S2E23: Should I Have Additional Recommenders for My Common Application?
in this week’s question of the week, Thomas is addressing whether additional RECOMMENDATIONS are important to stand out in your common APPLICATION.
LISTEN NOW
In this week’s question of the week Thomas is addressing whether additional recommenders are important to stand out in your common application.
Have your own question of the week you'd like answered? Send us a DM on Instagram @admittedlypodcast or email us at hello@thomascaleel.com for a chance to have your question featured.
About Thomas
Thomas is a parent and alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania. After earning his MBA at the Wharton School in 2003, he moved to Silicon Valley. For three years, he was director of admissions and financial aid at Wharton School. He worked closely with admissions professionals, students, alumni, and professors to create the best possible MBA class.
Thomas has been an entrepreneur his entire life in the fields of finance, agriculture, wellness, and sporting goods. As the founder of Global Education Opportunities, he works with diverse and underserved communities to help them become successful college students. Thomas started the podcast Admittedly because he is passionate about demystifying the application process for parents and applicants.
Related Links
Apply to be a guest: www.thomascaleel.com/apply-for-podcast
Follow Admittedly on Social Media
TikTok: @admittedlypodcast
Instagram: @admittedlypodcast
-
Hello, and welcome to the admittedly podcast. My name is Thomas Caleel. I'm the former director of MBA admissions and financial aid for my alma mater, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In this podcast, I don't promise easy answers or quick fixes. But I will use my decades of experience to help you achieve your education goals. Now, let's get started.
And today's question of the week, should I have additional recommenders? This is a topic that I discuss frequently with students who come to me and they'll say something along the lines of am I at a disadvantage because I don't know any alumni from the university I want to apply to or my parents have worked their network and they know all these people who graduated from the school. And some of them are super important.
And they want to have them wage a letter campaign or email campaign to the school to get me in. Should we do that? And this gets to something that I refer to as judgment, good judgment, right. And it's not something I refer to it's something that is actually a thing in the admissions process. And we and you look at the applicant's judgment, are they exercising good judgment? And what often happens is, when you go after a recommender who went to the school, or who is very important, in most cases, they don't know you very well, or they don't really know you in a context, usually, I'm gonna make a broad generalization here outside of your family, right.
And so their impact is really diluted. Now. Let's say you've worked for this person, maybe you watch their children, maybe you mowed their lawn, maybe you started mowing the lawn, and they thought you were responsible and hardworking. When you got old enough, they asked you to watch her children, when you got older. They said, Hey, you seem to have an interest in the law or business or bench work in a lab bench work? Why don't you come to either work at my company, or I can put you in touch with somebody who I know really well. That's far more organic growth, right? And they can say, Look, I've known Susan since they were eight years old. This is the capacity, this is the growth that I've seen, we've talked often about their interest in this, that, and the other.
And if they can add value, then great. But the secret here is if they're adding value, they're adding value outside of their role as an alum. And that's very, very important. Likewise, if your parents say, Look, I know a really important alum, and you need to put on your best, your best Sunday clothes, and go interview with them. So that they can write a letter of recommendation so that they know you, you know, those letters are really not only lightly regarded, but in some cases can hurt you because they're saying okay you know look this is just pure privilege. This is purely flexing, you know, relationship muscle, and doesn't tell us anything about the candidate.
Because inevitably, and having read, again, 10s of 1000s of these, they'll say something like I've known John's parents, for 50 years have the best people I could ever imagine I stood up at their wedding, we were fraternity brothers together and in school, and, you know, their kids are just the greatest thing I've ever seen. And they've got great potential. And what does that add? When you hear that, it doesn't add much. And so the other thing I would say is those people also have their own relationship with the university that they need to protect. And so they are approached, if you are a high profile member of the Board of Trustee, etc, you're approached by every single person that even remotely knows you, every year, can you know, advocate for my child, my friend's child, my brother's child, my sister in law's child, my partner's child, whatever it is.
And so, those people very carefully guard their relationship with the university, right? Because they have their own people for whom that relationship is very, very, very important. And so if they just send in 20 letters a year, they dilute their impact. And I remember, you know, speaking with trustees, and sometimes they would say, Look, I have to write a recommendation for this person. They're great, but it's not a priority for me, you know, who is a priority for me? This other person in my organization or my own child, you know, or whatever that is, and that's a person who really matters to me. And, you know, I really hope that they're successful this year because I really think the world of them.
So what I would tell you is, are you at a disadvantage if you don't have a hefty Rolodex that you can deploy against recommendations? Absolutely not. Especially in today's atmosphere, where schools are really, trying to be fair and equitable across the board. These kinds of things, these poor decisions, where you're roping people in and pushing them to advocate for you actually count against you more than ever, so be smart. Make the right decision in this regard. And parents I know that it's very, very tempting. I'm a parent, I would do anything to help my children. But sometimes the best thing to do is nothing at all. Good luck this fall.
Thank you for joining us today. Please take a moment to subscribe to the admittedly podcast and download this episode. I welcome you to share your thoughts and questions with me. You can find us on social media at admittedly podcast. I look forward to continuing our journey together.
