<p>Would it help? I read it is good to show you have interest in the school and one way is to interact with alumni. Would it be beneficial to get one?</p>
<p>No. (And the word alumni is plural. You’re talking about an alumnus if he’s a man or an alumna if she’s a woman.)</p>
<p>Remember, when you’re applying to college, you’re applying for a position as a student. And so colleges that want letters of recommendation–not all colleges do, but the selective ones that garner a lot of attention of College Confidential generally do–want letters from people who can speak about the way you’ve performed as a student in the past. This generally means teachers who have taught you recently (usually meaning the 11th or 12th grade) in an academic subject (usually meaning English, math, science, social studies or foreign language).</p>
<p>A letter from an alum that says only, “Headed2great is a great guy (or girl), and she’d be a great addition to campus life at Old Ivy,” isn’t going to carry any weight at all.</p>
<p>It’s possible that in some schools a letter from a teacher (who’s recently taught you in an academic subject, blah, blah, blah) who’s an alum might carry minimally more weight than a letter from a teacher who’s not an alum. But I don’t really think that’s an important consideration. A strong letter from a teacher is a strong letter from a teacher, no matter where that teacher got his or her own education.</p>
<p>What if you shadowed the alumnus and it might offer a cementing factor on who the student is? I am obviously not getting a letter of recommendation from someone I don’t know but particularly worked with. Anyway, if the letter it’s well written, do I have the choice of not sending it?</p>
<p>Is not well written*</p>
<p>Seriously? You spend a few hours following some alum around, and now that is supposed to lead to a letter that provides novel insights on who the applicant is in away that teachers who spent hundreds of hours with you cannot?</p>
<p>You really seem determined to do this, though, so I think you’re going to keep posting until you get the answer you’re looking for.</p>
<p>h2g: your “shadowing” means nothing. </p>
<p>You somehow think the prominence of the letter writer means something. It doesn’t. The letter is about YOU. Nothing about the writer. If it were the Governor or your mayor – still would mean nothing.</p>
<p>Your shift chief at Burger King or an enthusiastic first year teacher can write a more meaningful rec letter than this alumnus or some celebrity. I’m not kidding.</p>
<p>And, headed2great, I understand why you might ask. I certainly don’t fault you for asking. But really, “no” is the answer. Sorry.</p>
<p>Lol although some of those comments were intense, I will most likely follow the advice given to me by the people on this thread. I am going to get LOR from a teacher and counselor, but I wondered if I should get a third one just for reassurance. Obviously that is a bad idea… lol thanks for the help. Further information on why not to would be helpful.</p>
<p>I think this only is helpful if you know the alumnus well in some capacity where it makes sense anyway for them to write a supplemental letter. For example, my D2 had a Quiz Bowl coach all the way through high school who was an alumnus of a top ranked school where she was applying. She was the top player on her team, and felt her coach would give her a very strong recommendation. She also felt that that he knew her and her personality well enough to write a solid letter, and that he knew what the school was looking for. He wrote the letter as a supplemental recommendation. She did get in, and I assume the letter helped. But this was a situation where he knew her very, very well (hundreds of hours of exposure over the four years) and it was in a semi-academic setting. I would say that a letter just based on a small number of hours or days spent with an alum would not add any value.</p>
<p>You need another reason not to send it? Okay, try this:</p>
<p>The schools usually ask for one recommendation. They get 1000’s of app’s, and struggle to get through them. Do you really think you’re going to make an admissions officer fall in love with you by giving him yet another piece of paper to read? I think not . . .</p>
<p>(And I’m not kidding - they ask for one because they want one.)</p>
<p>If one of the teacher writing the recommendation is also an alumnus, that may help. As he/she can say why the student would be a good fit for that particular school. A separated recommendation from an alumnus may have little weight.</p>
<p>Good information, thank you guys.</p>
<p>I have a little different take. It’s really not the end of the world if you add one additional LOR to your application. The alumnus thing really doesn’t add much credibility to what’s in the letter, but if you think this person can write a very personal letter about you, I might go for it–especially if my teacher recommendations were going to be kind of cookie cutter–as can happen at large high schools.</p>
<p>Another option would be to hold of on asking. If you get waitlisted, then that might be the time to play the alumni card.</p>
<p>That’s a good plan.</p>
<p>@Sikorsky</p>
<p>No. Alumnus can be male OR female. Alumna is strictly female.</p>
<p>I don’t know about that plan… I feel like admissions officers have so much experience in this, they can see in a glance if the alum (leaving off the ending :)) had a close enough connection for the letter to mean anything or not. And that old adage about a thicker file meaning a thicker student might come into play. Or the exhausted admissions counselor with thousands of pages to review, and a meaningless letter making them more annoyed vs impressed with an application… My kid got in everyplace she applied last year with an only ok gpa and no hook (places like U of Chicago & Swarthmore), but part of the way I think she succeeded is having every bit of her application focused, relevant, and worthy of their review. This sounds like padding to me - and admissions officers can spot it a mile away.</p>
<p>Also true. Ill stick with the required LORS and apply EA and hope for the best.</p>
<p>I think it really depends on the school and the alumnus. At some schools (especially more prestigious ones), a certain name can carry a lot of weight. While a school might not care about what a recent graduate has to say, a well-written letter from a more established alumnus (I.e. trustees, big donors, etc.) can possibly make the difference between acceptance and rejection. </p>
<p>Btw, I’m speaking from personal experience</p>
<p>Well I believe that it would help you more than hurt you. But would it change the fate of your decision? That I doubt. IMO you have nothing to lose by sending it (although others believe it would be burdensome to the adcom). However, if this means anything to you, one of my siblings applied to an ivy and sent in an additional LOR from an alumnus and was rejected. Sooo clearly it doesn’t hold significant weight, but if you have a super close connection with him/her and spend a lot time together, then go for it.</p>