<p>If a college doesn't ask for any letters of recomedation, should you include them anyway. Is it likely that they would they penalize you because you included them?</p>
<p>No. Unless the college specifically specifies that they do not want recommendations, some colleges will list recommendations as optional. Submitting recommendations to colleges where they are optional is a smart thing to do (unless the recommendation says something negative about you of course).</p>
<p>Will they penalize you? No. But I know the UCs, for instance, simply throw out any letters of reccomendation you try to send them. If a college isn’t asking for letters of reccomendation, their admissions staff probably won’t read yours.</p>
<p>Well, if they specifically say that they <em>don’t</em> want recommendations, it might look bad that you didn’t even bother finding this out / you didn’t listen to what they said. If its optional, though, it can only help you (assuming you get a good rec letter).</p>