<p>ok i have 4 teachers who all really like me and can all write me really great personal recs. </p>
<p>i am going to be a sr</p>
<p>teacher 1. had her for ap comp in 11th grade. she really likes me, knows me both as a student and person, and thinks i am the funniest person she knows and calls me sweety or honey sometimes. old black lady who went to ucla.</p>
<p>teacher 2. had him for APUSH and he also really likes me because i always participated and raised my hands and helped spark up discussions. white guy prob in his 40s or 50s who taught apush for a long long time. great teacher too and i am sure he can write great rec letter too. told me he would be really happy to write a rec letter for me</p>
<p>teacher 3. my german teacher. had her for 10th and 11th and will have her for 12th grade. really likes me too and she is one of those ppl that writes good recs</p>
<p>teacher 4. honors geometry teacher. mostly 9th and 10th grades in his class. thing is i was never a student of his but teacher 4 is also "coach" of our varsity tennis team and i am in varsity tennis. i never missed practice, matches, and helped our tennis team a lot to win our school league and help our team advance to quarterfinals of CIF. i also got most improved and mvp of our school league and i always buy pizza and starbucks cards for him. old gentle black guy. not that great of a teacher though but great guy.</p>
<p>employer. employer likes me a lot too cause i always do what he says and i help him a lot.</p>
<p>Okay 3365, you have four great teachers, so there's nothing to worry about. But what's the point of sending four, when you could just send two very good recommendations? I know you want colleges to be well informed of how wonderful you are, but I don't think college admissions officers have time to read four recommendation letters that will probably repeat many things. Two people telling you that you're wonderful is good enough--you don't need four people to tell you that you're wonderful. </p>
<p>Here's something interesting from Yale's website:</p>
<p>"...even if a school allows an unspecified number to be sent, there is a danger in swamping the admissions committee with so many statements that they miss the punch of the two or three especially good letters you may have. If submitted by themselves, those letters are more likely to be read carefully. Do not casually request letters if you do not intend to use them. Faculty members take these requests seriously and spend a considerable amount of time honoring them."</p>
<p>Two, my friend, is all you need. And no more.</p>
<p>seriously 2? but each person knows me differently. like in apush, i am the typical "always interested in learning" type of student, in apcomp i am the "very likable, funny, as well as smart" type of person, etc...</p>
<p>Choose the two who know you in the capacities you would most like the college to regard you. Sending four really different ones will make them question you. Sending four in general is just too much.</p>
<p>chose two, three max. actually, ask each school what their policy is regarding extra recs. from what you described (...with the racial profiling and all) discount number four...most colleges require that the recommender, if i am not mistaken, has had you in class, unless they ask for something else specifically. from there, i would choose one and two, and send number three to the colleges that agree to consider an extra rec.</p>
<p>3365: as you read the advice from Yale's website, put yourself in the Yale adcom's shoes. Sure they want to make an informed choice but consider the 1000s of recs they read. Why is ANY single applicant a special case that demands more of your labor? Really? Without fail, probably every applicant to Yale college is destined to a fantastic college career. You are too in most likelihood. The Yale adcom knows it's not exact science and they are operating with limited info. They may overlook great kids, their personal biases may push them towards others. It's imperfect and subjective. And they're OK with that. </p>
<p>So my questions is: why annoy the readers even one tiny bit? Frankly, ask your two chosen teachers to INCLUDE a line or two about your character you feel would be in the other recs.</p>
<p>Okay, 3365, it doesn't have to be such a big deal. The process is simple. Ask two teachers, who would write strong recommendation letters, for recommendations, get them, send them in. End of story. It honestly does not need to be complicated.</p>
<p>"wait i didnt quite understand. you want me to ask my teachers to talk the same stuff about me??"</p>
<p>My suggestion is rather than submit a third, just have the relevant info from the third rec be mentioned by one of the other writers. You aren't a special case, I'm sorry to inform you.</p>
<p>what do you mean by special case? you mean like the best student possible? if thats the impression i gave you i certainly didnt mean to. i know there are thousands of students who exceed me 232132 times. i am just telling you guys the most information possible about the relationship between my teachers and me so you guys can give me best possible advice.</p>
<p>Generally you send a third recommendation if there's some real special need to, something that makes it almost necessary to include one from a non-academic teacher.</p>
<p>Sorry 3365: that was an unfair characterization by me. I can understand your wanting to present the strongest package. Let me just reassure you that it's extremely unlikely that info contained in a third and fourth teacher rec will be a tip for you or add anything more than what will be confirmed in the 1st two. Usually third (supplemental) recs are written by people with a unique relationship such as a club advisor, coach, employer or research supervisor. You can see how the context will be extremely different than in the classroom with these candidates.</p>
<p>In choosing which teachers to write, my advice would be to see which have had successful admits to rec-required colleges in the past. To be frank, although well-meaning, many teachers don't know what holistic college adcoms are looking for. You want the rec to have anecdotes and specificity. Not just general "student was a pleasure, one of the best in my career, worked well with others" recs. Frankly these, without specificity and anecdotes backing up the assertions, don't enhance an applicant's file.</p>
<p>A admissions counselor once told my friend, "The thicker the application, the thicker the student". They HATE spending extra time reading trivial stuff, and usually if they see too many extras they start wondering why the applicant himself/herself can't adequatly present themselves in the essays, personal statement, etc. </p>
<p>Use two, you don't want them to be swamped with tons of extra info repeating the same thing. Talk to your teachers that you choose beforehand, so they can discuss the various elements of your personality.</p>
<p>Don't listen to whomever said number 4.
2 out of the remaining three are good (unless you took APUSH before 11th grade--then you should use 1 and 3 definitely).</p>
<p>You want to select teachers that will say something like "3365 is the best student I've ever had in 30 years of teaching." </p>
<p>I actually think that admissions people like to see different teachers all saying the same thing about you.</p>
<p>If your college allows supplementary recs you can ask your tennis coach or employer to write a 3rd one.</p>
<p>Just remember that they only spend a few minutes on each app. You dilute the effect by trying to cram too much in there (it is also irritating).</p>