Four letters of recommendation?

[snickus]

Programs appear to universally request three. Does anyone know (1) if submitting four is frowned upon and (2) if the application platform generally even allows it?

[jrockford27]

If they ask for three, why provide more?  I would imagine that intentionally not following such a specific instruction would, indeed, be frowned upon?  The best case scenario is probably that they simply don't read the fourth letter, the worst case scenario is that the adcom senses that you're either incapable of following instructions or are being disingenuous and trying to get a leg up on your competitors.

If there is some very compelling reason why you need to submit a fourth, I would suggest asking the Grad Administrator for permission, and explaining in your SoP (and using valuable space under your word count) why you've included the extra.

The application forms universities use are usually used across the university, which would explain potentially why it allows the submission of more than three.  Some programs may require four, five, six, or however many.  I've been in the position of applicant and I know there is a tendency to overthink anything that seems like an ambiguity.  The only important thing here is that the program your applying to has specifically requested three.

Edited November 7, 2017 by jrockford27

[Eigen]

Or, they read the first 3/random 3, and the best one doesn't get read.

Follow the instructions. There's no case where not following them benefits you. 

[snickus]

Thanks @jrockford27 and @Eigen!

I asked the 3 professors who I believed could best speak to my work. In less than an hour, two quickly responded that they'd be happy to write the letter. After a week, I never heard back from the 3rd professor. So I took that as a polite "not interested" and this morning asked another, who immediately emailed back that she'd be delighted to write it. Then less than an hour later, the missing 3rd professor emailed me and stated that writing a letter for me would be his pleasure.  

It's an awkward situation to be in! I'll just need to explain what happened to the professor I contacted fourth. I absolutely don't want her brainstorming for a letter that she'll never be requested to upload.

Thanks again!  

Edited November 7, 2017 by snickus

[punctilious]

Similarly, my husband has three letter writers, and we had forgotten until now that Brandeis only wants two (thanks for reminding me to double check that column on my spreadsheet--it's the only school with a requirement of two on our list)! Should he tell one of the letter writers to not submit their letter? One of them already has submitted, but the other two haven't yet.

[TakeruK]

It's not a bad thing if you have more letter writers committed than you need. I absolutely agree with everyone above that you should submit only 3 if the request is for 3. (If it's for "at least 3" then under some cases it might make sense to have more. But that's another story).

But if you have 4 letter writers who has agreed and you only need 3 (or 3 and only need 2) then you can think about which subset of 3 letter writers would be the best to submit to each school. You don't have to use the same three letters for all of your applications. For example, if one of your letter writers has strong connections at one of the schools, it might be worth swapping them in. Or, if one school has a different requirement (e.g. seems to emphasize something you might appear to be lacking in but this letter writer can speak to it well) then it's helpful to use them instead.

Also, very few profs will be sad that you told them a letter is no longer required. They have hundreds of these to submit (for their undergrads, grads, postdocs, colleagues) every year, especially at this time of year, so one fewer obligation would likely be welcomed.

[snickus]

Thanks @TakeruK ! Great advice about choosing the writer based on the program. In my own case, I believe the first 3 I chose are best as a unit across the board. 

Your final comment gave me a relieved laugh because that's how I framed the news to the 4th professor! We have a good relationship, so I'm not too worried that she'll be insulted. I only had one class with her, while I had multiple with the others. So I think that detail alone will help her see my reasoning.

Edited November 8, 2017 by snickus

[xolo]

I applied to (9) schools. All but one wanted (3) letters, I sent them each three letters (the same three). One school, where I was accepted as it turned out, wanted (3), but allowed (4) (it was specifically in their instructions). For that school I submitted (4). So yes, I believe following the rules in this case is better. It's hard to believe the sheer amount of material submitted all gets read, so why push it?