I know this has been discussed in the past, but I didn’t expect it to be an issue for us. My daughter is submitting an arts supplement (dance) and asked the director of her dance studio, who knows her well, for a letter of recommendation to include (as an extra rec/part of the arts supplement). Then the President of the Board (non-profit studio) who is an alumna of D22’s first choice school, emailed her & offered to write her a letter as well, and also suggested having a second board member, also an alumna & a “big” donor (no idea what that means, but I know this person & the family does have money) to write her a third letter. This seems like too much to me - the director & the board president both know her well & could write good letters - should she include both? As part of the arts supplement or as additional LOR in the common app? I assume the third letter is overkill, as that person does not know her particularly well (though has known her since pre-school and has seen her dance every year) but maybe it’s in the realm of it can’t hurt & might help? I actually don’t think her school/teacher letters will be fabulous though they should be fine - she is quiet, and it’s a strong class so while she has done (very) well she’s not at the tippy top compared to others - while the dance letters would probably be much stronger. But is three extra letters just too much? Two extra letters? Again, I think she’d include them as part of the arts supplement, not as part of the common app - though then they show that she has read them, so maybe using the common app is better? Is she just going to annoy the AO’s if they are on her common app? I’m pretty sure first choice school allows for extra letters but that doesn’t mean they want them, does it?
Just because you can include extra letters does not mean you should. There is an old adage - the thicker the file, the thicker the kid.
On another note, in general, arts supplements are reviewed by faculty not AOs. And faculty only gets a small portion to review. In most instances, arts supplements are uploaded into Slideroom, or a similar platform, which AFAIK, does not allow LoRs. So the letters need to be attached to the Common App.
The recs need to talk about her. Any rec from a bigwig that cannot talk about her more than superficially is just wasting everyone’s time.
Yes, that was my thinking. They can all talk about her though, and give insight not just on her dancing but on her work ethic & leadership. The first two both know her relatively well (she’s been dancing there for years, and taken classes from the director & worked directly with her on choreography & taken classes/performed with the board president. Will the alumna connection help her? If not then yes, sticking with just the one letter probably makes sense. But if that aspect might help maybe the first two? I agree the third one is too much. I assumed she could attach the letters to slideroom just like you could a picture of a work of art. But it would show then that she had seen them, whereas if they went through the common app that would not be the case.
The alumna connection will hold equal weight to a similar letter from a non-alumna.
She needs to follow the directions of how to submit letters without worrying about seeing who clicks them. Data analytics on click-through is generally a pointless exercise which may serve only to give her false hope or, conversely, depress her for no reason. Unless the college specifies differently, the arts supplement is for art materials only.
And if all the art LoRs say the same thing, it’s just duplicative material. She should pick what she thinks will be the best one or two and call it a day.
Each school handles the review differently. JHU and WashU have AOs review art supplements. Stanford sends them to faculty.
Is she planning on majoring in dance?
Thanks appreciate it. I was questioning whether the fact that D22 had seen them made a difference not who saw them at the school end - that’s out of our control. Appreciate the info.
She probably will not but it’s a very important part of her life and she plans to continue dancing seriously at college. She only has schools with excellent dance programs that allow full participation in the dance program by non-majors on her list (there are surprisingly few that meet this criteria!). At her ED school the faculty review the arts supplement and the chair of the dance program encouraged her to submit one.
My kid is in the same position but for music. They, too, are weighing the benefits of a letter from their instrument teacher. They’re still on the fence, but leaning toward not sending it. It may not be necessary because their supplement/tape will likely say it all.
Just checked in w/ D22. She wasn’t thinking about submitting both letters apparently, was just asking my advice whether board president who is alumna of the college was a better choice than director of the dance studio. Both know her well, but director obviously has a different viewpoint. She was just wondering if the alumna connection was meaningful enough to substitute - @skieurope says no.
Not what I said. What I said was the simple fact that she’s an alumna does not add additional weight/prestige to the letter. If it’s an outstanding letter, it’s an outstanding letter.
For perspective, here’s a story about a kid accepted to Dartmouth with an LoR written by the janitor.