Hello! It turns out that i am well acquainted with a professor at my top college, and i didn’t know how much it would help if she wrote a letter of rec for me. I still have the academics and extra curriculars but it is an extremely selective school (around 20% accepted)
How much does it help if you have a letter of recommendation from a professor who teaches at desired
Probably not at all, unless it’s someone that you have taken a course with and can speak about you as a student in a letter of rec (i.e., that the prof can provide not just a personal recommendation but an academic one).
Admissions decisions are made by Admissions Committees – faculty play no role in admissions and have little to no sway (unless there are departmental scholarships involved and faculty are in a position to consider likely candidates, or, as mentioned above, has had the student in his/her class).
Agree. It’s interesting you didn’t know her well enough to know where she worked.
@LoveTheBard I generally agree with you, but would nuance your information slightly. I would say that faculty have next to no influence. They can perhaps write a letter on a student’s behalf but whether the AdCom will care about the letter is another issue. In my estimation such a letter would be a little like the jury being instructed to ignore a comment that was made inappropriately in court. They can do their best, but memory of that comment will be present.
Unless the Adcoms have a complete firewall and don’t allow emails or letters to enter their space, then it will have some impact. The extent of that impact is unclear. Some Adcoms want all info they can get on candidates they are considering, and then I would think that the letter might come into play. Will the letter have a positive impact? Hard to say.
I would also imagine that who the professor is in relation to the campus would have some effect. If the professor is a superstar that has a lot of power, beloved by all, then maybe the impact would be more than if the prof is a new person, barely known, maybe an adjunct and marginally related to the school. Also, does that professor write often on behalf of students? Or does that professor judiciously weigh whom to recommend? What if the prof is considered a pain in the petute and people wish that s/he weren’t part of the community? All these factors and more may come into play.
Then there’s the factor of how selective the school is. Profs at super selective schools can’t even get their own kids into that school, even with the on-target grades and scores, and they prep the application and sweat about as much as other parents applying.
Unless you have done actual work with that professor (ex. research) in some kind of academic capacity I doubt it will do much of anything for your application.
It’s your qualifications that count, not hers.
Go with letters from teachers who know you well and can attest to things that a family friend can’t: your work ethic, your native intelligence, your ability to pull together new information, your ability to make deadlines and get work done thoroughly.
^ it’s often stated, “…who know you in the academic context” or in the classroom.