Hi all! I'm curious as to if having 4 letters of rec gives a boost in your chances at admission? I have one from an internship - working at the State Capitol, one from a senior year professor, and two from both of the attorneys I currently work for. I'm curious as to if this will boost my chances at all - or if two would've done the same amount of heavy lifting.
TIA!
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Hey there,
From what I understand, the key objective of letters of recommendation are for schools to get a better view of your qualifications to succeed as a student, which usually means that schools prefer academic letters of recommendation. I know that schools are also happy to accept professional letters of rec, and in some specialized cases prefer them, but I might be hesitant to submit 3 professional letters of rec if they all basically speak on the same qualities. I would probably lean 1 academic + 1 or maybe 2 professional letters at most in your case.
Sooooooooooo, the very honest answer here is "no, providing more letters of rec doesn't give you any boost in the process." While it's nice to hear from multiple people on your behalf, you're going to be admitted or not based on what you've done and said (grades, tests, resume, statements) rather than the words of others.
With that said though, you already have all four so you might as well use them if a school allows for it! It's not going to hurt you!