<p>I just wanted to pose a question for the discussion of the peer recomendations at Dartmouth. I feel completely mixed about the value of the peer recomendation. In one sense, it allows adcoms to see how your peers view you, and maybe to make sure you HAVE friends. Another side of this issue does bother me though. College admissions are pretty cutthroat at my "competitive public school". How do I know that jealousy/competitiveness wont get the best of the friend that I ask to write the peer recomendation? I would assume that for the majority of those who apply to Dartmouth, their High school friends are most likely intelligent too. This means, they are applying to the Ivy's, and possibly even Dartmouth also. Is it inappropriate for Dartmouth to ask for a peer to write a recomendatino in this day and age? While I can entrust my friends that they wont say horrible things about me. I still wonder if they will not write to their full potential about me, and try and tone down the things they might say about me. I am not for or against the peer rec. In fact, as of now, I am split down the middle on this one. Im interested to hear your thoughts about the issue.</p>
<p>I do not think that Dartmouth will do away with the peer rec because they pride themselves on building a community of learners that know learning takes place both inside and outside of the classroom.</p>
<p>When you see the Dartmouth community in full swing they are some of the nicest unpretentious people you would ever want to meet and I don't think this happens by accident. What I have noticed over my D's past 3 years at Dartmouth, is not only are the students amazing, they are good people too andf you are not shocked as to why so many Dartmouth students are friends for life and why the alumni is so loyal not only to their school but to one another. </p>
<p>Admissions committees also know that sometimes students do not act the same way infront of their friends as they do around teachers/administrators, etc. so it is important to them to see how you interact with people who are "not" in authority over you / your peers.</p>
<p>If your friends really are your friends, they will check their jealousy and competitive sprit at the door and they will want what is best for you and will be happy that you have chosen them to write what is an important part of your application to Dartmouth.</p>
<p>My best friends have respective ACT scores of 19, 22, and 23. My brother is writing this for sure.</p>
<p>you musnt have good friends if theyd jeopardize your chances.
my peer rec writer applied to dartmouth as well (and i wrote her letter)</p>
<p>Well just ask one friend whom you trust. I think my friend will show me what he/she is going to write for me ;)</p>
<p>Or we can write one for you! :D You know ' He is a born genius! He has almost cured cancer' =p :D</p>
<p>do u think it is much better to get a friend than a sibling (twin-fraternal and opposite sex)? </p>
<p>I dont think any of my friends would say anything negative but i know that if my twin wrote it would be full of good comments and personal anecdotes. I also feel weird about burdening someone with this assignment and fear that he might not work that hard on it and just try to get it over with as quickly as he can.</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Yeah you can get anyone to write it. Be it your sibling or friend. Ask the person who you believe will do justice to the task. :)</p>
<p>Your post leaves me with a fearful question of just what kind of character you and your "best" friends are.</p>
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Your post leaves me with a fearful question of just what kind of character you and your "best" friends are.
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<p>Is that for me? How does character kick in?</p>
<p>They're not bad people, we've been friends since preschool. I have a 35 and they have 19,22,and 23. Big deal. I just don't think they have the academic prowess to write a good rec.</p>
<p>This is really weird. A SAT score is not indication of how good a writer someone is. The guy who wrote mine just happened to be one of the best writers in school, though he <em>only</em> had a 2120. I asked him to write mine because he actually was a very good friend (of course he signed the essay under the pseudonym Clark Kent, but thats another story). The way I see it, if you can't judge which friends genuinely want to see you succeed, or if you don't have any like that, you might get into college, but you probably won't get very far in life. Don't worry about whether your friends have 'academic prowess' or not. Concentrate on genuinely like you. If they do, the recommendation will help. If they don't it wont.</p>
<p>My son had his best friend and biggest "competition" write his peer rec and my son wrote a rec for this friend. Both applied and both were accepted. I never read the teacher and counselor recs, but reading the peer recs, I got a great sense of the essence of both boys both in and out of the classroom.</p>
<p>What do you think the school is looking for in a peer rec? Quite frankly, assuming you pick the right friend, that friend will talk about how you are a dedicated student, a loyal friend, lots of fun to hang with, and how you'll be friends for life.</p>
<p>Really, what do they expect to learn about you? I can't imagine that anyone you choose to write the rec will say bad things about you. And even if it's poorly written, they're looking to admit you, not your friend.</p>
<p>A good rec won't get you in, but a bad one will keep you out. And how can claim someone to be your friend if he/she writes a bad rec for your college?</p>
<p>the content won't be bad, they just have very poor mechanics and ability to express themselves on paper.</p>
<p>Ask them to get help from their English teacher :)</p>
<p>Hey guys, thanks for the comments. I just wanted to make sure that these posts aren't in RESPONSE to me, but more just to discuss the importance of the peer rec. IN fact, I do have a 100% awesome, intelligent, eloquent, non-competitive friend who will most likely write an awesome rec for me. But, I was trying to imagine what it would be like for someone in a position not quite as favorable as mine. I know EXTREMELY competitive kids (not people Im asking to write mine), who I wouldn't be shocked if they used the situation to their advantage to make someone look just average, as opposed to extraordinary. College admissions put a strain on everyone, and I am trying to get some opinions about weather or not basing a decision for rejection/acceptance on the peer rec is in Dartmouth's best interest. Is it more common that the peer rec allows someone to be accepted, who might have been overlooked, as opposed to someone being rejected who could have added just as much to Dartmouth?</p>
<p>Dartmouth wouldn't use the Peer Rec if the college wasn't interested in using it seriously as a measure to both accept and reject applicants. The friend I chose captured my personality and strenghs better than I could have written a rec for myself. The choice of whom to ask to write my peer rec was almost as important as the decision to apply to Dartmouth. A TRUE friend will write from their heart regardless of their own collegiate hopes.</p>
<p>Yeah, they definitely look at it seriously. I had a good friend I've known since elementray school write mine. We've also had a lot of classes together and are in some of the same clubs. She was a very strong writer, but also kind of a quirky, so I knew that her piece of the app would be unique and bring a slightly different viewpoint to the adcoms.</p>
<p>Like the OP, I have many competitive friends, so I chose to ask one who was not also applying to Dartmouth so it would not affect the writing at all. I also believe the Dartmouth people have said that if a person applying to Dartmouth writes an incredibly negative or bad rec for someone, it will hurt their own chances of getting in, as it reveals something negative about the rec writer.</p>