<p>I know this guy who is a pretty decent student and has SAT scores of around 1900. He had a Nobel Peace prize winner write a reco for him. I know that his family and the Nobel winner have known each other for quite some time, so I assume the reco was pretty personal. I was just wondering is this a hook? Or will it be looked at as just another reco?</p>
<p>Can’t hurt. But at a school like, say, Harvard, unless that guy was an alumnus and/or his father, it wouldn’t make up for the applicant’s otherwise subpar (for that caliber school) application.</p>
<p>more than likely it is a hook, there is a teacher at my school who went to Cornell, and is an active alumnus…& whenever he writes a recommendation for a student applying at Cornell, they get accepted.</p>
<p>It may not mean anything unless the Nobel Prize winner’s letter provides some substantial evidence that the student has a lot to offer the universities. “He’s a nice guy, and I’ve known him for years” won’t be a boost.</p>
<p>northstar - But if it’s a ‘he reminds me of myself at that age’ rec(which I find pretty likely, that is a common thread among the limited adult friend/alumni recs I have seen), it could be a pretty powerful recommendation. Especially if the buzzwords like ‘vision’, ‘dedication’, and so on are hit.</p>
<p>As far as i know the guy hand wrote the reco, so i’m assuming it was pretty personal.</p>
<p>Lizziepoo, correlation does not equal causation.</p>
<p>It’s been a year now… So did the kid get in?</p>