<p>At my school, it isn't customary for students to become familiar with or even meet their dean/advisor. When I brought the college official's form to the dean's office, I couldn't even meet them in person--I had to talk to their secretary.
Naturally, they didn't write a letter of recommendation for me (though they completed every other part of the form).
Four of the schools I applied to say they have processed this form, but Barnard College has not. I'm pretty sure they've at least received it (I sent this form in the same envelope as my transcript, and they've processed the transcript), but I worry that they might have rejected the college official's form since it lacks a letter of recommendation.</p>
<p>Is it normal for people to leave the letter of recommendation blank? I've already contacted Barnard about this (they have yet to respond), but what if they demand a letter of recommendation? I'm really worried.</p>
<p>I’m not sure but I also have the same situation where students here do not ever become familiar with their dean/advisor. Same with my high school. In both situations, what I did was give them an academic resume of my academic accomplishments outside the classroom and whatnot. They wrote a LoR based off of that. It might’ve been a very generic one, though, because they can only base who I am off of a piece of paper and computer documents such as my transcripts and classes.</p>
<p>In any case, if they demand a LoR I suggest you talk to their secretary and reinforce that they DEMAND one and try to suggest this method. </p>
<p>I dont know anything about Barnard but I work in my office’s admissions office and process documents and as long as they have the form filled out, it is considered a LoR (even without an actual letter). There have been many through my school but most of them come from schools that have a very big population (ie; transfers from state flagships).</p>
<p>I tried the same thing (with the resume) because I figured that a generic letter was better than no letter, but my advisor declined to write one. If Barnard insists, I guess I’ll just try it again. Thanks for the advice.</p>