Letters of Recommendations

College Essays
1

I am a senior so I have already sent in all my apps and recommendations.

But there is something I have been wondering about letters of recommendations.

I have been learning karate and piano for 14 and 12 years respectively. I go to the same schools and have been with the same teachers. In karate I have already achieved a black belt and in piano I am also achieved considerable depth. Both my teachers have suggested without me asking that they would be thrilled to write a letter of recommendation for me for my college application process.

I spoke to my high school counselor and he indicated to me that colleges want the teachers who taught me in academic classes, not extracurricular. Further he said colleges don’t want any “additional” letters to read because the more concise it is the better. He recommended strongly against it. So I never pursued it further.

But in the back of my mind, I have always wondered. Both teachers who wrote my recommendation letters, they had to write it after knowing me for only 6 months because my school requires us to designate the teachers’ names for recommendation in March/April of the junior year - not the schools but only who you designate to write mine. So how is a teacher who taught me six months of Physics going to have more insight then say a teacher I have known for 12 years in a music academy who I see twice a week, who once had a heart attack and couldn’t do any class for 3 months while he recovers and during that time I became the assistant teacher and held classes for him, who I have composed with, who I have conducted concerts in local communities with? or the karate teachers who taught me since I was a small, who I went to competitions and tournaments with, who knows more about my knee injuries then my parents? I can’t seem to get my head around that. What does the physicis teacher know about me? Nothing much…got an A, came to class everyday, participate in discussions, seems eager and smart…big deal.

I wondered if I failed to put my best foot forward by listening to my high school counselor.

2

I agree with your counselor. Don’t you pay the karate teacher and piano instructor? If yes then they both have some inherent conflicts of interest. Colleges like to hear from teachers who have taught you in academic settings, free from bias.

3

Yes my parents do pay a fee to the karate school and the music academy, and similarly they pay the private school tuition to my high school, so in that sense they all have to some degree conflicts of interest. Although I can see the piano and karate teachers after knowing me for so long, perhaps too long, they would be biased in a sense that they probably would say only good things about me.

4

Get your two academic letters from your school and then send your piano teacher’s as a supplement to the application. If anything, it’s a character witness, and it’s also academically valuable if you intend to pursue piano in college too. A lot of colleges will let you send more than two–it depends on where you are applying. Look at each individual school and see where yours stand on it. Also, your piano teacher can send it the old fashioned way in an envelope or you can invite him/her through the common app–she doesn’t have to send it through the guidance counselor. In other words, it won’t hurt you as the 3rd recommendation.