<p>My son is a strong student (4.26 WGPA, 2320 SAT) despite the fact that he is severely dyslexic. We did partial homeschooling and will have to fill out the homeschool application in addition to the regular application and the high school of its own volition gave him credit for some but not all of his homeschool courses which enabled him to graduate in June. He's on a gap year/continuation of homeschooling. </p>
<p>I suspect that the recommendations are going to be particularly important because his record is strange -- part in school, part homeschool, no foreign language because of the dyslexia, fewer ECs typical of strong students, unconventional ECs instead.</p>
<p>He needs to pick a teacher for a second recommendation. His first teacher taught him in Constitutional Law and International Issues and was the faculty advisor to and judge in Moot Court, at which my son did very well. The school gave my son a copy of this teacher's recommendation, which was, I believe, fabulous. "Exceptional student" with an "exceptional mind", "one of the most thoughtful kids in my 15 years of teaching" etc. He did great work for this teacher and she clearly acknowledges the intellect, drive, and personality (she is an absolutely superb teacher, very bright, quite demanding and he loved her). It is a very strong recommendation. </p>
<p>Now, here's the issue: we've been told he shouldn't get a recommendation from a teacher who taught him last in sophomore year. If so, that leaves the BC Calculus teacher (waiting for the score after mixup by College Board and School), the AP Physics teacher, the AP Chemistry teacher (he got a 5 on this exam), or the Psychology teacher who taught basic psych sophomore year and a by application pass/fail seminar on Jungian psychology. </p>
<p>Here are the issues and I'd love to get guidance from you on whom to suggest to my son. My son was sick for a fair bit of senior year and so the Math and Physics teachers don't know him as well as prior year's teachers. There was a true math genius in these classes, which means my son wasn't the top of the class though he clearly was strong.</p>
<p>AP Physics teacher -- went to Brown (my son's current top choice) and is a very enthusiastic type. My son met with him many times as he was teaching physics to himself to catch up by year-end. He also gave my son a bunch of practice tests before one unit and then gave the test, which was one of the practice tests. My son informed him he'd already gone through the test and requested one he hadn't done. But, he's likely to say in a very positive way: bright kid, real talent, good student, can work independently and needed to because he was sick a lot, honest.</p>
<p>AP Chemistry teacher -- no close relationship. My son taught himself AP Chemistry while going through Honors Chemistry the year before and so he didn't work very hard. He said he only got two questions wrong on the AP Chemistry test. Likely to say very bright, good student, grasps the concepts extremely quickly. Won't have the basis for saying much other than that.</p>
<p>Psychology. Thought my son was very strong but saw him in sophomore year when he was struggling to manage the work and the dyslexia. His first course was an easy intro course. My son was sick for 3 of the 8 sessions of the Jungian psych seminar. I heard indirectly from another Social Studies teacher that the word in the department was that my son was a "genius" who successfully overcome his learning disabilities. I don't know if this teacher shares that view.</p>
<p>Honors Chemistry. The downsides -- only sophomore year and the less advanced course. But, she worked with my son through the early sophomore year struggles and he did began to perform phenomenally well. She is not a big believer in accommodations but wrote on his behalf for accommodations for the SATs. In that letter, she said, "He has a truly intellectual approach to his learning and, when given the time to respond, his thoughts and answers meet the highest expectations. He enjoys the rigor and challenge of a course like chemistry and I will long remember him as one of my best students." She also knows that instead of memorizing the formulas and how to use them in her class, he learned the fundamentals and thus taught himself almost all of AP Chemistry the year before and could probably comment on that and the fact that he was a terrific student in AP Chemistry.</p>
<p>My vote would be for the Honors Chemistry teacher despite a) the fact that she only had him as a sophomore; and b) we don't know exactly what she would say given that he struggled (with workload, not grades) in the beginning followed by Physics, AP Chem, Psych.</p>
<p>Do you have any advice?</p>