<p>Do we need some kind of cover in front of any additional recommendation letters we seek?
Thanks!</p>
<p>no, they get scanned and shredded</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Sorry for cutting in, but I’m wondering do they really look at and value additional recommendations, especially for international applicants?</p>
<p>a single supplemental rec will be read, surely. The question is: does the additional rec offer anything not already covered in the other two?</p>
<p>Also why would treatment of rec letters be any different for an international vs domestic?</p>
<p>I hate to recognize this, but I guess they don’t really trust rec letters from Chinese teachers, most of which are in fact done by students themselves. They know it, don’t they?</p>
<p>China is a special case. If a candidate looks to be promising, they’ll go the extra step of calling to investigate – the frauds are there but schools don’t want to have the frauds swamp out the real applicants.</p>
<p>I know of a case where six applied from a renown Chinese school. Five different transcript templates came in. This means at least four of them were attempting fraud, maybe more. </p>
<p>Because of this pervasiveness, the China admissions reps have to use additional tools as you can imagine.</p>
<p>who will they be calling then? additional tools as I can imagine? like what?</p>
<p>I’m kinda, very upset with “frauds” around me, that I have no idea of my GPA at all, cause they don’t necessarily depend on my actual performance, like something I have no control of. also, I really hate the practice of writing them myself, as it is very likely to undermine the credibility of rec letters from China as a whole. my academic teachers all asked me to write myself cause it’s the common practice, while my extra-curri program tutor (as well as an NGO’s head) offered to write a “real” one for me, but they’re not academic ones required by commonapp. that’s why I want to know if Harvard really take such additional but “real” rec letters into serious account.</p>
<p>Yes, H will. As if it’s real.</p>
<p>so…shall I send as many of them as I think necessary?</p>
<p>Yes - If they are really necessary, i.e., each and every one would provided some meaningful new info that any other parts of your application did not cover…</p>
<p>“shall I send as many of them as I think necessary” Absolutely not.</p>
<p>Two teacher letters and one from counselor/school official. If you have ONE other, from someone who will offer information substantially different from the first three, then submit it as a supplemental letter of recommendation. </p>
<p>I GUARANTEE you if you submit 3-4 additional rec letters, you’ll doom yourself. HParent’s advice just flies against all conventional wisdom.</p>
<p>"HParent’s advice just flies against all conventional wisdom. "</p>
<p>Well, it’s NOT an advice but rather a common sense, and it’s proven - more than once. The key is "If they are really necessary, i.e., each and every one would provided some meaningful new info that any other parts of your application did not cover… " Please read carefully, and don’t miss or misunderstand any word in that sentence. It doesn’t mean “the more, the better”. BTW, what’s your so-called “conventional wisdom”?</p>
<p>[Harvard</a> College Admissions § Applying: Frequently Asked Questions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/faq.html#15]Harvard”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/faq.html#15)</p>
<p>I was wrong: H says they’ll read 2-3. </p>
<p>[May</a> I submit supplementary letters of recommendation? | Yale College Admissions](<a href=“http://admissions.yale.edu/may-i-submit-supplementary-letters-recommendation]May”>http://admissions.yale.edu/may-i-submit-supplementary-letters-recommendation)</p>
<p>Yale is a bit harsher…</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/faq/letters_of_recommendation/[/url]”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/faq/letters_of_recommendation/</a></p>
<p>PTon’s language seems to discourage them</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the official sources! I’m having a clearer idea on this. No wonder my advisor, who’s from Yale, strongly discourages me from seeking additional recs.</p>