<p>Does the peer recommendation do anything for you? What if your rec is from someone at Duke?</p>
<p>You might have already read this, but this is from Duke's website:</p>
<p>We also offer the chance for students to submit a Personal Recommendation. This recommendation is optional, and can come from a coach, a director, a teacher from an elective course, a family member, or anyone else that you feel knows you well and will give us a better idea of who you are. There is no required form for this recommendation. Just ask the person to submit a one-page letter to our office. This optional information will be considered in our understanding of you as a person, but will not be formally evaluated as part of your application. If you do not submit the information, your chance of admission will not be affected.</p>
<p>My guess is these recs are most useful when they are able to present something specific about you as a person that is not evident in the rest of the application. A letter from a friend just describing what a wonderful person you are -- though nice -- probably won't affect anything.</p>
<p>The same probably applies for a friend at Duke. Now, if a Duke faculty member or coach writes a letter on your behalf, that could hold more weight, depending on what he/she says and how well the person knows you.</p>
<p>One more thought -- if you have significant work experience or community service experience, this could be a good place to include a letter from your employer or supervisor. The best letters are specific and contain examples.</p>
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<li>Disclaimer: I'm not a college counselor but I play one on CC.</li>
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<p>I sent away an application with only teacher recs and only made mention of the extracurriculars in the essay. Will that hurt my chances</p>
<p>jesuscares - The personal recommendation is truly optional. Not having one won't hurt you.</p>
<p>Thanks, gadgets. My friend at Duke is writing me a rec. I already have one from my mentor so I'm hoping this way they'll get a well-rounded perspective.</p>
<p>No I meant that I had no extracurricular/volunteer work recommendations only teacher recs. However I mentioned extracurricular activity in my essay. will that affect my chances?</p>
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The only recs they are expecting are teacher and guidance counselor (which I assume you also had). Any other type of rec would fall into your one optional "personal recommendation."</p>
<p>Talking about one or two key ECs in an essay is fine if you want to show how passionate you are about them. If you choose to do so, this should be in addition to, not instead of, listing them in the appropriate section of your application. Don't worry about not having recs specific to these activities -- it won't hurt you.</p>
<p>It's also a good place to get a rec by a Duke alum.</p>