<p>Does Columbia frown upon additional letters of recommendation sent to their office? I have a great one from a charity I volunteer for but I'm debating whether to send it. Thoughts?</p>
<p>send it if you think it’ll really help you. no big deal</p>
<p>Should I detail that I’m sending an extra letter of rec in my “supplementary materials” section of the supplement? Or is that solely reserved for arts/sci supplement?</p>
<p>i’m pretty sure that’s only for actual supplements (arts, science, etc.). Your letter is just an extra rec, and wouldn’t go under supplementary materials. If you decide to send it, just send it with your other recs; you don’t need to specify anywhere else. </p>
<p>As far as whether or not to send it, I’ll say this: if you really think it’s important enough that it would actually affect your admission decision, then send it. The reason they discourage extra recs is because they have SO many applications, recs, essays, etc. to read, that it’s just plain annoying for them to have to read yet another. </p>
<p>That being said, I actually sent an extra rec from my music teacher. Although, he sent it without my knowledge and told me after, so I didn’t really have a say in it. I never read it but knowing him, it was probably a fantastic recommendation. Anyway, the point is that I got in and having an extra rec didn’t hurt me, but I would just say be sure the rec is really something that will matter in your application, and that addresses points about you that aren’t addressed elsewhere in your application/recs.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the input! Very helpful</p>
<p>Just wanted to echo something Joso said. If it shows something about you that the rest of the application doesn’t show, then go ahead. If, say, all your teacher recs talk about how good of a student you are, but this one says you’re a great leader, and you don’t have a bunch of leadership-related ECs, send it in! But if it sort of rehashes the same positives that are covered elsewhere in your app, don’t bother.</p>