NYU's new recommendation policy aims to reduce barriers and increase flexibility for applicants, while still allowing multiple letters to be submitted.
“NYU requires one letter of recommendation from a teacher, counselor, coach, supervisor, or anyone else in a position of authority.”
Every admissions season, we get questions from students eager to understand how this impacts their admissions process. As you’ll see, it doesn’t change much.
In two words, reducing barriers. NYU receives applications from all over the world. School systems and their resources vary greatly. Not all students can easily obtain a recommendation from both a teacher and a counselor, and for some students, the teachers and counselors that they have access to might not be the people who can best speak to their readiness for college. By reducing our requirement to one letter and expanding who could write that letter, we hope to ease this pressure point for applicants.
Yes! Many colleges and universities still require two letters of recommendation. So don’t feel you need to withhold a second letter just because we only require one. NYU will happily accept up to three letters of recommendation.
But even though we will accept up to three, if you feel one recommender is truly the best advocate for you, there is no need to obtain additional letters just for NYU.
No. When we say your recommendation letter can be written by anyone in a position of authority, we mean it. For some students, their strongest supporter may be someone outside the classroom:
Make sure they understand the assignment. A babysitting reference and a college recommendation are not interchangeable. And your recommender will need to address your potential to grow, succeed, and achieve in a college environment. We look forward to learning more about you through their letters.
Because teacher recommendations are still required by other schools, the majority of letters we received last year were written by teachers. And that’s okay! So if you’re excited for admissions to read your teacher recommendation, there is no need to reinvent the wheel.
Whenever possible, choose a teacher who taught you in a recently completed school year (for instance, 11th grade in the United States). This way the recommendation reflects the most challenging coursework you completed so far and represents the perspective of someone who witnessed your development over a full year.
In essence, a teacher recommendation serves as a “highlight reel” for your performance in their class. Your teacher should be able to speak to things like:
So if you got A’s in two different classes, but you felt like your passion for one subject shined through more than the other, that might help you decide which teacher to ask. A quality recommendation consists of much more than what grade you received on the final.
