would this help or hurt?

[junior_177]

A professor who is writing one of my letters of recommendation is a Harvard Law alum.  He said he'd put in a phone call to the Harvard admissions office in addition to writing a letter, if I can tell him whom exactly to contact.  Does anyone happen know or have any suggestions?  Do you think a phone call would help, or could it possibly hurt?  (By the way I'm applying in Fall '04, not right now). Thanks a lot.

[xrayspec]

I would not have him call. Adcoms are not interested, in fact one of my apps specifically said "do NOT have alumni phone us on your behalf..."  He can mention his H affiliation in the LOR, that's plenty.

[bobfett33]

Yeah, I agree with xrayspec -

Unless he's a professor AT Harvard or maybe on the law school board of trustees or something, a call isn't going to help, and might hurt.

Harvard simply has far too many alumni who could conceivably recommend a candidate each year - and it would amount to thousands upon thousands of such recommendations.