<p>My daughter is applying for fall 2011. We just got a letter from Hampshire asking if we, her parents, would like to write a letter of recommendation for our daughter. </p>
<p>Is anyone else getting this type of letter? A bit peculiar, no?</p>
<p>Both of our kids ended up at Hampshire, and I wrote two parent ‘recommendations’ as a consequence. I would agree that it is certainly an unconventional request, and I wonder how much effect such a letter could possibly have on whether or not a child is accepted. Or, what would happen if a parent decided not to write such a letter? All I can imagine is that the letter might serve as a ‘tie-breaker’ for applicants that are on the fence. The cynic in me also wonders if this is just a ploy to get parents more involved in the process. Hampshire certainly makes an effort to include students’ families by running a Family Blog (<a href=“http://blog.hampshire.edu/family/[/url]”>http://blog.hampshire.edu/family/</a>) and holding various family orientation activities.</p>
<p>Whether or not the parent recommendations are truly important, I enjoyed writing them. It also fits in with Hampshire’s at-times obsessive efforts to be different from other colleges.</p>
<p>I think it’s very typical Hampshire (my sister was in one of their earliest classes so I know the college ethos pretty well). I wrote a letter for my daughter, who just got accepted ED (YAY). I think it’s a great idea - they get a different perspective on your child. And it’s one more way to show off your child. I don’t know if it has any effect but it was fun for me!</p>
<p>HCEB, congratulations on your daughter! It should be fun to pull that letter out in a few years to see how well your words ended up describing her experience. I recently did that for both my kids and was happy to see that my predictions proved to be accurate.</p>
<p>Thanks, ALF – I’ve always enjoyed reading your posts over the years (my son went through the college process 4 years ago), esp re Hampshire. You are very much the voice of reason. (-; I’m very excited for my daughter – it was the only campus she consistently was excited about. And she loved the classes she visited – even took part in a philosophy class (extraordinary for her because she’s so shy) taught by a college-mate of mine I hadn’t seen in decades (didn’t even know he taught there!). I only wish I could go to college there! (-;</p>
<p>Interestingly, in our experience with two kids, the only school other than Hampshire that offered the option of a letter from parents was the rather different University of Rochester. I think it is a great opportunity to focus attention on your child’s positive attributes. (Our high school also asks for parent letters to help in preparing the counselor’s statement for the common app.)</p>
<p>I think it was also a visit to a Philosophy class that put our daughter over the top with Hampshire. She was just blown away that the prof asked her a question, then expected a substantive answer, and the other students fully involved her in the class discussion. It has proven to be the right choice for her.</p>
<p>Interesting–wonder if letter request was for EA applicants only? D applied RD and we have not received request for letter. She also applied to Smith which did send out notice of optional letter.</p>
<p>Our son applied ED, but our daughter applied EA; in both cases we received a request for a parent letter.</p>
<p>`We received the request for the letter and my D applied RD. She applied rather late, close to the deadline, so we didn’t have much time to write the letter, but we got it in.</p>
<p>My daughter’s grades are rather so-so. I wonder if they asked for the letter to strengthen her application. But probably not, if ALF got one for both his kids.</p>
<p>My daughter applied RD day before the deadline and I never received a request for a letter. Hopefully it doesn’t bode ill – she loved Hampshire on our visit!</p>
<p>We received the request for the letter last week and D applied RD just before the deadline. Am faxing the letter to the college today.</p>
<p>I always wonder if there are any parents that write uncomplimentary letters (“Bobby is not that bright and kind of lazy, but he sure thinks it would be fun to attend your college”). I suspect not; I imagine that they are all glowing, so I wonder how one discriminates between them.</p>
<p>URichmond and Holy Cross also invite parents to write letters.</p>
<p>Weird. I know Hampshire is apart of a five college consortium with Smith and a few others. My mom received a request for such a letter from Smith, but we’re yet to receive that request from Hampshire. I wonder if it’s common practice, and ours was lost in the mail or if there are some differentiating circumstances that make them want letters from some and not others. Like, am I on the edge for Smith so they want a letter and Hampshire just isn’t interested so they don’t?</p>
<p>It seems that Hampshire sends out this request fairly late in the admission cycle. We received the request only a couple of weeks before Early Decision notices went out when our son applied ED; and again only a couple of weeks before the Early Action notices went out when our daughter applied EA. I therefore presume that parent input requests have not yet gone out for those who applied RD.</p>
<p>We got our request right before Christmas, and my D applied RD. I’m sure it had nothing to do with her stats, because I don’t think they had received her transcript yet.</p>
<p>Well, that sort of ruins my theory!</p>
<p>My daughter has applied to Hampshire. We have not received a request for a parent recommendation. Should we be reading anything into that?</p>
<p>Isn’t cc great? Making nervous wrecks of us all, probably over nothing! Oh well, it’s worth it to read ALF’s wealth of information.</p>
<p>I haven’t received a request yet either. My daughter did finally get a (snail mail) letter from Hampshire saying that her application is complete and assigning a log-in.</p>