<p>nelle, are you international (I think I remember from another thread that you are)? I think that’s why they want it. </p>
<p>Per this page (#2 under application process): [international</a> entrance requirements](<a href=“http://www.wellesley.edu/admission/admission/intlentrance.html#applicationprocess]international”>http://www.wellesley.edu/admission/admission/intlentrance.html#applicationprocess)</p>
<p>You can email the admissions office and ask, but I think the recommendation from the head of school is not so much “nelle is smart and funny and awesome” as “Berlin (or wherever) Prestigious Upper School follows such and such curriculum and grading policies and administers such and such national tests and blah blah blah”–stuff about how the school works. Again, please don’t take my word for it because I’m not <em>sure</em> that that’s what they are looking for, but my feeling is that that’s what they’re going for. I think it’s the international version of the guidance counselor recommendation–and many students in the US don’t know their guidance counselor any better than you know your head of school!</p>