So my principal has talked about writing my letter of rec for college apps, but I’m unsure whether his letter would fall under the 2 teachers required or the optional letter for the common app. Im going to talk to my counselor about it, but have any of you gotten a principal to write a letter of rec for college apps? If so, did you submit it as an additional/optional letter or as one of the two teacher recs?
Unless he has taught a course you have taken before, it would most likely fall under an additional recommendation. The purpose of the two teacher recommendations is to get to know you inside the classroom, so the principal recommendation would likely not fulfill that purpose
Unless the principal was also a teacher for one of your core courses in 10th or 11th grade, his letter does not meet the requirements. However, he could be an excellent extra recommendation if he knows you well in a context outside of the classroom and can speak to qualities that your teachers might not know about. (I assume his letter is not a substitute for the guidance counselor’s letter, which is required, right?)
If that’s not the case, you need to find a soft way to deflect him. It can be awkward when someone in a position of authority wants to ‘help’ by providing a recommendation that isn’t wanted or needed but you can explain the restriction to them and ask if they would write the rec and keep in ‘on file’ in the event you need it for a job, scholarship, or grant interview. You never know when an extra ‘rave’ might come in handy.
Agreed, unless you had him as a classroom teacher he would be an “extra” recommendation. It could be valuable as an additional recommendation if he would speak to non-academic/non-classroom related attributes (ex. if you are a leader in school activities etc.).
@N’sMom My principal knows me really well, I’ve worked with him on all my extracurriculars, ranging from school clubs to competitions to magazines that I’ve started, and he nominated me out of the entire Junior class (500+) as our school’s student rep on the district board. He knows my life story, aspirations, and how they tie to my EC’s, so hopefully he would be good.
^ It seems to me that there are 3 options for getting a letter from your principal submitted:
- Have your principal submit a letter as an official "supplemental" letter of recommendation. That's straightforward, and an accepted path. A supplemental letter from someone who knows you well and can add insight beyond that in your teacher recommendations has value. This does preclude you from having someone else write a supplemental letter, as schools generally frown on more than 1 supplemental letter; but that may not be an issue in your case. From your description, it sounds like your principal does know you well and in a capacity different from your teachers, and could add value.
- Have your principal send an unsolicited letter. You cannot prevent anyone from sending an unsolicited letter, and schools will generally read what they receive. I had a teacher who knew me very well outside of the classroom send an unsolicited letter on my behalf (a long time ago), and I think it had a big impact on my acceptances.
- It may be possible for your principal to write your school letter in place (or in cooperation with) your guidance counselor. I had never heard of this, but Allen Cheng mentioned it in his admissions blog, and claimed that it had a positive effect:
These are all options to explore with your principal and GC. Especially if your GC doesn’t know you as well as the principal, he might be open to pooling resources.
@renaissancedad Thank you very much for your insight! I will definitely explore these options
^ For an example of the “unsolicited letter” from a principal, this was posted this morning in the Yale SCEA results thread: