<p>Can they actually be the deciding factor? how much do they count, relative to grades, ecs, etc?</p>
<p>Well, I'll say that it depends on the school. I have heard that there not actually a deciding factor, but I'm not sure how true this is (maybe it is seeing that I got rejected at one of my choices).</p>
<p>For many of the ultra selectives and top LACs, the recommendations and essays are what distinguishes one candidate from another. That's what "holistic" evaluation is all about. Transcript, scores, recs, essays, ECs -- other intangibles.</p>
<p>For some other schools, it is less a deciding factor than just transcript & scores. It all depends upon the type of school you are applying.</p>
<p>What are schools you are considering?</p>
<p>lol I was just reading back on my threads and got to this one. I was considering a school like Stanford or Yale.... for SCEA. (everyone's going to do that.. <em>dies</em>)
but in all seriousness, they CAN be the deciding factor?! does anybody else know about this?</p>
<p>if you're a borderline applicant but your recs say something really incredible about you, they can tip the scale in your favor and convince admissions officers to accept you. this is rare and so you shouldn't rely on your recs, but it can happen. a recommendation that is underwhelming might work the opposite way.</p>