<p>I had an interview for RA at Harvard around the beginning/middle of October. She, apparently, really liked me because she wrote Duke a letter recommending me. To give some background: I’d told her from the get-go that I had applied ED at Duke and that I was “in love with it.” She wrote the same recommendation she wrote for Harvard, but addressed it to Duke (she sent me a copy, which is how I found out in the first place). </p>
<p>I want some opinions on this, because I don’t know how to weigh this…does something like this carry a lot of weight? Or is it frowned upon? </p>
<p>I doubt it will carry much weight as 1) she’s not someone who is familiar with you on a personal basis like relatives, family, or family friends 2) she is not someone who is familiar with you on a professional basis like a teacher, counselor, boss, PI 3) she’s not a big shot researcher, athlete, administrator, celebrity, whatever. </p>
<p>So it’s basically like the recommendation that an alumni interviewer would write after a meeting. It’s fine but will most likely be generic and not a big part of consideration by the adcom.</p>
<p>I kinda disagree with that assessment. For a near stranger to decide that they were so impressed by you that they’d send a letter of recommendation to Duke for you…I think that would carry 1. some surprise that might make you stand out and 2. some weight that you make a good first impression. Plus its from Harvard :)</p>
<p>While I’m not 100% sure how these letters are viewed and they may well be very different from other application processes I’ve been through, in general letters from strangers will never be as strong as those from people who knew you. Perhaps if the writer acknowledged that the offer to write the letter is completely unsolicited, then it may carry some weight. Otherwise, it risks ending up as a generic letter that fails to give much more insight beyond the superficial. And I’m willing to bet that the latter type of letters are more common than you think. </p>
<p>Also, it sounds like the OP interviewed with a PI for a research position. If that was the case, it is extremely unconventional (and not in a good way I would say) for a PI to write a letter without first having the person work under him/her for some time. Of course, take this with some grain of salt as I’m more familiar with the grad school/professional school application process where getting such a letter from a PI would be completely pointless.</p>
<p>I’m not an admissions officer but I do recruit and interview college graduates for engineering positions for my employer.</p>
<p>My take on this kind of recommendation letter would be that it wouldn’t hurt but it wouldn’t really help either. After reading it, I would wonder if the writer was a family friend or acquaintance. I tend to be a bit cynical.</p>
<p>Then again, if it is consistent with all of your other LOR’s, it’s another piece of supporting documentation. I just don’t think it’s something that will make or break your application.</p>
<p>Ahhh my mistake then. I had assumed that RA meant research assistant. </p>
<p>If RA is Regular Action at Harvard, then I doubt the letter will matter much, especially since the writer isn’t even a Duke alum. It would almost be equivalent to having a stranger you randomly spoke with at Starbucks write a letter saying that you sound like a great person (which if you look at alumni interviews, this is the case most of the time anyway).</p>