Three letters of recommendation?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

I would like to submit three letters of recommendation(including the two required teacher ones), and one from my forensics coach. I know it is generally frowned upon to submit more than 2-but my coach and I are extremely close, and she sees me in a different environment than my teachers, where I act in a leadership/mentorship role and work extremely hard to do well. Would this be a bad idea?

I have seen the other CC posts on the subject, but I am not asking for five or six recommendations-I am just wondering if an extra recommendation will send me straight to the reject pile(although I will probably end up there haha, just don’t want to go straight there). Also, I am wondering how useful CCers think such a recommendation would be…please give me your honest opinion! I really would love some advice on this.

Thank you!

2

Yale has some great advice on this topic, which would also apply to Harvard: http://admissions.yale.edu/may-i-submit-supplementary-letters-recommendation

In addition, be sure to watch this video:http://admissions.yale.edu/advice-putting-together-your-application#recommendations

3

@gibby
Thank you so much! I have seen both links before, but it was good to review them :slight_smile: However, I used three letters of recommendation in my Yale application and was accepted. Is Harvard less lenient about this?

4

Yes.

5

An extra letter can make a difference with Harvard. Call admissions and ask. They can give you guidelines and tell you the best way to submit it.

6

Harvard is not less lenient than Yale about extra recommendations! However, any extra piece of material for them to read had really better be worth their time so think long and hard whether it will be additive or not. Usually, less is more.

7

I didn’t know not to use all of the letters of rec slots (yup, I sent in 5. RIP), and now that EA decisions have been released, I seriously regret doing so. There’s nothing wrong with sending three, but like others said, only send more than two IF it adds substantially to your application. Good luck!