<p>At this point having recs from my high school teachers is superior because they know me much better, but I wonder if it’s possible to have recs from college professors go on top of the 2 recs (and not offend the AdCom), and have it count as a supplement. I want to skip the whole “how would you rate this person’s extra-curricular activities” thing (since they would be less informed about my activities than my high school teachers wuold) and want to know if I can have it sort of a supplementary recommendation, especially since one particular professor is practically the only teacher who I have known so far who I can hold a viable conversation in linguistics with – the other linguist I know isn’t my teacher. There are so few people in my area who can distinguish between the field of linguistics and foreign languages in general that I would not think my existing high school teachers know enough about linguistics in order to actually comment on how it fits into my application.</p>
<p>If you send a supplemental recommendation, it can follow or not follow MIT’s form as much as you’d like it to do so.</p>
<p>There’s absolutely no problem with sending an additional recommendation on top of the two required teacher recs – it’s not something everybody does, but it’s not unusual either. </p>
<p>From Matt McGann’s blog, [here](<a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/apply/the_freshman_application/supplemental_materials.shtml]here[/url]:”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/apply/the_freshman_application/supplemental_materials.shtml):</a>
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<p>Since linguistics is going to be one of my majors, and since not many people choose linguistics as a field (though I think it is a very significant field, and its applications are wide-ranging), I am wondering whether that recommendation will provide any valuable insight. In general, does a recommendation from a college professor on top of two other HS teacher recs – if the recommendation concerns recommending a student for a field in his or her area of expertise that high school work rarely touches upon – have that “additional insight”?</p>
<p>I am also worried, because I hear some AdComs actually do not like it very much if you send in a 3rd rec that seems redundant.</p>
<p>I guess that depends on your particular situation; do you think this professor is familiar enough with you and your interest in linguistics? If he doesn’t the rec will not provide much insight into YOU, and you don’t want to get a 3rd rec just because it’s from someone with prestige.</p>
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<p>But assuming from this that you talk with him about linguistics a lot, sounds great. What about the other linguist? (I don’t know if you have to have someone with a more formalized connection to you like a teacher/mentor/coach or if it can just be anyone who knows you well enough to recommend you)</p>
<p>Good luck with everything! :)</p>
<p>I sent in a 3rd rec from my research mentor- he had actually volunteered to write me a one before I left his lab at the end of the summer. I’m pretty sure that his rec was able to better portray me as a member of a lab, not just a high school student doing research. </p>
<p>For the record, I got in, so it can’t have hurt.</p>
<p>DS sent in two supplemental recs: one from his mentor on his research project (he gave DS a copy – WOW!) and one from the director at a math program he attended who spoke to his personal growth (which we have not seen). They were sufficiently different from what the teacher recs requested that it seemed worthwhile. DS’s teachers asked for activity resumes, etc., but he asked them to focus on what he was like in class rather than a recitation of his ECs and awards.</p>