Quicky: number of recommendations

Maybe they know something I don't, but I've never heard this advice. I mean, put yourself in the interviewers shoes - or imagine yourself at work.

Who pisses you off more? The guy who sends you a 1 page resume that you have to read a bit more carefully or the guy who sends you an eight page resume where every single job has basically the same 10 bullet points?

Thats all I'm getting at - if your recs can be different and add value in some OTHER way that the others don't, fine. Otherwise, if it's more regurgitation of the same stuff again and again...

Keep in mind too - sending in a bunch of recs can cause other problems. What if one person says your leadership ability is "excellent" and anotehr selects "average?" or one person says your areas for improvement are "quantative" and another says your quantative skills are excellent but your communication skills need improvement? See what I mean? It could get quite hairy for an adcom to know what to believe.

A single consistent message supported by strong gushing statements in the two recs they request will be much stronger than a disparate set of similar recs.

I know how busy you are with your own stuff, so I really appreciate you weighing in. Thx, I see what you are saying.

You know, another option is to just call the school and ask.

I would just tend to think you don't know how to follow directions

Let's take a purely hypothetical situation. You have great recommendations from 3 professors equally highly regarded in the industry and academia who teach at the very same school you are applying to.

Would you just submit 2 and leave the 3rd out?

I would probably send the third LOR unless it was expressly prohibited. Extra LORs is not that uncommon, especially when students ask for "back up" LORs as insurance in case on of the main writers fails to complete his/her letter. As with many admissions matters, people will differ on this issue.