<p>In general, what are some key tips in choosing who/ how many people to write letters of recommendation for a college applicant?
Also, a more personal question:
ECs and letters of rec will be extremely important to me because of my subpar gpa for Cornell U, but it is my dream school. How significant would it be if I got one of my friends who just got into Cornell to write me a rec letter in a year? I'd basically get her to talk about how we were in the same elective class and how she thinks I am capable of excelling at Cornell despite my freshman screw up. She'd elaborate of course, and provide some examples. Is it worth it though? Would getting a rec letter from an admitted friend help any more than a normal rec letter? And yes, I know her well.</p>
<p>I don’t think a letter from essentially a peer would carry much weight. It leaves one to speculate that the applicant would be more likely to tell the writer what to include in the letter & not give their own opinion.</p>
<p>Rec letter advice
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/admissions-hindsight-lessons-learned/386669-how-ask-recommendations.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/admissions-hindsight-lessons-learned/386669-how-ask-recommendations.html</a></p>
<p>Peer who is a Cornell student: terrible idea. she has no basis for broad comparison, thus her opinion carries almost zero weight. How can she know the significance of your Fr year grades as it pertains to your potential? She’s not an educator</p>
<p>You need to find teachers who can say what you’d like this student to say. They are your real targets. GL to you</p>
<p>Indeed, this friend of yours who isn’t really in a position to compare your academic work to that of years’ worth of other high-school students also isn’t really in a position to compare you with the rest of Cornell: she’s just been admitted, and by the time she wrote any such letter, she would have been there for only a few months!</p>
<p>To answer your general question, recommendations matter a lot. As for this proposed letter from your friend, if you were lucky, it wouldn’t matter at all. If it made any difference, it would be harmful rather than helpful. I fear it could be the kind of thing that could cause your application to be remembered with eyerolls and derisive snorts for years to come.</p>
<p>I agree that a letter from a peer is a bad idea. Is your main concern a bad start in 9th grade?</p>
<p>Who wouldn’t be able to get their friends to write a recommendation? Yeah, definitely a bad idea. You want to get your recommendations from teachers who know you best and can write them well. I had a close enough relationship with enough teachers that I asked my guidance counselor who had a good reputation for excellent recommendation writing. For example, my favorite teacher with whom I had the closest relationship was known for short/not great recommendations. But I had great relationships with several other teachers who wrote fantastic recommendations.</p>
<p>Do not mean to take over your thread. But if I have a letter of rec from the Mayor of San Diego who is a Cornell alum, how much would that help in the admission process?</p>
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<p>Probably would depend on how well the mayor knows you (and can articulate that in the letter) and how active he/she has been with Cornell since they graduated.</p>
<p>Ok thank you.</p>
<p>Let me amplify what CSDad wrote: it ONLY matters how much the mayor knew you. The sole reason for LORs is for someone to discuss your academic/leadership achievements and potential. The 23-year old impassioned first year teacher who can write profoundly about your classroom presence is 500 times better than a celebrity who is writing you a note as a friendly gesture (or cynically, as a political favor – written and signed by some staff flunkie)</p>
<p>Unless you worked DIRECTLY under the Mayor and he/she was your DIRECT OVERSEER/SUPERVISOR, then the letter is useless and would exhibit your naivete.</p>
<p>Thank you for the responses everyone. And feel free to post questions on this thread. I will not get the rec from her. But what if I enrolled in a summer program at Cornell and made good relations with a professor or two who were involved in the program? A rec from one of them would not earn me eye rolls right? And it’d be strategic?</p>
<p>Ok thank you. Since I did not work closely with the mayor I probably won’t ask him to write my LOR.</p>
<p>A letter of recommendation should really be from people who know you best. If you’re taking a summer course, try to establish a good relationship with that professor.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! Mikeyc765 thanks again (you’ve been of continuous help to me here on CC, so much that I recognized your username). Hopefully I’ll be able to develop good relations with a professor if I do go there through a summer program. My thought on that is, the professor would be able to recommend me AND bring up how I could definitely handle Cornell classes (despite my misleading freshman year grades). Unlike getting a rec from just a student there, the professor would be qualified to make that statement.</p>