This discussion was created from comments split from: Sending too many recommendation letters?.
What if you have a recommendation letter from your counselor, as generally requested AND you are Musical Theatre or some major where a "reg…edu."letter does not address that area, nor can as they have no idea about that subject except to say perhaps they are “talented in many ways”. Also, not seeing the letters, you really can’t choose, if you wave the right to review the letters which generally is recommended, to select what you think is best. You sometimes see include a recommendation from your area of interest, but sometimes, that is left out.
Yale is an ACADEMIC institution! As all students (even those interested in theater, music, dance and art) apply to the college as liberal arts majors, Admissions is interested in how you excel in the CLASSROOM. Therefore, you should follow Yale’s Advice on their website, including the information found in the Recommendation Video at the 1:14 mark : https://admissions.yale.edu/advice-putting-together-your-application#recommendations
Yes, but under the supplementals section:
“If you feel the need to submit extra information, you may ask one additional recommender to write on your behalf. Please do not solicit this additional letter unless you feel it will add substantially to your application. The writer should know you well personally or have mentored you closely in some capacity.”
https://admissions.yale.edu/supplementary
There’s more there.
The risk though is that the applicant may feel that the extra recommendation will add “substantially” to the application, but the Yale AO will not feel that way at all. While certainly this is a case by case determination, I would say
a general “this is a great kid/student” letter from another academic teacher is not additive; pick what you think are the strongest 2 if you have more than 2;
the letter from some alum, public figure or former professor who knows you tangentially might as well go into the circular file.
A letter that may be additive might be from a research mentor with whom you have worked closely on a published paper; a community leader on some project where you played a prominent role and where you worked side by side with the leader; a person whose life who you have directly changed for the better because of your personal acts/commitment.
But OP said musical theater or similar major. That seems to be how he or she devoted the extra energies and I thought the concern was core teachers couldn’t comment on the arts work
If the OP is truly talented, submitting a music or video supplement may be more effective than a third LoR. I think the risk @gibby pointed out and which Yale makes a point to identify is that too many applicants add stuff to their file thinking more is always better when in fact it dilutes their application.
Here’s the thing: for most admissions officers, they receive thousands of applications per year. In order to get through them all, they have a set amount of time they allot themselves to get through each application. If you send in multiple recommendations, there is less time they are going to spend on the rest of your application, which may contain valuable information that you want to highlight.