A college that shall remain nameless has written to invite either or both parents of our potential student to submit a letter of recommendation in support of her application. What do you think a parent's letter of recommendation could reasonably add to the information in the Common Application and all the supplementals? Here is the prompt: "...we know that you have insights about your daughter that could assist us in understanding her academic potential as well as her capacity to contribute to other aspects of campus life."
I wondered if something along the following lines, stretching the truth just a little, might be appropriate:
Dear Psmith College Entrancepersons,How entranced I was by your invitation to submit a letter of recommendation, so entranced in fact that I shall now abandon my usual reserve and tell you the secret and absolute truth about our daughter. The fact that today we live in a rather large house is the result of all the years--I'm sure she's too modest to have told you this--she spent learning about construction with Habitat for Humanity. She raised all the roof beams on her own back, stapled every shingle, installed each inch of plumbing. If your campus has expansion plans, you will probably want to ask her to consider volunteering to build you say a chapel, or a new library.
As a member of a faculty myself, with twenty years' experience hearing of academic infighting at other institutions, I must report how sorry PNCA will be to lose E's mediation skills. She has been attending faculty council meetings since the day she was born, and so it was with six or more years of listening experience that she first spoke up, suggesting a simple and elegant solution to the then perennial fuss about how to improve retention. With a small expenditure on "snack time" at three, we now have enthusiastic classes right the way through to six pm and sometimes even later. To get maximum benefit from her experience, I would urge you to consider asking her opinion on almost any administrative issue as soon as she sets foot on your campus.
A key member of the team that designed the Linux operating system and a personal friend of Linny Torvalds, E. has enough IT knowledge to fix almost any IT problem on a campus.
Winning the lottery would be for some eighteen year olds a life-transforming experience, but in our daughter you would be hard pressed to notice a single hint that she is now worth thirty seven million dollars. As her Habitat experience suggests, she is a very generous individual. I can't think of much else to say but please don't hesitate to write if you have any further questions. The best contact for me nowadays is the Fullbright Awards Committee number, but you can also find me through the Phil Knight's brand new charitable foundation.
I remain sincerely yours, David Ritchie, Portland, Oregon ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
