<p>He's my great uncle and has given money to the school in the past. Will the admissions committee look upon this unfavorably?</p>
<p>From what I have heard from other Ivy adcom, it is very BAD idea to have relative’s letter.</p>
<p>Doesn’t sound like a good idea. You can mention your connection to that uncle though.</p>
<p>How much money are we talking about? Does he have a building named after him?</p>
<p>It will hurt you. A lot. Unless he gave like more than a million.</p>
<p>Have your uncle contact the alumni relations at Cornell. They may be able to arrange for a special visit for you, and depending on how much money your uncle gave, your application could be put in a special pile, and that would be more useful than a LOR from your uncle.</p>
<p>That’s a much better idea!</p>
<p>Cornell is not like Duke where there are a set number of spots for people who donate generously to Cornell. I agree that the LOR will definitely not help you. If your uncle has donated a lot of money to Cornell, he can probably talk to admissions/arrange special stuff.</p>
<p>Hi, I just want to say that I am a student in the ILR school currently, and when I applied, I attached a LOR from my uncle who was an alumni from the arts and sciences school. In the LOR, he talked about he was an economics major and how my academics and extracurriculars particularly in government and private organizations showed that I would be a good fit for studying economics at cornell. I don’t know if a LOR would hurt you. My uncle did not give any money to the school as an alumni</p>
<p>" he talked about he was an economics major and how my academics and extracurriculars particularly in government and private organizations showed that I would be a good fit for studying economics at cornell."</p>
<p>John: did he ever instruct you in a classroom setting? If not, then his opinion was discounted – I can guarantee you. Hearsay. Not used in evaluating your eventual successful application.</p>