<p>If i were to apply to an ivy league, would having a recommendation from a graduate help my chances? he probably donates but not like millions</p>
<p>what are your stats...?</p>
<p>No, not particuarly. Having recommendations from a teacher who knows you really well and can speak to your intellectual and personal qualities will be more beneficial.</p>
<p>and if that teacher graduated from that school, then better</p>
<p>no. they get them all the time. any bozo can know somebody who graduated from Harvard. you need to know the person who is writing it well for them to be effective.</p>
<p>Would it help? It hasn't for 40-50 years. Once the Ivy's were almost a club where the well-heeled and well-connected sent their sons (they weren't coed until the 60's & 70's). Many kids prepped at the well-known boarding schools and admission was simply a matter of the Ivy dean visiting the school and talking to the headmaster. Of course they recognized that some grads, for whatever strange reason, left the cozy environment of the East-coast cities for parts yonder. So if you were applying from the provinces then a letter from an alum of the school was helpful to certify that you belonged, that you were their type of people.</p>
<p>Them days are long over. The only thing a letter from a grad is going to do is raise suspicions as to why you chose to burn one of your rec letters on it instead of a teacher who could write a strong rec, suspicions you did because no such teacher could be found.</p>
<p>A friend of mine works at Harvard Admissions (she just finished her first year there). The recommendations they get from teachers and the interview responses they get from alumni do not have a huge impact. Apparently, they are more things that are used to save your application.
She said for Harvard:
1) If you go to a good school (in a good area/school ranking is fairly high): GPA is the most important thing. For bad schools, SAT is the most important thing. Then its extracurriculars and essays (both which are fairly important).
2) However, Harvard implements a thing where if you have too many grammar errors your app is thrown out, if your essay is poor your app is thrown out, and if your volunteer hours dont match up (basically if you give the hours per week you did and it is more then what they find reasonable because they tally up the hours) then your app is also thrown out.</p>
<p>Point being: SAT and GPA are still most important but it EXC and the college essay are significantly more important than the rec and interview response.</p>