How much of an importance is recommendation letters? Is it one of the biggest determining factors for an applicant?
I have an amazing teacher who got his PHD from Cornell and he wants to write my letter. Does having this letter put me ahead at all?
Thank you!
Well… Im sure it cant hurt to have a crzy good letter of rec. That being said the letter of rec isnt the biggest factor of your college app. Stuff like ECs and GPA and test scores are probably more important. If you can get the letter of rec tho definitely do it tho
True true. Thank you
Good letters of recommendation help but more than likely most people applying to top tier schools will get excellent letters. Schools do not evaluate the letters based on the credentials of the teacher writing it – after all the college will be accepting you and not your teacher. If you think that teacher would provide a great recommendation then by all means use him/her but IMO the teacher’s PhD from Cornell won’t be a meaningful factor (although I guess it won’t hurt if you apply to Cornell).
The fact that the teacher is from Cornell will not help you in admissions.
But, if it’s a great letter, it can only help you, especially at very selective schools like Cornell in which a super strong rec letter can really differentiate you from the crowd and add some insight into your impact in the classroom and give schools a good idea what you bring to their campus.