<p>I’m thinking of doing a personal recommendation for an extracurricular that is a little bit out of the norm (not sports, art, or music.) Should I take the risk?</p>
<p>I will also include a “normal” personal recommendation along with this.</p>
<p>Also, the essay I am submitting to Andover is on a highly controversial topic. Would this be a problem?</p>
<p>To my opinion, if one’s essay is based on a highly controversial topic, it often illustrates the maturity of the thinking of the person. It shows how you are able to take and stay with a point of view based on your own background and experiences.</p>
<p>I wanted to include a personal recommendation from my skydiving instructor but I decided not to in the end.</p>
<p>Avoid risk! It`s a grap-shot all ready, why stack the odds?</p>
<p>I don’t know, that depends on who the personal recommendation is coming from! I think a unique rec would set you apart from the crowd. I agree with jerryeps about the essay.</p>
<p>When a majority of the applicants all have SSATs above 85%, 4.0 GPAs, excellent teacher recommendations, and many extra-curriculars, you may need to take a few risks to get accepted. Things that are often unusual or unique typically help you, but use your best judgement when deciding these things.</p>
<p>My personal recs would be from my Go/weiqi instructor and a past principal of mine who witnessed my leadership skills.</p>
<p>The graded essay is on the death penalty.
It was a persuasive research paper; i took pro.</p>
<p>I initially thought Go/Weiqi was just interesting but held no weight.</p>
<p>However, I was surprised that many boarding schools, Exeter in particular, seemed very interested about it and what benefits it could have intellectually.</p>
<p>Well, I’m no expert on the political ideologies of New England admissions officers, but I’ve heard that the entire region is heavily liberal, so you might risk alienation by taking a pro-death penalty stance in one of your essays. Then again, this is just an observation from a guy on the west coast; I could be wrong on so many levels.</p>
<p>Also, for the unique personal recommendation, I say go for it! I don’t think another recommendation from a piano teacher detailing John Doe’s remarkable finger skills would really stand out to an AO.</p>