Famous Recs?? How much do they help?

WishyWashy
Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:36:38 +0000

When I went to the Harvard information session, the officer actually EXPLICITLY said that recommendations from famous people will more likely than not hurt an application. If Rick Kaplan has watched you mature as a person or a student or can truly speak to some aspects of you that are not represented in your application, then by all means have him send it.

I don’t mean to be rude, but I want to almost say that the question is not, “How much will the recommendation help my application?” but rather, “How much will the recommendation hurt my application?” I would say with fair certainty that an impersonal recommendation from this fellow will hurt your application more than would an uninformed recommendation from a coach, employer, family friend, etc. The words “came into contact with” just don’t inspire the feelings of, “Yes, have him send that rec!!” that I think they need to.