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Letters for private schools?
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Anonymous
| Does anyone know if admissions offices take letters from alumni seriously? I know some alums of various local school who I could, I suppose, ask for a recommendation for my DC's applications, but I'm wondering if I should? They're not on the board of directors or anything -- they're just alums. |
Anonymous
| How many of them know your child really, really well? Personally I would never resort to this! This city is filled with alum. |
Anonymous
|
If they don't know your child particularly well and they don't have a particularly close connection to the school, skip it.
Remember the saying, "Thick file, thick kid." |
Anonymous
| My sense is that letters from alumni or current parents can help if the writer knows your child well. We have been through this process three times, twice with letters as part of the application. With our oldest a friend who is an alumna of the school and a current parent and who has known our child since birth offered to write a letter in support of the application. With our youngest we asked DD's piano teacher, who is a current parent, to write a letter. Both applications were successful, and I do think the letters helped -- or, at least, didn't hurt. (On the other hand, middle child got in with no supplementary letter.) I'll note that both cases involved middle school applications, so the letter might have had more credibility than a letter in support of a PK applicant, where you might not be able to say much about the child beyond "s/he's really sweet and cute." |
Anonymous
| I've written letters that have gone both ways. My sense is that the letters had nothing to do with the results. |
Anonymous
|
Alum and current parent is not the same as alum.
An alum, not a current parent, no. An alum and a current parent, yes. A current parent who is not an alum, yes, especially if that parent is highly involved in the community. Oh, I had a current parent write a letter of support and before the decision was made decided to withdraw her child from the school. The school was surprised, I was surprised ... Did that hurt? It might have! Do they help or hurt? You never know. The thicker the file, the thicker the child ... |
Anonymous
|
I think there was a thread on this some time ago. I know some schools highly value letters from alums. Holton-Arms seems to be one such example. Someone my husband worked with was a big alum and wrote a lovely letter for my daughter (whom she didn't know)...but wrote the letter based on my daughter's resumes and accomplishments. My daughter was on the wait list and the letter made a difference. DD did very, very well at Holton and did them proud. Is now at an Ivy.
I returned the favor and wrote a letter for someone from our church who was applying. I didn't know them either...but based the letter on their resumes. |
Anonymous
I largely agree though not completely on the thicker the file for the younger set. When a DC is a PK/K, I think one or two letters from current parents who can vouch for kid and family can be a big help. "...DC's mom ran auction for preschool, etc...." For those grades, they are admitting a package, and if it appears that the parents will be contributors to the community, then the package looks better (even when "thicker"). |
Anonymous
| 11:13 Not sure, parents can describe that in their interview, no? And many families can find a connected friend or two to vouch for them. I wonder what admissions folks think of this ... |
Anonymous
You may be right. All I know is that our DC got in during a year when many factors were not in DC's favor (no sib, no legacy, etc) and I've generally assumed that the few extra letters helped. Maybe I'm wrong. Do folks think that heads of schools want to keep their board members happy? |
Anonymous
| 13:17 Could be they helped. Did they involve board members? I had a board member on my side one round and my child was rejected. So ... |
Anonymous
|
We did not, and got DS into a Big-3 PK w/o connections or preferences.
Letters obviously did not help us. |