shortiegirl9

Hey, guys! I know that at many colleges, they specify that recommendations should be from 11th or 12th grade teachers. For Harvard, though, I couldn't find information about what they prefer anywhere--which leads to my question. For my second recommendation, I have two options: a letter from a teacher I've had in 11th and 12th grade which is probably very good but which is also probably slightly similar to my first letter, or a letter from a teacher who taught me in middle school but who've I've worked with every year since then on my biggest extracurricular, which is probably excellent and leadership-focused. Which would be better to include? Does Harvard allow/encourage additional letters of recommendation? I'm sorry if these are all silly questions, but I couldn't find them anywhere! Thank you all so much in advance

chesterstreet

Send all of them.. the middle school one sounds good. I think five to six should be the upper limit. Once a guy sent in 25 and unfortunately did not get in. But Harvard does accept additional recs as long as you think it is sensible and adds to your app.

Farail

You definitely need to send in 2 letters of recommendation from high school teachers, but the extracurricular letter sounds like a perfect example of a supplementary rec to send in.

glassesarechic

This. Don't forget that college admissions is first and foremost a matter of academics, and H's request for teacher recommendations reflects that. Only once that requirement has been met can additional, nonacademic factors come into play.

shortiegirl9

Great, thanks for all the help! Is there a place on the common app where I can add the supplemental rec, or do I have to mail it to the college separately?

glassesarechic

It should be mailed separately in the form of a letter. The Common App evaluation form is for academic recommenders.

Fatum

^Can't you still submit 3rd teacher rec online?

Farail

you can either add the recommender as a third teacher on the common app, or print out the teacher letter of reccomendation form and have that persona mail it in. Or, you could simply have them mail in their letter, without the official form from the common app. If they didn't know you in an academic setting, the form isn't very useful. The only problem with putting the optional reccomender online is that some schools only accept two letters from the common app, so for those schools you'll have to have him send in the letter via mail

Fatum

Thanks Farail. Do any of the ivies accept only two letters from the commonapp?