<p>Hey everyone,
I just had a quick question. I know that Yale requires 2 teacher recs and 1 counselor rec, but can we add an extra recommendation? I have a kind reference letter from my Congressman, would they just immediately ignore it since it is beyond the 3 total recs? If not, how should I go about mailing the rec?
Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>On the website, they say they strongly discourage sending additional letters. However, if the letter actually says something unique and of substance about you that your other letters do not say, then go ahead and send it. Mail it to the address for all of your other admissions materials and make sure your name, birthday, and high school are written on it.</p>
<p>Yeah, that's good advice, and you don't need to use a form for a supplementary rec, it can just be a free form letter.</p>
<p>The yale admission officer that came to my town said that everyone is entitled to one extra letter, but not more. That said, it must be somethign that sheds a new light on you, not something that simply rehashes old things.</p>
<p>Dang it! I didn't ask my mentor for a rec because I thought Yale HIGHLY DISCOURAGED against extra recs. Oh well!</p>
<p>Thanks guys.</p>
<p>My daughter, now a Yale freshman, sent 2 additional letters of recommendation--from dance/theatre directors with national reputations who had worked with her very closely and spoke in detail about her work. She and I are both convinced that the letters helped her application; when we met her admissions officer at a reception for admitted students, the officer specifically mentioned an article she'd seen in the NY Times about one of the letter-writers.</p>
<p>A few cautions, though: I wouldn't send extra letters unless they're really specific and add information that isn't covered elsewhere. (In my daughter's case, since all her dance and acting work was done outside the school, none of her teachers or her guidance counselor was in a position to comment on it.) I would take seriously Michele Hernandez's advice from A is for Admission: "Do not try to stuff your application with letters from important people who don't know you that well....A letter from the President of the United States that says he met you or your parents or knows you does not reveal anything about you that was not already known....Most of the time, the letters are brief and say such things as, 'I've known Bobby's family for years and they are wonderful people. I'm sure Bobby would love Dartmouth."...Name-dropping in most cases works against you, and the last thing you need when applying to highly selective colleges is a strike against you."</p>
<p>By the way, Athlonmj, if you feel your mentor's letter would be particularly strong, I'd probably still send it--but again, only if it adds information that isn't already covered in your application. My daughter hesitated too about sending extra letters because people kept telling her not to do it, and at least one of the letters was sent at least a week after the EA deadline (then again, she was deferred EA, but she did get in RD :)).</p>
<p>How do u go about sending extra recs?
should i send it with my common app and supplement, or in a seperate envelope?
or then should i give it to my counsellor and tell her to send it, with her forms?</p>
<p>I'm a tad nervous about my extra letters, actually. My guidance counselor automatically sent my summer school reports (I've taken 5 classes), which each include a paragraph or two about my work. I don't want to annoy them with 5 extra recommendations (though they aren't really recommendations, so much as jsut extra stuff). Do you think this would annoy admissions officers?</p>
<p>Note: she told them in her letter to read one specifically, from a summer school teacher who is a yale prof. during the schoolyear. Maybe, since she singled this one out, they will take it to mean they don't really have to read the others (this is a good thing - they aren't all that different from each other/regular recs). I hope that, at least, helps.</p>
<p>Honestly Kit, I think that your best bet would be to email your area officer. He/she would give you a straight answer. Besides, the adcoms differ in their preferences. I've heard from one adcom that it's totally OK to send a supplemental rec, but my area officer that she really discourages them.</p>
<p>Send in an extra letter if it helps. Here are excerps from a email I sent to Yale and the reply:</p>
<p>My email:
"In order to further explain my role in the community, is it acceptable to include the recommendation of a community member who would further explain my participation in...."</p>
<p>Yale's Reply (Jeremiah Quinlan
Assistant Director- Yale University Office of Undergraduate Admissions)</p>
<pre><code> "Also, you are more than welcome to send in an additional recommendation. I hope this helps."
</code></pre>
<p>I also hope that it helps.</p>
<p>hmm
yes
thanx tht really did help
but still how do i send the recs
do i send them with my common app and supplement only
or shud i have my school mail with the other teacher recs</p>
<p>help!
plz sum1</p>
<p>You might as well mail it with your other teacher recs, but I don't think that it matters. Just mail it in!</p>
<p>thanx - i didnt no msges has to be 10 chars long!!
how retarded is tht
i mean
brevity is the soul of wit! ;)</p>
<p>Haha I guess the CC mods need to reread their copies of Hamlet.</p>
<p>I had my extra reccomendation sent inside an envelope in the envolope addressed to Yale (gave it to the person writing the letter). When they open it, they will see an envolope forwarding it to my name and social security number, so it can easily be put with the rest of the application. If you are sending in yourself, you could put it with the others.</p>