More than 3 letters of rec?

ArtsandLetters
Sat, 06 Dec 2014 16:59:19 +0000

Multiply 50,000 students adding one extra letter of recommendation and you see what happens to the poor staff that has to read them. This question gets asked a lot. In rare cases, an extra letter might work (one not a lot of them). More than that smacks of desperation. And if the school said it was okay they’d be slammed.

Here’s what I think happens - they’ll look at your application first. Your letters of recommendation will be included on the Common App so it’s all digitized and easy for them to read via computer. Realize each file at most colleges gets multiple readers. If you send an extra letter it has to be digitized in order to go with your file. That means some person has to manually sort through all those letters and organize them first.

So unless your application really stands out - I don’t see how an extra letter would help. And if your application stands out, the letter really isn’t needed. The exception “might be” if the letter writer has something to say that is both amazing and backs up something on your Common App that might need clarification. But those cases are rare. IMHO