<p>I've recently submitted my app for UW Madison, and it says although letters of rec are not required, they are recommended.</p>
<p>I have a 3.978 GPA and a 28 on my ACT, so will not submitting letters hurt my chances? I have letters to submit, but I'm a lil lazy and don't want to bother my teachers to submit them again. If I have to I will, but to me, it does not look like my GPA/scores need any "boosting" in order to be admitted.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Not the right attitude. You have good scores and a good GPA, but nothing that is really blowing me away. These recs can only help you. A sloppy application with a 28 ACT is by no means a guarantee of admissions. </p>
<p>Wow for a mediocre application stat wise, you have quite an ignorant attitude. They’ll see right through your lazyness and deny you.</p>
<p>@trendwolf I don’t believe that I have “mediocre” stats. I am applying to numerous other colleges, taking quite the course load this year (6 APs), along with a surgery coming up. I have a lot to get done currently and if something is not required, then I would like to know, considering it would save me some amount of time. I asked a simple question. Did not need all of that, thanks.</p>
<p>@adamr41 And how is my application “sloppy”? You didn’t go through it, nor have you read any of my essays. Just asking a question about letters. Could’ve just used a simple “yes, send it in.”</p>
<p>If you were my daughter, I would say, (stop being lazy and) ask yourself how you would feel if you are rejected or postponed. You may be forever questioning yourself on whether the recommendation letters would have made the difference. </p>
<p>Frankly, I have never heard of anyone getting admitted to UW-Madison without submitting recommendation letters. Perhaps UW makes it ‘not required’ just so that if there extenuating circumstances, it doesn’t hold anyone back (laziness is not an extenuating circumstance). Maybe foreign students who have teachers that can’t write letters in English is a reason not to submit recommendation letters. But your teachers have already written the letters. Get this taken care of before the November deadline so that you aren’t waiting until the end of the second notification period next spring for a decision.</p>
<p>A few years back, a CC poster who had a 35 ACT and high GPA was denied admission. I don’t know about rec letters, but for the essay (the topic was different) - he just wrote something like ‘Go Badgers’! To me, not bothering with the essay is similar to not bothering with the recommendation letters - you are not showing that you care enough about your application to make the minimal effort to submit one that is on par with what basically everyone else manages to do (include recommendation letters).</p>
<p>Your stats (ACT 28 and unweighted GPA 3.85) aren’t mediocre - but they are just the middle of the pack (middle 50 percent of admitted students had an ACT in the range of 26-30). UW-Madison received a record number of applications last year (over 30,000) for a freshman class of around 6,000; it appears that selectivity is increasing.</p>
<p>So to answer your question, yes, I think not submitting recommendation letters can hurt your chance.</p>
<p>@Madison85 thank you, I appreciate your post, as it is actual criticism and not just some type of attack on me. I believe the reason why I felt like this is because it is not my first choice, and most likely I will not attend. I just want options, but it is not my first, therefore the application is not being taken as seriously as my top colleges. I submitted my letters to them. I just wanted a simple opinion.</p>
<p>Understandable - just don’t put all your eggs in one basket, and get the reclining letters submitted for UW-MADISON.</p>
<p>*recommendation </p>
<p>@Madison85 Already did. On Wednesday I was accepted to one of the colleges I would love to go to, so I’m all good :)</p>
accepted!
So! Now we know of someone who got admitted without submitting rec letters, correct?
t
@Madison85 no, I listened to you guys! Except, the teacher who wrote my rec letter put “University of Michigan” instead of Wisconsin in the actual letter… but I guess even that didn’t stop me from getting admitted tonight!
Oh! Interesting!
A goofy mistake by your teacher!
So, will you be a Badger?
@Madison85 sadly, no. I will be a Spartan in the fall 
go green!
Best of luck to you!
thank you!