<p>My child was deferred from MIT. His principal, after he was informed of the decision, was willing to write a letter of recommendation for him. I am wondering if this letter would increase his chances or hurt his chances? What is the way to send the letter to the office? By mail?</p>
<p>Did the principal graduate from MIT? Is this from a private prep school? </p>
<p>If his LORs were strong, I can’t see how a letter from the principal would be added help…but that’s my opinion. It can’t do any harm. You would send it to the office of admissions.</p>
<p>It’s unlikely to help much, but it certainly won’t hurt. How well does the principal know your kid? Is there anything that you think he could cover that wasn’t already somewhere in the application?</p>
<p>The letter will only help if it adds additional, specific information about thigns that were not in the original application. So a general letter of support about how your child is loved by the whole school community will not be helpful; a letter where the principal discusses a specific way your child has impacted the school or been a school-wide leader that was not originally covered in an essay, teacher, or GC rep, will help.</p>
<p>Have the principal read this first:
<a href=“How to write good letters of recommendation | MIT Admissions”>http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/writingrecs</a></p>
<p>Probably about how much he contributes to the school community, which is a large suburban, public school of more than 3,000 kids.</p>
<p>I would,think the other references would have already mentioned his contributions to the school community from their perspective. Unless your son does some special project with the principal that is very unique, I would say this is not really going to make a huge difference. But that is my opinion!</p>
<p>Have your son think long and hard about who could write the best extra LOR. He still has a few months to add extra material,e.g. new awards, a research project, etc. </p>