<p>So, is it against the "rules" for siblings to fill out the peer rec for you? I mean, usually family member aren't supposed to give you recommendations (obviously), but this is a peer rec, and a sibling is a peer, if they're the same age. Plus, they probably know you better than anyone else (well, at least my sister does, we have a really good relationship.)</p>
<p>Does anyone know if this would be looked down upon? Did anyone do this? Who did you ask to fill out your peer rec? Obviously, a friend, but how did you choose?</p>
<p>Of course, it all depends on what the person writes. I would guess that the effective peer recommendation is not a laundry list of positive adjectives that might as well be a printout of thesaurus.com. An effective recommendation cites specific events and achievements that illustrate your virtues; explains any extenuating circumstances that might help the adcom contextualize your application; and rounds out your application by describing you in a way that you yourself or your other recommenders (teachers) cannot. It's hard to just "make these things up."</p>
<p>To that end, a family member could be a great recommender. If non-family recommenders have the advantage of appearing more "objective," family recommenders have the advantage of knowing you the best.</p>
<p>What about the peer recommendation? What is it?
The peer recommendation is a required part of the Dartmouth application. We ask every student applying to Dartmouth to get a letter of recommendation from a peer (who we define loosely as someone your age who knows you well). Your brother, sister, best friend, cousin, or classmate can all write a peer recommendation, as long as it is someone about your age. We use the peer recommendation to learn more about you as a person. What are your interests? What are your personality traits? What do you do for fun? How are you as a friend? All of this information is important to us because it helps us to see how you would add to the Dartmouth community.</p>