Son was deferred in EA for Watson.
Anyone know if they allow an extra recommendation to be submitted for deferred applicants?
They only allowed 1 teacher letter of recommendation and my son chose to send his letter from his engineering teacher since he has known him since 9th grade. I pushed for his physics teacher rec since it’s a hard science rather than an elective but his guidance counselor said it would be fine
Could he send it in now?
What does your S’s deferral letter say? Bing used to not allow additional materials for EA deferred applicants, but my knowledge is a few years old. If the deferral letter doesn’t say, he (not you) should contact admissions and ask.
FWIW and IMO, the physics LoR would have been better than an elective LoR, assuming a strong rec from the physics teacher. I know you can’t do anything about that initial decision now.
Yeah, I know- I pushed for it but apparently what do I know. I had hoped the guidance counselor would have backed me up but he said it didn’t matter.
I don’t disagree with @Mwfan1921 on the core teacher thing but I highly doubt (assuming the letter wasn’t that your son is horrible) - I highly doubt this made the difference.
But yes, contact admissions and ask if they didn’t provide clear instructions. Some schools allow extra info (usually significant changes or new grades that add to the candidacy) and others don’t. You’re now an RD candidate, so deferral isn’t disaster.
Good luck.
I didn’t say/imply it did. We can’t know all the things that made a difference in the decision. We know nothing else about this student’s app.
Regardless, at a school like Bing, where you get ONE LoR, either counselor or a teacher, send a core teacher LoR. Create the strongest app possible from the beginning.
At any school, one can make the case there is little reason to ever send a non-core teacher LoR.
I understand - just want OP to know they shouldn’t beat themself up over this - the result likely would have been the same.
Again, you can’t know that so why even speculate?
Hopefully OP’s S’s deferral letter (or portal) addresses this issue.
We don’t know - and I don’t know what the app says - but their instruction is very generic (doesn’t even need to be a teacher) while other schools specify - so I’ll stand by what I said…but moving on.
To answer the OPs question, I’d suggest the student contact the admissions officer, ask if supplemental materials are allowed, and if so, how to send them. This request could be put at the end of a brief letter of continuing interest to reaffirm interest in the school and note major accomplishments (if any) since the application was filed.
FWIW I think if the LOR feom the engineering teacher was not sufficient, admissions would have reached out. Stop thinking about it.
Bing’s deferral letter used to say ‘no additional supplemental materials’ allowed, that’s why I suggested OP’s S look at his deferral letter before contacting admissions, as they might not need to.
Of course (and hopefully it goes without saying) the student should follow any explicit directions given by the school. So yes, do check the deferral letter first.