Famous Recs?? How much do they help?

icfireball
Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:37:51 +0000

Letters of recommendation from famous people are actually often less useful to admissions officers than letters of rec from everyday, ordinary people. First, if it’s from someone famous enough to be notable, it’s likely being written by a secretary with a copy of your resume. Second, letters of recommendation are not about connections. They want to see how well you interact with people on an everyday basis. So unless you’ve interacted with this famous person on a very regular basis, it likely won’t help. That being said, it’s just a supplemental rec anyways, so it likely won’t hurt. That being said, don’t submit any more supplemental letters of rec… most colleges don’t like them as they have the effect of cluttering the applicant’s file.