Parents now accepting recommendation letters from parents | The ...

Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

Megan Laber | staff writer

The college admissions process would be much easier if institutions began letting our closest loved ones write the letters of recommendation for us. Though this sound like an unrealistic ideal, some universities such as Smith College in Northhampton, Mass. are now allowing students to turn in letters of recommendation from their legal guardian.

Colleges that do accept this type of letter have a reasoning that is practical. They believe parents give more color and life to the student they are assessing. By viewing the student?s personality traits they can look further than test scores and past grade history. They can see a new side of the student that cannot be seen in academic standards.

Due to the fact that home-schooled students tend to have more of their education done within the home and less with outside teachers and faculty, it seems that this method would benefit them most.

Sophomore Evelyn Kenney was home schooled from fourth grade until she arrived to APU. She says that some students who do home studies may have an issue for a more specific reason.

?I think the only reason it would be hard or strenuous would be if you had to struggle to find someone to write a recommendation for you because you did not affiliate yourself with an academy. It?s hard to determine whether or not it should be allowed because it?s pretty dependent on how connected your family is to a group,? Kenney said.

According to Kenney, she would have not preferred her parents to write her letter due to the pressure it puts on them to paint a perfect image of her.

?I think a recommendation given by my parents would have put a lot more pressure on them to present me as the child and family member that they have cherished and molded. I think a more official third party is a more appropriate reference because they are able to provided a purely?educational?evaluation of you as a student,? Kenney said.

Sophomore communication studies major Megan Rogers was also home-schooled and affiliated with an academy. She says it would not have been easier for her to have her parents write the letter despite their direct tie to her learning development.

?It was not as much of an issue for me because I went to a community college after high school and got recommendation letters from professors there. There are also state laws for home schooling that say my parents can?t teach me everything, so going to an academy, that was kind of like a private school, gave me access to other teachers,? Rogers said.

Rogers says that due to independence in her studies, her parents did not always have to see her work but some students may benefit from this new college trend.

?I think every student is different. Maybe if they gave a letter from parents and one from an outside source it could be more accurate for some,? Rogers said.

APU is not one of the schools to employ this methodology to their acceptance process. Kimberly Wiedefeld, director of Undergraduate Admissions, says that the school looks for objectivity when it comes to assessing student reference letters.

?As a parent I feel it would be extremely hard to write a letter without bias. We are looking for a youth pastor, employer, or academic leader to tell us about how the student thrives in community outside the home. Having a parent write the letter makes that difficult,? Wiedefeld said.

APU?s admissions process takes all items sent in for the application into assessment but ask that prospective students have a letter of recommendation from someone who is not a family member.

?Though we do not accept parent written letters we do read everything that is sent in regarding the application. We have some parents write some very interesting letters, trying to be objective as possible, but cant count them as valid letters of recommendation,? Wiedefeld said.

Whether APU will ever allow parents to write such a letter or not, it is an interesting way to see if a student is right for a certain institution. Parent?s opinions getting their child into college puts a new level of pressure on our legal guardians.

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Source: http://www.theclause.org/2012/03/parents-now-accepting-recommendation-letters-from-parents/

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