Wondering how much a personal letter of recommendation would help me get into a good college. My family is extremely good friends with a senator and his family. My dad has been friends with him his whole life. I am close to his kids and him, go over his house every year. He has told me that he would write a very good one for me for college if needed. Only thing is that the colleges I am applying for are not in the state he is the senator in. Wondering if this letter would help me a lot in my college acceptance. Thank you.
The fact that he is a senator is great and shows his accomplishment. But you want letters that highlight YOUR accomplishments. Unless you have worked for the senator and he can opine on your skills etc. then I don’t think it would do a ton of good.
@happy1 is right- Unless the senator can shed light on an aspect of your personality that has not been represented yet in your application, you don’t need a letter of rec. from him.
Unless you worked for him or he mentored you, you run the risk of looking like you’re trying to use his name to get in.
A great letter is a great letter. It sounds as though he knows you well and could write a wonderful personal recommendation to add to the two you’ll get from teachers.
But I wouldn’t expect his title, or the state he’s from, to enter into the discussion. As others have mentioned, those are his accomplishments, not yours.
That said, I would gladly take the letter and have it placed into my guidance folder.
Would you think a letter from a parent of one of your good friends, someone whose house you go to once a year, would help if the parent didn’t have an impressive job? That’s exactly how much the letter from the senator will help. There is no reason for an Ad Com to think you will be more of an asset to their school because a senator likes your parents and a senator’s kids are friends with you.
As for a wonderful personal recommendation to add to your teachers’ letters, if Ad Coms cared, they’d ask for them. It would be a very unusual college applicant who couldn’t find an adult to write them a very nice letter.
There’s a saying, the thicker the file, the thicker the student.