KarenNC Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 We went to an open house at Davidson College today and discovered they require a peer recommendation, strongly suggested to be from someone within 2 years of student's age, as part of the application. Is this a new thing? I had never heard of such a requirement. Have your students had to include this in their applications? How did they go about finding one, especially if they don't currently have classmates and most friends are not necessarily good writers? What was the peer asked to evaluate? I hate peer recommendations in work situations and feel it's an even worse idea for high schoolers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 Never heard of this. None of the 12 schools DD applied to required something like this. If I had to do it, I would look for somebody who is with my student in a shared activity - so not necessarily the closest friend: a team mate, training partner, fellow orchestra musician or choir singer, coworker. I think that will make it easier for the other teen to say something substantial, because one could start talking about the contribution your kid makes to the team/club/group, could talk about what the others value/ like/find special about the person. I do not imagine that the institution will put a great value on the peer recommender's writing ability - after all, it is not the recommender who is applying. I would imagine this to be just another way to gain a holistic picture of the applicant; the college clearly wants somebody who relates to peers and can function well in a social group of similar age young people. That is not the same thing as being highly regarded by a teacher - so I would guess that's the angle they are looking at. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 I think I remember seeing a form the peer had to fill out. I remember it being pretty simple. The peer would not be composing a full letter. Ds didn't end up applying there but I do remember wondering who ds could ask. I think he would have asked a baseball teammate. I have not seen this requested anywhere else but I have known people that used peers in the "other recommender" category if there was a unique situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bootsie Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 I see Dartmouth has this also. I wonder how much information the school really gets from these. I find that using any type of peer evaluation in my classes almost never results in useful information. Students tend to rate each other extremely highly (at least at the school where I have taught) I would think this would be even more so on these type of peer recommendation forms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodGrief Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 Dartmouth has it as an option, though not required. I can't imagine what useful information it offers, but my daughter's friend is doing one for her :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 Suggestion -- don't use a sibling! Many years ago dd applied to Davidson. Her stats were extremely competitive, and she got a full-tuition scholarship from a pretty comparable school, so we were not out of our tree for expecting an acceptance letter from Davidson. She used her brother as the peer rec on the grounds that he could write very well and knew her extremely well (just a year behind in school and in lots of activities together). We were surprised by the rejection, and we have always wondered if her using her brother as the peer rec was part of the reason why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted November 15, 2015 Author Share Posted November 15, 2015 Suggestion -- don't use a sibling! Many years ago dd applied to Davidson. Her stats were extremely competitive, and she got a full-tuition scholarship from a pretty comparable school, so we were not out of our tree for expecting an acceptance letter from Davidson. She used her brother as the peer rec on the grounds that he could write very well and knew her extremely well (just a year behind in school and in lots of activities together). We were surprised by the rejection, and we have always wondered if her using her brother as the peer rec was part of the reason why. They did suggest not using a sibling, but Davidson has the rep of not being very open to homeschoolers regardless. I don't know at this point if my daughter will end up applying there when the time comes (she's a sophomore). We went primarily because it's a good example of a small highly selective private liberal arts school in a small college town setting, is very close so we could visit easily, and she got to sit in on a class. We're at the beginning of narrowing the kinds of schools that interest her, so trying to hit open houses for various types of local schools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 i"m glad they now recommend not using a sibling. Back in the day they just said to use someone who knows you well and writes well. Yup, Davidson has a lousy reputation for accepting homeschoolers. I even know a hs'er who got into Williams who didn't get into Davidson (and had geographic diversity points for Davidson but not Williams)! One of the more amusing threads I've ever seen on College Confidential was the "hs'ers with 2400's who were rejected by Davidson" thread! There were a surprising number of posters on the thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justkeepswimming Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 None of dds schools (so far) have had this request. I'm relieved to see that it seems to be an unusual thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justkeepswimming Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 One of the more amusing threads I've ever seen on College Confidential was the "hs'ers with 2400's who were rejected by Davidson" thread! There were a surprising number of posters on the thread! This is simultaneously hilarious and infuriating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 I swear there's a cabal of admissions officers who meet in the dead of night, cackling over new and ridiculous requirements they can impose on applicants. Dance, monkeys, dance! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.