<p>Hey everyone – I was wondering if it would be appropriate to write a letter of support/recommendation for my closest friend. I know that he would be perfect for Yale, he's the most genuine person I have ever met, and he is always there for me in a way that no one else ever has been. He's not the strongest candidate in terms of grades and tests, and I'm worried that that might hold him back. He was rejected from another school early, and I don't want to see him that disappointed again – I hate how (often times) the application process doesn't get to know the applicants as people, it only sees us on the surface. I know that essays and teacher recommendations try to show who we are, but there are SO many things I want them to know about him, things that he wouldn't say about himself and that I know teachers don't really know about him, stories about the times he has been there for me, about who is he is as a person on the deepest levels.
If a peer recommendation could be acceptable, how should I go about it? I recently received a likely letter, and I've been talking back and forth with the Director of Undergrad Admissions, and she seems very friendly and open – would it be okay to ask her if it's appropriate to send in a letter of recommendation?
He deserves this so much – honestly I think he deserves it more than me. I want nothing more that to be able to spend the next four years with him, and I know that Yale community would be stronger to have him.
Thanks!</p>
<p>It’s only appropriate to send a peer LOR when the school requires/recommends one. It’s great that you care about your friend, but the best way to serve him is to follow Ys directions, which do not request a peer LOR.</p>
<p>There are many extremely deserving candidates, the most deserving of which play by the rules.</p>
<p>My friend wrote me a letter of recommendation for admission to Dartmouth, and I ended up sending her letter to every college that allowed me to do so on the Common App. While I had my doubts, I decided to do so because my teacher’s recommendation (the one I saw), did not really ‘show’ what I was like as a student, as it only ‘described’ I was a good student. (My teachers all were not native speakers and were not so familiar with the American application process). So use the following rule of thumb - will it add to your friend’s application? If not, don’t send.
PS: Yale doesn’t seem to like extra letters so much… so perhaps don’t send it. I sent in an additional recommendation from my math teacher, by the way.</p>
<p>Dartmouth, among the Ivies, stands alone in accepting “peer” recs. </p>
<p>Read the Y website about supplemental LORs:</p>
<p><a href=“Supplementary Materials | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions”>Supplementary Materials | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions;
<p>Every high school student could, in theory, get a peer recommendation from a fellow high school student and submit it to colleges. Every college student could, in theory, write a LOR for someone they know in high school. Every sibling at a college could, in theory, write a peer recommendation letter for their sister or brother who is applying to that college. But — outside of Dartmouth — those types of recommendations are neither wanted nor encouraged. So, IMHO, do not send a peer rec to any colleges that explicitly doesn’t ask for one.</p>
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<p>A rule of thumb should be based on some evidence/data. As a current applicant, this is a premature recommendation.</p>
<p>My take is simple. If it adds new information that cannot be garnered elsewhere, then it is useful. </p>
<p>Take for example, a homeschool family. What if the applicant has a sibling in a #1 school. Colleges want more info about homeschoolers because standards are all different. That sibling could give insight into that applicant that no one else can, since they were peers. </p>
<p>And it really helps if the homeschooled sibling is excelling at that top school and the applicant is following the same curriculum. I would think such a recommendation would be useful in showing the success of the homeschool curriculum, especially if their SAT scores are similar too. </p>
<p>OK, I just read the link above about Yale. They state this: “Please do not solicit this additional letter unless you feel it will add substantially to your application.” I guess the subjective part is to determine substantial. But just use the reasonable person test and you should be fine. If substantial then send. If not, then do not. </p>
<p>@awcntdb: Granted homeschool kids have different routes for outside substantiation. But NO WHERE is a family member’s recommendation going to be of use to yale admissions.</p>
<p>Also, ridiculously nervous applicants are TERRIBLE judges of what’s reasonable and will pile on all sorts of stuff (i recall one kid who sent his 38 page paper with every app and another who submitted 26 additional LORs). Yale’s language is more blunt than other colleges. I’m sure the reason being experience of multiple failures of the “reasonable person test”</p>
<p>I don’t think the question is real. Dartmouth has its own reasons for the peer letter. Excepting that, you don’t get into an elite because some peer thinks you are “genuine” or supportive. Most hs kids have enough trouble figuring out how to present themselves in their own apps. This is so off the mark.</p>
<p>He’ll get in somewhere. It doesn’t have to be Yale. </p>
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<p>@awcntdb: You need to read between the lines, but the use of “mentored” and “mentor” in Yale’s wording of the above sentences is intentional; it is code for an ADULT recommendation from someone that supervised your work.</p>
<p>@T26E4 @gibby Points taken. 26 LORs, LOL - that is reason to reject right there.</p>
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<p>More is not always better. </p>
<p>Given the circumstances of adcoms with a huge number of applications, each of which they are trying to give a fair and equal reading, and a limited amount of time to fill very few slots–a candidate who sends in everything they think is ‘new’ information can be seen in a negative light. </p>
<p>The application provides plenty of space for an applicant to make their case in a concise manner. I can imagine that adcoms get tired of ‘special’ kids who think they need additional accommodations to demonstrate how wonderful the are.</p>
<p>@entomom Point taken there too.</p>
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<p>It seems like his chances are already essentially zero. I would email this Director and ask her politely if you could send in an additional letter (you don’t want to jeopardize your near guaranteed likely-letter acceptance). The veteran CC posters may disagree with me, but I think that he should send it in (with the permission of the Yale official). He’s already been rejected from another school early, his recommendations won’t add much to his file (according to OP), and I’m guessing from the litotes of the first statement quoted that his stats are near/below the 25% of Yale’s numbers. @T26E4, @entomom, @gibby: What do you guys think?</p>
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I am not any of the referred to posters, but I have 2 cents to spare. What do I think? I think that there have been a half dozen polite ways to say “bad idea” and that should be enough.</p>
<p>Sending in a peer recommendations sounds like a “Hail Mary Pass” to me, especially based upon: <a href=“http://admissions.yale.edu/what-yale-looks-for”>http://admissions.yale.edu/what-yale-looks-for</a></p>
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<p>If his application isn’t strong enough to get into Yale, then he won’t get into Yale. It’s not like he won’t have other options–community college, other universities? Nothing his friend will say will have much weight with admissions, I think…</p>
<p>I submitted a peer recommendation as well, but my peer, along with just being my friend, was also both my business partner and my doubles badminton partner for like 7 years so I thought it was essential.</p>