Hi all! I was wondering whether or not it would hurt me to get a supplementary rec letter from someone famous.
The man is my godfather and he’s a pretty well known actor. I’ve interned for him, and known him for years. So he knows me EXTREMELY well. He said he’d willingly write me a letter, and personally himself. Hes seen me grow a lot.
Would I come off as pretentious on my app? I know name dropping is kind of sleazy. I don’t want to come off as such.
My other idea was asking for a rec letter from the teacher at my coding camp. It’s more academic related, but he doesn’t know me quite as well.
I think that if you hadn’t interned for him, it would be a little iffy to have him write a letter just because he’s famous. But having someone who’s supervised an internship write you a reference is normal even if they’re not famous. If he writes a good letter in which he speaks as if he were any other internship supervisor and adult mentor - not making any overt point of capitalizing on the name recognition, then I would think it would be fine. Emphasizing the godfather relationship might not be helpful, because then it could come off as a favor/obligation rather than an honest assessment. JMHO - others may have differing opinions!
It would just be a source of irritation to those reviewing your application. Yes it would come across exactly as intended but wouldn’t have the hoped for impact. It would look like you thought having a famous relative or friend would help get you into school. That’s what you hoped right? But why should it? So it won’t. It is sleazy. Schools want letters from instructors or employers-not your friends or your parents’ friends-except if that is what they ask for.
Colleges are interested in YOUR qualifications, not the qualification of the person writing your LOR. So if you have done meaningful work with/for your godfather and he can write a strong LOR discussing positive attributes he has seen during the time you worked as an intern then it is fine – if not I wold not bother.
I see your point. But the thing is, I also want him to write the rec because I have done meaningful work for him. I’ve worked on some big projects with him, which I think have shown my hard work. I think he could give good insight to me as person and character. It can easily look sleazy though.
Check to make sure the colleges to which you are applying will even accept that LOR. Most of them only want to hear from teachers or a GC. If they will accept it, then seeing as you have done meaningful work for him, I think it would be fine. Just make sure it adds new information about you that is not elsewhere in your application.
Note that the quality of the person’s LoR writing can influence how a college sees the LoR, regardless of who the person is, what you did that s/he saw, or how well s/he likes you.
