<p>I'm getting two recommendations from my school teachers as per policy and two in addition. Out of the 2 school recommendations, 1 will probably be really good and the other not that great (former = science course, latter = english ^^ typical asian rite?). The two extra recommendations will both be from Harvard persons (both relating to math/science).</p>
<p>My first question is, do you think the name <em>Harvard</em> means much to the admission officers (disregarding for a moment the actual content of the recommendations)? Or just to generalize, does "name" really matter (in a more practical sense than theoretical if you know what I mean)?</p>
<p>My second question is, do my recommendations look like they are "up to standard" for top ivies? Specifically, I am worried about having a possibly "bad" recommendation amongst 3 "good" recommendations and how that might look to the admission officers.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Do you not have another teacher who would not write a bad “recommendation”?</p>
<p>I think that my english teacher (I loved his class, and he liked me, so I’ve got some hope) will give me a good recommendation but “bad” when the standard is raised to the level of the top ivies. That being said, I think he will give me the better recommendation of the two humanities teachers I’ve had in junior year. (One reason for insisting to have a humanities teacher’s recommendation is MIT’s requirement. Other is that most of the core science/math classes offered at my school I’ve already taken 9th/10th grade, and my school requires me to have junior/senior teachers write the recommendations.)</p>
<p>One thing I am actually considering is ask my english teacher only for the recommendation for MIT early action, then ask a teacher from senior year for the regular decisions. Since my school starts sort of late, the recommendation would then have to be based on ~2 months of school. But of course I don’t think that is necessarily a bad idea, since I already have 3 recommendations from teachers who know me well.</p>
<p>I appreciate all opinions, thanks!</p>
<p>Well, a regular/good recommendation will not hurt, it will just have not effect. An excellent recommendation, however, could have a positive effect. It does not sound like any of yours will hurt you.</p>
<p>Ah, I understand. I’m still sort of curious about the question of prestige associated with the recommenders. Personally, I’ve always believed it doesn’t not make a huge difference (I’ve always believed in content > who), but some of my friends believe otherwise.</p>
<p>A genuine and personalized recommendation from a regular teacher is waaaay better than a generic and meaningless recommendation from someone associated with the university, if they don’t even have cause to recommend the person, and are just doing it because they are family friends or some such thing.</p>
<p>LORs are way overrated on this site, the bottom line is that almost all say the same thing. Do Harvard recs count more? Probably not unlesss they say something truly earth shattering such as that the student is unusual to an amazing degree-and if this were the case, the high school teachers will be equally effusive.</p>
<p>This is true. On every Acceptance Thread, both those accepted and those rejected usually have “Amazing recs, I saw them”.</p>