LoRs do give an advantage to some applicants. Consider these high school environments:
- Elite prep or magnet school with teachers who are coached on writing LoRs and not generally overburdened, and a dedicated well connected college admissions counseling staff who can direct students to best match colleges and best match teachers for LoRs.
- Ordinary public school where teachers and counselors are somewhat overburdened, and students compete for rationed LoRs because the burden on teachers and counselors would be too high if they accepted all LoR requests.
- Low SES public school where teachers and counselors never have any practice writing LoRs because the few who go to college go to the local community college or minimally selective local state university.