Supplemental Letter of Recommendation

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
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<p>I had a question regarding the admissions process, specifically about the number of letters of recommendation. Has anyone reported sending two supplemental letters (aside from the SSR and teacher evaluations), instead of just one? I have two potential recommenders, with very different backgrounds and perspectives on me, and I feel like both of their views of me would be reflective of my abilities as a candidate. </p>

<p>I know that some other schools allow you to send in more than one supplemental recommendation, so I wanted to verify if Stanford has ever penalized an applicant for sending in one more as well. I also know that they allow an arts supplement recommendation, aside from the optional supplemental recommendation. Basically, I wanted to check if I could substitute the arts recommendation for a supplemental recommendation from another source (so 4 letters total: 2 teacher evaluations and 2 supplementals, instead of two teacher evaluations, one supplemental, and one arts supplemental). </p>

<p>I want to emphasize that both the supplementals would offer very different perspectives on me, from each other and from the teacher evaluations. Has anyone done this before, and been admitted?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

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<p>I’ll go ahead and respond to you post, just because I know how it feels to have 100 people look at it without getting a single response, haha. </p>

<p>My advice would be to go for it. Of course you should probably consult someone in the admissions office first. Are any of your supplemental recs coming from “art instructors”? Since I’m only familiar with the transfer application process at Stanford, I’m not sure if it’s explicitly stated to not send more than one supplemental rec that isn’t for the Arts Supp.</p>

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<p>@stanford06 Thank you so much for your response! And no, I am not planning to have an arts instructor write a recommendation. I was just wondering if I could substitute the optional arts recommendation for another supplemental recommendation. Again, I feel like both the potential supplemental letters would offer greatly different perspectives.</p>

<p>Anyone else feel that they can weigh in on the situation?</p>

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<p>“You may submit a maximum of one optional letter of recommendation if there is another person—not a teacher or counselor—who knows you well and will provide new insights about you.”</p>

<p>Don’t skirt the rules, dude.</p>