Study: For some students, there are even disparities in recommendation letters

News Brief

Wednesday, July 9, 2025 — 11:19 am

Black, Hispanic, and first-generation students received shorter recommendation letters or had fewer details about their intellectual promise, according to a study reported on by Inside Higher Ed. 

According to Inside Higher Ed, a study analyzing more than 600,000 recommendation letters written by counselors for college found that letters written for private school students were, on average, 20% longer than those for public school students.

• Black and Hispanic students received shorter letters of recommendation than white and Asian students, and their letters contained fewer sentences describing their intellectual promise.
• Letters for first-generation students and application-fee-waiver recipients — an indicator of socioeconomic status — included fewer sentences on intellectual promise, academics, STEM, extracurriculars, arts and athletics.
• Letters for application-fee-waiver recipients, in contrast to private school students, were more likely to include information about students’ “personal qualities” and how they overcame challenges.

Julie J. Park, an admissions researcher and education professor at the University of Maryland, said the research team wanted to investigate potential bias in aspects of the college admissions process, Inside Higher Ed reported. 

Inside Higher Ed reported that the research might question whether letters of recommendation are necessary in the college admissions process, which enrollment experts have reportedly been considering for years. 

“If you are going to keep letters,” Park said, “you need to be reading them with the context for opportunity in mind. That goes for lower-(socioeconomic status) students that traditionally have not had access to as many resources. That also means paying attention to the context for the other end of the spectrum — wealthier students, especially students from private schools, and the benefits and privileges that can come with going to a school that has a college counselor whose sole job is to write these beautiful letters.”

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