Hi everyone. I’m applying to Yale SCEA and am currently in the thick of writing my application and getting everything together. I’ve written out my stats and things elsewhere, but what matters for this post is that I am a writer. I have received national recognition for my writing and have spent many years doing writing-related activities that will be on my application. I’m also getting a recommendation from my English teacher, which will almost certainly mention my writing skills.
However, I really wanted to get a supplemental recommendation from a woman who has been my writing teacher at writing camp for 2 years in a row. I have spent 60 hours in intimate writing workshops with her and she knows who I am as a writer and a human, why I write, what I write, etc. She’s told me I push her as an instructor more than almost any other student and all sorts of kind things like that. So I think it would make sense to get her rec. However, I’m really worried about the admissions office thinking that I can’t follow instructions because they say to only get another rec if it will “add substantially” to your application and I’m worried overlap between this rec and my English teacher rec would make me look bad. I’m close with both my teacher recommenders too, but I’d say this teacher understands me more than most adults ever have. Do you think it’s worth sending this rec?
I think “Less is more.” Remember, Admissions Officers have about 12 minutes to read a student’s application, which includes looking over their transcript, course rigor and grades, test scores, extracurricular activities, reading the Common Application Personal Statement, Supplemental Essays, the guidance counselor’s Secondary School Report, the two teacher recommendations and interview report. And then they have to make notes – all within that 12 minute time frame.
The more stuff you submit does NOT mean an Admissions Officer will spend more time with your file. It means they will have to skim everything – meaning an AO might read the first paragraph and last paragraph of your essays and will do the same with each recommendation. So, in the end an Admissions Office will get a watered down view of who you are because they are pressed for time and are skimming. So, I would follow Yale’s instructions and not submit a supplemental recommendation, as chances are there will be substantial overlap with your English teacher’s recommendation.
Let your awards speak to your writing talent!
@Lightsgoout - Many alums who interview applicants, and who post on this thread, following the explicit instructions of the Yale Admissions Office, have counseled students to only send in the required number of letters of recommendation. You, and other applicants who excel at something extracurricular, are therefore, seemingly, in a bit of a pickle. However, here’s some comfort. All the students at Yale are passionate about, and also excel at, something besides their academic work, and yet were admitted with only two letters or recommendation from their high school teachers. Why? Because their other accomplishments were adequately illustrated on their applications. The fact that you have “received national recognition” for your writing will be clear to the AOs, so you don’t need another english teacher to validate your claim that you love writing and are really good at it. Another letter of recommendation is appropriate, in my opinion, when the person writing it has something to say about your character, abilities and accomplishments that your high school teachers can’t know, or discuss in detail, in their letters. I was in this situation when I applied, and the AOs didn’t hold it against me. But in general, the two letters should be more than adequate to help the AOs get a handle on what you are like as a student and why you will therefore be a good fit for Yale. Best of luck!
Agree with @gibby and @zoebrittany. I would only add supp rec if recommender has something unique to say about you, particularly about your character (as gibby points out your national awards/recognition already speak to your writing abilities) and can tie it to specific anecdotes.
@lightsgoout , I agree that less is more. You have a great opportunity, in your essays, to show what kind of writer you are (in a way that STEMish kids can’t sneak in some math or physics 
).
If anyone reads this thread in the future, I just want people to know I submitted a supplemental rec and got into Yale EA. I actually think it might have really helped me get in. I intuitively felt that this adult understood me–and why I do what I do–more than any other adult, and so I think if you have someone like that in your life go with your gut and submit it.
Congrats.
Sorry I disagree that a supplemental rec is what got you in—think what you will and congrats but that isnt going to make a difference