<p>** How much will it matter if I get a recommendation from the Honorable Mayor of a major INDIAN city? **</p>
<p>I have been working on a serious national issue (more than 3 yrs) under the umbrella of my NGO (i founded) and lately, the mayor of the city appreciated me for that. He is also ready to write a recommendation letter.</p>
<p>(I am a national chess player, 2200 SAT (will increase by 50 in Dec 2010) with strong leadership positions in school)</p>
<p>I don’t think Harvard particularly cares what said mayor thinks.</p>
<p>You should focus more on your own representation of these activities vis-a-vis your essays and the rest of application. Forming your own NGO is impressive; Harvard doesn’t need an outside source to vouch for that.</p>
<p>
That means you are unsure & somewhere in your mind you believe that submitting such a recommendation will be really helpful. Am I right?</p>
<p>
I agree. Thank you for the great advice.</p>
<p>You should consider submitted an additional recommendation only if it reveals something about YOU that isn’t present in the rest of your application and your other recommendations. It will not matter that it comes from a mayor, unless the mayor can say something about you that he witnessed himself.</p>
<p>Hunt - Great piece of advice. </p>
<p>I will submit my resume in his office and ask him to write a personal recommendation.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, it just means I can’t say for sure what the Harvard admissions office thinks about this or that, since I’m not an admissions officer.</p>
<p>I don’t think a supplemental recommendation will hurt you unless it is very impersonal, in which case it will likely be viewed as some attempt to “name-drop.” I put that in quotes because it’s not really his name that matters but his political position, but I couldn’t think of a more appropriate term.</p>
<p>However, even if the recommendation is very personal and helps Harvard to understand you better, I don’t think it will be a dealbreaker. Most applicants could probably provide a supplemental recommendation from someone who knows them well–an EC moderator, a coach, the owner of a company at which they worked in the summer–but most don’t. Harvard doesn’t ask for supplemental recommendations.</p>
<p>I guess, in sum, if you truly think the mayor can write you a personal recommendation, it can’t hurt you. If he hasn’t met you personally or had a substantial conversation with you, I don’t think you should ask him for a rec. Because an impersonal, formulaic rec can hurt you.</p>
<p>Thank you for the response. I will try my best that Mr Mayor drafts a personal rec.</p>
<p>Hari - if said mayor is someone who knows you very well and can provide meaningful insight to admissions about the unique qualities that you can bring to Harvard, great. But admissions gets a lot of recs from governors, senators and captains of industry. They won’t be impressed by his credentials, only the content.</p>
<p>Before you have the Mayor send in a letter, please read: [Can</a> Uncle Ben’s golf pal write a recommendation? - CharlotteObserver.com](<a href=“http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/11/16/1841341/can-uncle-bens-golf-pal-write.html]Can”>http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/11/16/1841341/can-uncle-bens-golf-pal-write.html)</p>
<p>“Families who try to grease the wheels of admission by submitting multiple well-placed letters of recommendation frequently end up doing a disservice to the student.”</p>
<p>“It isn’t your father’s college admissions process any longer. In fact, when families insist that someone “important” contact the admissions office or write a letter on behalf of a student they don’t know, it is more likely to hurt than to help.”</p>
<p>“The name-dropping, “we’ve got connections” route is risky because you don’t know the personality of the first reader. This “gatekeeper” will frequently be a recent graduate in his or her first job and he or she will probably not look very kindly at that kind of pandering where people are trying to muscle their way into their college.”</p>
<p>Here’s a thought from a former admissions staff person: “I used to see so many political figures write letters of recommendation for kids they had never met. That told me that their parents had made a donation to their last campaign. I would rather have a letter from the manager at a supermarket who can tell me how dependable, honest and supportive a student might be.”</p>
<ol>
<li>I will be submitting only ONE additional letter of rec</li>
<li>The rec will be personal (I hope so. If it isn’t, I won’t submit)</li>
</ol>
<p>So basically you had your mind made up before you came on here…</p>
<p>In that case, why make this thread? At this point, since you haven’t taken a single person’s advice, it feels like a “brag-thread”</p>
<p>Unless you have worked closely with the mayor on this project, it’s unlikely he can offer any insights that your activities list cannot. More likely, he would just reiterate your accomplishments.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>lol. This is not a BRAG THREAD.</p>
<p>Its a very serious step I am taking towards my Harvard Application. I just wanted to know:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How much does the rec matters from MAYOR?
Ans - Not a big deal. They get recs from US Senators, CEOs, etc. His credential is not awing.</p></li>
<li><p>Contents?
Ans - Should be personal; not shallow. Shouldn’t indicate NAME-DROP.</p></li>
<li><p>Miscellaneous?
Ans - Should demonstrate something new to perspective.</p></li>
<li><p>Miscellaneous 2?
Ans - You should be extremely cautious because instead of helping it can be an EYE SORE.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>You see! I got so much to learn. I was in the illusion that a MAYOR rec will matter very much, but that’s not the deal.</p>
<p>You feel that this is a brag thread. Right?</p>
<p>You can BRAG only about something you are proud of. Which means that a rec letter from the Mayor is something I should be proud of. And you can be proud of stuffs only if it helps in the application.</p>
<p>Thus, thank you for the answer to my main question that a rec letter from the mayor does matters.</p>
<p>I know which the mayor in question too. He’s a family friend of mine. </p>
<p>Harvard is a university established in the 1700s. People applying to Harvard are some of the richest people on the planet coming from some of the most affluent families in the world. Their political connections go up to the Barrack Obama and more.
The point I’m trying to make is that Harvard isn’t going to be impressed by a reco from the Kolkata mayor. They know you’re just trying to pad your app with connections. I think the mayor has much more important things to do anyway.</p>
<p>It’s not gonna be an eye-sore, it’s gonna reflect poorly on you.
With that, and a 5 page resume, it’s not too hard to tell that you’re just trying too hard.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter if the recommendation is from a U.S. Senator or from the head of janitorial services at the zoo–what matters is what the person can say about you based on his or her own interaction with you. If somebody wants to write a rec for you because he was personally impressed with or grateful for something you did, then I say accept it with grace and send it in. I don’t see how it can hurt. If, on the other hand, this is something you are seeking, and the person is doing it as a formality, it’s probably not worth it. That’s the advice I would give for any outside rec, whether the person giving it is famous or not.</p>