Number of Recommendations

<p>I sent 2 recommendations from science teachers (very good), 1 english recommendation (great) and one recommendation from my research mentor (great). Is it bad that I sent all those recommendations? The schools offered those amount of slots</p>

<p>Given the option, I don’t think more recommendations are ever bad, unless they’re really long and repeat each other, or they paint radically different pictures of you. I could be wrong, but that’s just a guess.</p>

<p>Your plan is to send 4 LoRs plus a counselor’s statement. This is not recommended – although what’s done is done. And @Evan111 is mistaken. Just because the slots exist on the common app, please read carefully what your target college requests. Usually it’s TWO LoRs. Multiple LoRs dilute the strength of the whole and rarely add anything new. That’s why 90% of colleges require ZERO LoRs.</p>

<p>If you still have schools you’ve not yet submitted, please read their instructions carefully. More is NOT better.</p>

<p>Most of schools only need 1 recommendation from counselor and 2 from teachers, and one form your counselor. Recs from outside of schools are usually optional and you may only submit one.
But the requirement really differs among schools, some schools take up to 3 teacher recommendations, while some only need one.
So I’d suggest you to look into every school’s specific requirements. Like what @Y26E4 said, more is not better.</p>

<p>I’ll defer to @T26E4’s judgment on this one, but I’m curious… I’ve seen schools on the Common App that allow up to ten LORs. I know sending more recs than a school actually allows is overkill and not likely to earn any points, but surely someone occasionally takes them up on the ten allowed letters?</p>

<p>I’d be curious to see what schools are willing to accept ten LoRs. I’m not doubting you Evan. I’m just super surprised. Can you list what colleges you’ve found that allow/request more than 3?</p>

<p>@T26E4 Just from my list, Lawrence University allows ten teacher recs and ten “other” recs, for a total of twenty. Centre College allows five teachers and five “others”. I’ve seen others, but those are the only two I can find at the moment. Three or four LoRs is usually the most a college will ask for, but some (UVa and William & Mary) allow a total of six.</p>