<p>Should I send this to colleges</p>
<p>Michigan State House of Representatives
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
State Representative</p>
<p>Dear University Admissions Counselor,</p>
<p>I am writing to recommend "my name" for admission into your university. "My name" and his father, State Representative "fathers name", are personal acquaintances of mine. "My name" and his father live near me, and "my name" has spent time at the State Capital in Lansing.</p>
<p>"My name" is a courteous, caring young man who is involved in his community. He has participated numerous community service projects such as the "blank" River and "blank" Creek Cleanups and the "blank" Organization newspaper sale during the Christmas holiday. "My name" has been involved in numerous extracurricular activities at his school such as wrestling, cross country, and the school Philosophy club.</p>
<p>I am sure that "My Name" will be an asset to your University. He will make a positive contribution to the College or University he chooses to attend. I highly recommend "My name" for admission. If you have any more questions, please feel free to contact me.</p>
<p>Very Truly Yours,</p>
<p>Signature XXXXXXX</p>
<p>Typed Name XXXXXX</p>
<h2>District XX Representative</h2>
<p>Mainly I am worried this recommendation will hurt me. Does it sound real? I am really upset with how he wrote it because I worked in the State House on an internship and it was a lot work. Now I think it looks like I am name dropping. I really dont want to ask him to write a new one because he is really busy. The main question is would this rec hurt my app, not do anything, or be positive. Also does it sound personal and dry or like it really gives insight to my character. </p>
<p>Another issue is some of the extra curriculars he mentions arent on my transcript I missed to many meetings for Philosophy Club credit and I didnt have room to put the newspaper sale on (my school limits how much you can put on your transcript)</p>
<p>Plz keep all personal grievances (sorry if mispelled) to yourselves and just plz be objective and answer the questions (I dont want to hear about government corruption or anything) </p>
<p>Thank You</p>
<p>The letter does sound kind of generic, and I don’t think it gives much insight into your character. I don’t think it will help your overall application much, even if he is a representative. Did you personally work with this man?</p>
<p>To me, this letter indicates that this man doesn’t know you very well and agreed to write this letter because you worked as an intern in his office and because your father is a personal acquaintance. I also get the impression that he briefly looked at your activity resume and, since he didn’t know you well, decided to reiterate your list of activities.</p>
<p>Lastly, the bit about you and your father being personal acquaintances and neighbors might give the wrong impression. If I were you, I wouldn’t send this letter in. But I also wouldn’t ask him to write another letter (even if he wasn’t so busy). It wouldn’t put you in the most favorable light.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that this is just an extra recommendation, so you’re not really not messing up your application by not sending this in. Adcoms recommend sending in extra recs only if they add true insight. This one doesn’t, unfortunately.</p>
<p>I should add, though, that I’m not a parent.</p>
<p>I think it sounds impersonal and does not give any insight into who you are as a person, it mostly just sounds like a list of activities you’ve done. The rec sucks so just make sure to let your personality shine in your essays (you could write about your experience during the internship).
good luck</p>
<p>I agree with demeter. Don’t send it; don’t request another from him. Find someone who knows you well and who can speak to your strengths.</p>
<p>Usually, admissions offices want recommendations from your guidance counselor and one or two teachers. If you’re on a Varsity team or an outside travel team, a recommendation from the coach can be helpful. The recommendation you’re describing sounds like this guy is a friend of your Dad’s and you’re hoping the fact that mentioning your Dad and his ties to the House of Representatives will give you some edge in getting admitted. Truth is, they want a real and honest opinion of your character from someone who has watched you grow over the years. I would skip sending this “recommendation” to the colleges. Ask a teacher, coach, or extra-curricular advisor and absolutely send in a recommendation from your high school guidance counselor.</p>
<p>It’s a recommendation letter that won’t do anything for you. It sounds like either he barely knows you, but is writing a letter of support because he’s a friend of your dad or he knows you, but is unimpressed, and has agreed to write the letter because he doesn’t want to offend your father, who’s his friend or business contact.</p>
<p>Fortunately, presumably it’s for your dream school, which is an in-state public (which I know from your previous posts), and typically in-state publics select students based on gpa, test scores, the students’ having fulfilled the required curriculum, and the students’ state of residence (with in-state residents being preferrred). Consequently, if you do send the letter, while it won’t help you, it won’t hurt you either.</p>
<p>Do not ask the person to write a different letter of recc for you. He wrote what he wanted to.</p>
<p>If you want to send an additional recommendation (something that many public universities don’t bother to look at), choose someone who knows you very well even if that person is someone ordinary like a teacher, coach or employer. When colleges factor recommendations into admission, the recommendation’s content is what’s most important, not whether the writer is well known.</p>
<p>I did personally work with the him. I just talked to him about 5 minutes ago. He didnt write this letter. My Father did and he wrote a completely different and amazing one (It even mentions my aspirations as a mountain climber and wanting to climb Everest (thats 100% true and I will do it so dont laugh)). My father convinced him to sign the one he wrote (I think he was just trying to help). Anyway should I send the alternative. I dont want to type it but it talks about my career and personal goals and tells how my ambition and determination will get me anywhere I want in life. Should I send this one.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t send the one you posted here. It doesn’t say anything about who you are as a person. It sounds like something the guy wrote as a favor for your Dad. It just doesn’t work.</p>
<p>You should send the letter that the man gives to you and signs. He is an adult who can make decisions about what letter to give you.</p>
<p>So… it should be up to the recommender, not your father or you what letter to send. If the recommender feels his relationship with your dad is so important that your father’s letter should be sent, so be it. </p>
<p>You need to politely talk to your father and set boundaries for the help you dad gives you in terms of college. Given what you’ve described of your father’s judgment about the letter, it seems likely that you will do better in your college apps without your father’s heavy handed help.</p>
<p>I know that if I were the recommender, I would have been super ticked off to have a student’s parent write the recommendation letter for me and demand that I sign it. That would be a large incentive to politely distance myself from being again in a position for the student to ask me for favors.</p>
<p>When my sons needed to get recommendations from teachers for their college applications, they had to choose to sign or not sign a statement that says something to the effect that the recommendation would be sealed and unread by the student. The GC felt that the sealed recommendation was more official and given more weight. So, the kids never read them. The GC always read them and if they weren’t favorable, the GC would recommend the student to ask a different teacher.</p>
<p>It sounds like a formula letter, from a pol who is used to getting requests for letters from connected parents who seem to think this rec is going to grab the attention of the adcoms and give their kid a push. The adcoms are going to take a look and chuckle; maybe they’ll compare it to the other generic letters of rec they’ve received to see which ones have better wording and it’ll make the office bulletin board.</p>
<p>Sure, its true that some pols can help push a kid into some school buts its not going to be in writing; over lunch at the club or a phone call to his pal the politician will mention “this kid Joe” and ask his buddy to see what he can do to make sure “someone takes a look at his app”. The implications are always understood, never stated. When you ask for favors the first thing you learn is to couch things vaguely so its all deniable later if someone accuses you of favoritism or influence-peddling. “I NEVER asked for Joe to be admitted even though he failed half his classes senior year, I just mentioned the son of a friend was applying and to make sure he got a fair shake” the pol can truthfully tell the investigative reporter.</p>
<p>You want a letter that makes a difference, get one of the adult sponsors of the creek cleanups to write a letter extolling your willingness to pitch in and make your community better, how you recruited dozens of kids from your HS to help out, how your enthusiasm and dedication impressed everyone who saw you. Or get the person who supervised your capitol internship to explain what you did, how you did it, the warm feelings all the staff holds for you and how you set the standard to measure all interns since you were there, to describe the slew of complimentary letters they received from satisfied members of the public who were pleased with how effectively and expeditiously you handled their requests. Those are letters adcoms will notice.</p>
<p>He explained pretty well what happened but I believe he thought my father knew me better (which he doesnt) so he would write a better letter. As for the boundaries all I do is set them but he just doesnt get it. So I dont know what I am going to do about but the real letter is in my hands and i think i am gonna send it because it just makes me feel good to read. It really brings up my character. </p>
<p>Thanks for everyones help</p>
<p>Good decision. Best of luck.</p>
<p>:) thank you and since some people seems interested I am taking a 13 day mountaineering class on Mt Rainer in Washington State next summer.</p>
<p>Awesome! What a great opportunity.</p>
<p>One of your posts indicated you’ll have to type the real letter. How would you accomplish that on the business stationary and get the man’s real signature? If your plan is to type it yourself and then forge his signature, that could end up hurting you if admissions officers figure that out. If you’re still working in the man’s office, you could type it on his business stationary and then have him sign it.</p>
<p>If most of the content of the letter is along the lines of, “This wonderful young man plans to climb Mount Everest, and I’m convinced he’ll achieve that,” you’d probably be far better off getting a letter from your immediate supervisor who could provide anecdotes about your work ethic, and similar things, not speculate on whether your dreams for yourself will come true.</p>
<p>While it’s flattering that the man believes you can achieve your goals, adcoms probably would be more impressed by a letter that detailed some of how you handled day to day duties and stresses in the workplace.</p>
<p>Your mountaineering guide probably would be the best person to write a letter about how you handle outdoor challenges and how that reflects the strengths of your character.</p>
<p>“I dont want to type it but it talks about my career and personal goals and tells how my ambition and determination will get me anywhere I want in life.”</p>
<p>Northstarmom, you’re right as usual. john, please be honest in every step of the college application process. A personal recommendation for you must be written, typed, and on official stationary by the person–not by you or your Dad. As I said earlier, this is probably why our local high school sends out SEALED recommendation letters.</p>
<p>I never said that if i did it was a typo my dad wrote the original posted letter without my knowledge and convinced the state rep i interned for to sign it explaination on this and also the content of the letter is not like that. It is more along the lines, (not exact quote) this young man has the determination and ambitions to succeed at any institution. I first became aware of his unique and amazing ambitions when he first told me his long standing dream of climbing Everest. I am confident he will be able to do great things his determination reminds me of my own when I decided I wanted to go into politics.</p>
<p>I meant i dont want to type the whole new letter i received from him online
honestly</p>
<p>“I dont want to type it but it talks about my career and personal goals and tells how my ambition and determination will get me anywhere I want in life.”</p>
<p>Oh, I see. The above statement means that you just didn’t want to type on CC what the letter said. I thought you meant that you didn’t want to type the letter of recommendation for him. Anyway, even this version isn’t great. It doesn’t sound like this man knows you. It sounds like he’s writing in a generalized way.</p>
<p>I don’t have any more suggestions for you other than to be sure to get recommendations from people that have had a personal relationship with you over the course of time—teachers, your coach (you say you’re on a Varsity team), your boss, etc. Don’t try to impress with the status of the person writing the recommendation. The admissions office wants the recommendation to paint a picture of who you are–your character, work ethic, personality, etc. in a personal way.</p>