How many recommendation letters to submit?

Applying to College
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My student has 3 recommendation letters on file in SCOIR. She has not read any of them so has no idea what they say and for reference she will be a science major. 1 of them is likely an amazing letter written by a history teacher she had junior year who knew my student well who has written letters for several students that have made it into ivy’s --let’s say its a 10/10. Another is from an english teacher she had junior year, so I would anticipate the letter itself is well written and she knows my daughter well also, probably an 8.5/10. The last is from a science teacher she had sophomore year in the field my daughter wants to study which is likely very complimentary but might not be as well written – so maybe a 6/10?

If a large but difficult to get into public school requires 1 application letter, but the student has 3 they could submit would you:

  1. Submit only the letter from the history teacher.
  2. Submit the history and science teacher letters.
  3. Submit all 3

Basically, is this a less is more scenario where you send the 1 amazing letter even though it isn’t from a science teacher? I’m wondering if they only ask for 1 if perhaps they will only read 1 and then the application reader may not read what is likely the best letter?

2

My opinion: if they only require one, only send one.

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Without knowing the details of the school, it’s a follow the instructions scenario…

If they require one and allow no extra, send one. If they require one,but allow more, send two and no more

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I would not submit from the science teacher. Schools prefer letters from junior or senior year teachers, so if she’s got one from a teacher in sophomore year (unless the teacher has been in touch with her through extracurricular activities or something along those lines), that might draw negative attention.

If the school requires one, submit one. If the school requires one but allows two, submit the second one. Many schools also allow supplementary material, so if that’s the case, the second letter (from the English teacher) could be in that category.

5

A few comments:
–Do not send more than the allowable number of LORs. Check the instructions.
–If two letters are allowed, I’d probably send one STEM and one humanities teacher LOR.
–I think one sophomore teacher LOR is fine. I also think the content (what the LOR says about the student) is WAY more important than how well the letter is written. Admission officers will be evaluating the student, not the teacher’s writing prowess.
–I would not suggest sending more than two teacher LORs (and only if two are allowed). More does not equal better.

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