who didn’t personally know them as a person or as a scholar – to write them a letter of recommendation. What could the professor possibly write that would sway Admissions? “I met akova1 today, he seems like a bright kid.” Imagine the chaos that would create going to and from class for the professors, not to mention how it would devalue an actual recommendation from a Harvard professor in the admissions process. Your post shows complete desperation and your behavior indicates that you lack the critical thinking skills that Harvard seeks. FWIW, as a newbie poster to College Confidential, you should avoid criticizing a veteran poster like @T26E4, who has over 18,000 posts and is an alumni interviewer for one of Harvard’s peer schools. When you post on the Harvard forum, people assume that you are “Harvard material.” Please start acting like you have what it takes!</p>

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<p>Start by reading Harvard’s admissions web site. </p>

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<p>@akova1,</p>

<p>I don’t think that T26E4 was “judg[ing] with no core knowledge of who I am,…”</p>

<p>He wasn’t judging you or anything innate about you at all. Here’s the key to what he told you:</p>

<p>"…probably not a good exhibition of the analytical skills…"</p>

<p>He was judging how well you’re demonstrating whatever skills and abilities you have. And he was being nice. What you asked is CERTAINLY not a good exhibition of any analytical skills. Maybe you have those skills and inherent capacity. Maybe you don’t. But your post clearly didn’t exhibit them.</p>

<p>Re-read your own question. Think it through. Ask, “Why do admissions committees ask for letters of recommendation?”</p>

<p>If you can’t connect the dots, you’re not yet ready for the big leagues.</p>

<p>Your saving grace is that you’re still young; you have a little longer to put the pieces of the puzzle together.</p>

<p>But if you can’t see the point folks are trying to make, you’re still a good ways off.</p>

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<p>I know why these schools ask for letters of recommendation - which is exactly why I made the thread. And Gibby, veteran poster or not, every one deserves the same level of respect. After all, the United states prides itself on being the great nation of equality.</p>

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<p>Recommendations are for people who actually know you. Will professors you just met off the street at a university know you at all? Doubtful. Your primary focus should be building strong relationships with the teachers and faculty of your own school, recommendations from them will mean much more than a poorly written general one - even if it is from Harvard. Everything else other than a teacher recommendation (which by the way, tells them what type of person you are in the classroom). Work hard, develop passions, and show curiosity. That is what will get you in, not some “connection” through some past admissions officer. As much it seems like it sometimes, college admissions is not something you can “game.” It is rather straightforward actually. Gibby is a parent of a Harvard graduate so he knows what he is talking about. If you have any doubts on what they are looking for, see their website or contact admissions officers directly. It will clear up any confusions. Finally, as a recommendation, I advise branching out and looking at a multitude of colleges. You are only in 9th grade so there is still plenty of time, but there are so many top-notch colleges out there that a little research may lead you to find some pretty cool options</p>

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<p>See, Harvard says right on it’s web site:
Who should write my recommendations?
Teachers who know you well and who have taught you in academic subjects (preferably in the final two years of secondary school) typically will provide us with the most valuable testimony. Whenever possible, teachers should tell us about your non-academic interests and personal qualities as well as academic potential.</p>

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<p>I also think some of you may be interested to look into Crimson Consulting. See if you can get to the part where the “former admissions officers” describe their experience and what they are currently pursuing. </p>

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<p>

@akova1: Please – if you really knew why colleges ask for letters of recommendation, then you WOULD NOT have created this thread. As lookingforward pointed out, it’s right there on Harvard’s website: They want letters from teachers who have recently had you in their classroom. That’s because they are looking for scholastic potential, which someone you recently encountered, be it a Harvard professor or the President of a corporation or country, cannot give you. T26E4 was being honest and blunt, which you interpreted as rude. In fact, as notejoe pointed out, he was actually being nice, as your question was truly lacking in analytical skills or critical thinking. As you seem to be the only one on this thread defending your question, I would really take a moment to reevaluate what you know and don’t know about the college applications process.</p>

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<p>William R. Fitzsimmons, the longtime dean of admissions Harvard College, says:

</p>

<p><a href=“Guidance Office: Answers From Harvard's Dean, Part 3 - The New York Times”>Guidance Office: Answers From Harvard's Dean, Part 3 - The New York Times;

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<p>@lookingforward,</p>

<p>I looked at their website, which was slow to load and difficult to navigate, and looked at a number of the “former admissions officers.” That term, “former admissions officers,” might be a little inflated for some of these folks, but not for others. A number of them at least claim to have had decision-making roles in the admissions processes of a number of highly-selective schools. As well, “admissions officer” can cover a range of roles, including those folks who go from city to city presenting open houses to high school students, recruiting for their respective schools. I’m not sure how involved such folks would be in actually separating the wheat from the chaff of the application pool, but these folks are given the job title “admissions officer” by their college and university employers.</p>

<p>These folks don’t look much different from the college counseling folks I’ve previously seen. It’s a low-cost, low barrier-to-entry business. Am I missing something out of the ordinary for this kind of business?</p>

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<p>^^ On another thread the OP indicated they were looking at Harvard because they needed financial aid. My first thought, was that an international student in need of need-blind FA might not be able to afford the services of a college consulting company, however reputable they may be.</p>

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<p>I don’t understand why is everyone being so rough on the OP, who is just in 9th grade, is a little naive, and was given misinformation a friend picked up from a television show. In my view, T26E4’s remark:

was more snide than “nice”.</p>

<p>The OP asked a serious, earnest question, and they deserve better than they’re getting here.</p>

<p>This isn’t a knock on T26 or his defenders. A review of my posting history would show an occasional lapse of diplomacy. We all do it at times. But let’s not pile on. </p>