App Question

<p>Hello, I am going to apply to Swarthmore and I have one question. For the recommendations, do they prefer a specific grade teacher ?( I couldn't find this information on the website). Thanks.</p>

<p>I believe they prefer a junior yr teacher, most schools do. There are always excpetions though.</p>

<p>It's your app. Pick the teachers who know you the best and will do the best job of highlighting the strengths you want to present. It's hard to give specific advice, because you know your teachers better than we do!</p>

<p>I think Swarthmore would be most interested in hearing from teachers who can best help them get to know you through your application.</p>

<p>This is really an area in which a good advisor who can call admissions to find out the answer, is helpful. If not, I would call admissions and ask a very succinct, generic question about their expectations, not a whole saga about why you need/prefer to use someone who is not a junior yr teacher. Colleges want someone who taught you for a close to year and at least a full marking period and recently. I would not however submit a really mediocre junior rec for a rave soph, however. All things being almost equal, the junior yr rec is expected. This conclusion is based on recent experience and not conjecture.</p>

<p>This is not exactly on point to the question the OP asked, but a related one. Colleges usually ask for a recommendation from a teacher in an academic subject. Some colleges have a very strict definition of an academic subject: defining this strictly as English Lit, Math, Science, Social Studies and Foreign Language. So the teacher in Art, or Business, or Journalism, etc. wouldn't count. </p>

<p>The solution we've taken to this restriction (if the Art, or Business or Journalism teacher really knows the student best or would be able to write eloquently about some special aspect of the student) is to submit 3 recommendations -- 2 from "academic" subjects plus the recommendation from the Art, or Business or Journalism teacher.</p>

<p>I would be careful about sending three, we were advised against it. However, our very excellent college counselor incorporated references from numerous teachers into his rec. Again, I think its the exception and not the rule. Colleges don't like overkill.</p>

<p>We got the advice to submit 3 recommendations in this case from a Swarthmore admissions officer. I know of one applicant from last year who had their application deemed not complete because one of their recommendations was from a teacher that the college did not consider in an "academic" subject.</p>

<p>Alright you guys all gave great advice..thank you all so much!</p>