<p>Just wondering. I have a close friend who knows me well and will be a freshman this fall at one of my top choices. He offered to put in a good word for me at the admissions office closer to when I apply. Does this have an effect when it comes to top tier schools that have close to 30,000 applicants?</p>
<p>If you’re really unlucky, it could have the effect of getting both you and your friend ridiculed within the admissions office. Other than that, no.</p>
<p>Think about it this way. Your friend (A) is your friend, and therefore not impartial, and (B) isn’t your teacher, so really isn’t in a position to give a knowledgeable assessment of the kind of student you are. (And since you’re applying to the college for a position as a student, the thing the college cares most about is what kind of student you have been in the past.) In addition, your friend (C) hasn’t spent even a semester at your top choice college yet, so he isn’t really in a position to say whether you’d fit in well academically and socially or not. Heck, by the time your application is due, it will still be kind of an open question whether he fits in well academically and socially!</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but this is really a rather naive idea. Especially at a “top tier” school with tens of thousands of applicants.</p>
<p>No…just…no.</p>