<p>I really want to apply to Penn Engineering ED, and my physics teacher is writing an amazing rec for me.</p>
<p>But, the other recommender I have right now is from a humanities class that was a one-semester elective in 10th grade... He would write a really good rec too, but the class was kind of a joke, so I don't know if it's really a good idea. My APUSH teacher is writing me a rec for regular decision schools (it's complicated), and so if I wait to apply to Penn RD, then I can get another legit (and awesome) rec from him. The question is, does the boost I get from ED outweigh having 2 great recs versus one great and one mediocre rec? (Not a legacy).</p>
<p>I could apply to Northwestern ED since it only requires one rec... I like NU, but I like Penn more. What would you do if you were me? </p>
<p>I think you go for ED, where the benefits are defined versus benefits that may or may not happen and you have to compete with the RD pool. As long as the second recommendation isn’t horrible, I doubt it’s going to make that much difference to get a better one, provided your application is strong to begin with.</p>
<p>This is tough… the question is, how much would ED actually help me if I’m not a legacy? The acceptance rate is about triple the normal, but the group is self-selected, so it’s a little unclear…</p>
<p>And how important are recs to Penn? I’m applying to engineering so my physics teacher’s rec will definitely carry more weight. But, I’m expecting the RD one to be really good too, and from a legit class. If my physics rec is awesome, how much will the other one drag me down?</p>
<p>How good is any one recommendation? You seem to think it’s going to be great, but here’s an parallel thought. How many people have great essays on CC? Going by what everybody says, 100%. But ask the people who read them, and they’ll talk you maybe 5-10% are any good. That’s one or two out of twenty, yet plenty of people get admitted anyway, because they look at the package as a whole, not for every part of the package to be perfect. As long as your existing recommendation doesn’t say you are a horrible person who shouldn’t be admitted under any circumstances because I know the kid cheated but I could never catch him, it should be fine.</p>
<p>ED is a clear advantage, worth up to 100 SAT CR+M points over RD according to one study about ED. Take the sure thing.</p>
<p>Absolutely. If a school like Penn wants to lock you up, they will absolutely grab you over taking the chance of losing you to another school. What often happens in the RD round is there are more attractive candidates than there are slots, so some qualified candidates lose out, and it’s often unpredictable who that is. If you want to assure your spot, the best odds are in ED.</p>