jts117

For my applications I am sending out the three required letters of recommendation (2 teacher recs, 1 counselor rec). However, I completed an internship over the summer, and the woman that I interned for wrote me a letter as well which I am planning on sending out. That leaves me four.

I am applying Early Decision, and my neighbors across the street are both graduates from the school to which I am applying early. They have repeatedly told me that they want to write me a letter of recommendation. I know that their write up would be glowing, but I don't want to go overboard with the letters I send in.

Would five letters of recommendation be too many for my ED school?

Should I say Thanks or No thanks to my neighbors?

Thanks a lot for your help!

entomom

Five letters is a lot; you should only send a supplemental when they have something very strong and very different from what has been stated in the required 3. Also, letters from relatives, friends, people in high places, etc. who do NOT have specific contact with you in an academic or work situation are generally a bad idea.

It's nice of them to offer, but is unlikely to help and more likely to irritate a weary AO.

palmalk

Any more than are asked for.

But seriously, the additional work one should be fine (assuming the school has not specifically said "Do NOT send more than 2+1"). Forget the other one - you can nicely thank them and tell them the school does not want more than four or discourages more than four, etc. (if that is true).

Or, call the adcom anonymously and ask for their general reaction to a deluge of recs.

hikids

plamlk is right, give them exactly what they want. We went though this last year and were constantly told to just give the school what it want. Keep in mind in these days they are processing a ton of stuff, so more is not really better.

jts117

Okay, thanks a lot. I will politely say no to my neighbors and thank them for the offer.

Now, I'm starting to get nervous about the fourth one from my internship. I've sent it in already. Do you think they'll get annoyed by it? It was a very nice letter, and it spoke to my career interests and recommended me for enrollment in the specific program to which I was applying.

'rentof2

Don't worry. That one from the internship is fine. Many students send in one extra that speaks to something different than the others. I don't think any more than the 1 extra is a great idea, though. But schools very often want 2 teacher recs, and sometimes there's someone other than a teacher who knows you in a different context, and their recommendation can really add something to your application. Don't worry about it all. It's great to have such nice neighbors, though!