<p>Are four letters of recommendation excessive? I called GS earlier and they said that three should be fine..Two will be from professors, one from doctor at hospital that I'm volunteering at, and one from instructor at writing department who has helped me with my personal statement. If anything, I will eliminate one of my professor recommendations because the doctor and writing instructor know me on a more personal level. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>I’d say drop the writing instructor unless they taught you in a formal setting. It might look too much like a family friend/mentor sort of thing, rather than a formal relationship.</p>
<p>The thing is, one of my professor’s letters sounds a little generic (I obtained two copies of it). I’m certain the instructor will give a more glowing recommendation because I’ve worked with him closely, and he knows my background. Will I be penalized by including only ONE professor recommendation and two “extracurriculars” or should I chance it and include all four?</p>
<p>I recommend using two professors. It’s not absolutely necessary, but that’s what I did, and would always lean towards that rubric. I echo campaigner’s sentiments and feel that you should drop the writing instructor. Can you find another professor to write a better letter of recommendation?</p>
<p>Two is usually good. Also, you should NEVER see the letters. The admissions office takes into account whether or not the student has seen the letters - in the past, instructors have had to inform the office one way or the other. The general rules with letters are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Ask only tenured faculty for LORs. They have the largest body of students against which to compare you. An adjunct can say you’re the best student they’ve ever had. But, if they’ve only been teaching two years, what good is that?</p></li>
<li><p>Have professors write letters that you’ll never see. If the professor informs the admissions office that they’ve given you a copy, it implies that they’ve written the letter with a different audience in mind. The instructor might well have gone easy on you to avoid your vengeful gaze in the hallways.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I think I will just submit all of my letters – and if admissions opts to dismiss one or two, so be it – because I feel the extracurriculars will shed light on certain areas that my professors’ recommendations will not. I hope this won’t negatively affect me.</p>
<p>I think the potential negative effect will be that they will not read all your letters of recommendations and may end up only reading two letters of recommendations, of which may be recommendations that may not be as strong as the other. Then again, from what I understand GS is a small shop and spend a long time reviewing each applicant’s profile, so they may actually end up reading all of them.</p>