One of my schools requested a letter of recommendation from my mom in February, and now I’m curious as to what it means. Does it mean anything? Is it a good sign?
Hmm, I’ve never heard of that. Let us know how it goes with the school that requested it. Good thing my daughter’s school didn’t ask for one
Just because she was a pain senior year 
I know that some colleges do this as a routine part of their process (Smith is one).
This is not uncommon. I wrote one for my child.
Seems strange to me. Parents will not be unbiased nor have other students to compare their offspring to when praising their child. I wonder if these schools are looking to see if parents approve of the student’s choice and using that in the selection process. How can they sort out which parents are honest, brutally frank, clueless…?
@wis75, I don’t think it’s appropriate, either, but I have to say that parents aren’t the only biased ones. The teachers who write recs have their own biases, and may even have a strong interest in getting the student into a college.
@Massmomm I agree that teachers can be biased. And I disagree that it’s not appropriate. Who knows a child better than a parent? I think they want the parent rec in order to have a totally different view on an applicant. Two colleges that my D applied to asked for these, optional of course. I was able to tell them my D loves ice cream, always wins at board games, wants to go Finland, and is teaching herself Korean. They can probably spot the bs recs when they come through. No doubt no parent says bad stuff, but I don’t think they care about how wonderful we think our kid is. I do think it’s just about assessing a personality.
Schools that do this know that a parent is biases but also that a Parent does have a different perspective. For the one I did, I wrote about how everything you needed to know about my daughter you knew by kindergarten when she was given an assignment to write out a Valentine’s day card to each of her classmates, by doing 5 a day for the week before the holiday. And how after 5 were done the first, she absolutely refused to stop until she was all done with all 25. And sat there for another hour finishing them. I’d say that sums up her personality pretty well and that wasn’t a story you’d get from anyone else.
If it’s Smith college, I wrote one for my daughter. I really enjoyed opportunity. If they look at the parents writing skills in determining if their daughter get’s in, there’s one more open spot for you ; )
I do not think it is a good sign or bad sign.
Way back when, my Mom wrote a letter about me to Reed. I think she showed it to me but I can’t recall it (wish I had it now!). She would be an informed but also fair-minded salesperson. A high school salutatorian in her day, she never went to college.
This seems extremely creepy to me.
It sort of…infantalizes the student, which in my opinion is problematic.
Homeschool parents serve as their children’s guidance counselor, so many colleges request a letter from us. The purpose of the letters is to provide information about that student, not to slather them with praise or to compare them to others. I’ve taught plenty of other kids so I could compare, but it would be inappropriate. Letters are supposed to provide insight into the student’s interests and skills. It’s a great way for colleges to determine if the student would be a good fit, but they can only accurately determine that if writers are honest. Writing good rec letters is a skill, but it’s not difficult.
Business letters are creepy to you? Why? How is it “infantalizing” a student to have the person their state recognizes as their guidance counselor, and/or any other person their college chooses, write a rec letter for them?