<p>Did anyone applying to Princeton have alumni that they know write an extra recommendation for their application? If so, what response did the admissions office have to that letter (ie: acknowledgement of receival, a phone call, acceptance, likely letter). Has anyone on this forum had a positive results from extra recommendations?
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.</p>
<p>this may not be very helpful, but a guy i know had a family friend (and alumnus) write his recommendation and his sister's. this was several years ago, though, and i don't know how competitive it was then. they both got in though!</p>
<p>Getting a recommendation letter from an alum isn't that big of a deal -- lots have people have those sorts of connections. What matters is whether or not the LoR is effusive, personal, and supported with examples. A generic and uninspired LoR from an alum will mean very little to the adcom; in fact, it might even annoy them since they receive so many.</p>
<p>They generally discourage extra recs unless the letters are from some notable person that happens to know you/your family personally.</p>
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They generally discourage extra recs unless the letters are from some notable person that happens to know you/your family personally.
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<p>What? All schools, especially Princeton, say that recommendations from notable people are to be AVOIDED in almost all cases. Unless Kate Winslet was your soccer coach for 5 years, do not get a recommendation from a famous person.</p>
<p>Similarly, do NOT have a Princeton alumnus write you a letter of recommendation unless they have worked with you closely for a significant amount of time or can speak in a TRULY PERSONAL, GENUINE way about you in some way that is absolutely absent from your application.</p>
<p>Princeton usually doesn't want extra recs PERIOD. So that's why i said unless it's from a notable person that actually knows you, which would make it an extraordinary case.</p>