Both my parents worked at Yale back in the day and I was able to get an internship at Yale with a pretty well-known professor. I can probably get a good letter of recommendation from that professor. Will this improve my chances of getting in and if so, by how much. Spend a good month there alone.
Major: Molecular Bio
SAT-1540 Single test
GPA- 4.5 weighted 3.97 unweighted
(senior course load 5 classes- 2.5 of those courses are AP)
I don’t need a chance, just how much my relationship to Yale will help
No one can answer that question without knowing what your day-to-day internship responsibilities were and what the Yale professor might say that could tip the balance in your favor. For example, if you wrote extensive research reports for the professor, will the professor be proclaiming you the next Watson-Crick or the literary equivalent of Shakespeare? If so, then your chances would seem to be pretty high! On the other hand, if your internship consisted of data entry, and the professor will attest to that you did your job “well” in their recommendation letter, then I don’t think the LoR will improve your chances in any meaningful way. So, what did you do in your singular month’s internship? What were your responsibilities and duties? And, what might the professor say about your research abilities, organizational skills, scholastic potential, or literary prowess in that “good letter” of recommendation?
… The best recommendations are not always from the teachers in whose class you earned the highest grades, but rather from those teachers who know you best and can discuss the substance of your intellect and character. We are as interested in your intellectual curiosity and resilience as in your innate ability and work ethic. …
We prefer these letters to be from teachers who have taught you in your junior and/or senior years. These teachers will best speak to your recent progress, your preparation for rigorous collegiate coursework, and your potential contributions beyond the classroom.
Supplementary Materials
Supplementary materials can provide broader context to some parts of your application, but they can just as often be superfluous and distracting. For example, a letter from someone who supervised your extracurricular research project may answer important questions about the work you’ve done. But a third recommendation that raves about you, just as your other letters do, will not necessarily enhance your application. In fact, it may dilute the effect of the two required recommendations.
FWIW, I think your 2 primary LoR’s need to come from teachers. The Yale prof’s letter would be a supplement. How useful it will be is as @gibby posts.
On your parents’ past connection, if they were grad students, it would make you a legacy for Yale admissions purposes. There is a section in the Yale specific portion of the Common App on relatives who have worked for Yale not included in the Common App family section. In the family section, there is a question whether your parents ever worked for a university. Unfortunately that section has limited drop-downs whereas the Yale section for other relatives is actually pretty detailed. Because they ask for this info, I assume it must be factored in somewhere, but if your parents are not current employees, I’d think any advantage would be extremely minimal.
I see no harm in getting a letter from the professor, if he liked you. How much it will help is impossible to say, even if you give us more info. But what specifically do you mean when you say your parents worked at Yale?