Applying as Bio Major but Getting 2 Humanities Letter of Recs?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I'm a senior and planning to apply as a bio/pre-med major. I feel that my two strongest letters of recommendation will come from my AP English and AP Comp Gov teachers, though. However, I will be submitting a supplemental recommendation letter from a Caltech bio professor I interned for, so that along with my top grades and scores in my Bio and AP Bio classes and tests should demonstrate my skill and interest in the biology subject/field.</p>

<p>I know many colleges recommend getting a humanities and a math/science LOR to show diversity, but I'm pretty sure the ones I'm applying to do not specify that (HYPS, Columbia, UPenn, WashU in St. Louis, Northwestern, Pomona, and USC). Also, the only math/science teacher who I think would write me a really good rec is my AP Bio teacher from sophomore year. I know many colleges recommend not getting a sophomore year rec, but I talked to the admissions officers and they said it's okay if it's from an AP class. </p>

<p>My first letter of rec will definitely come from my junior AP English teacher. These are the options for my second letter:
1) AP Bio teacher from sophomore year - did very well in the class and the teacher likes me a lot, but maybe not quite as much as the AP Comp Gov teacher.. he wrote me a rec for a volunteering thing I did.
2) AP Comp Gov teacher from senior year (who also taught me as a freshman and was an advisor for an organization I was president of) - I'm pretty sure this teacher loves me and would write an awesome rec. He also wrote me a rec for a really selective program I did (and I got in!)
3) AP Chem teacher from senior year - I don't know her that well...</p>

<p>Great rec from sophomore AP teacher in subject related to my major VS. a greater rec from my freshman and senior AP teacher and advisor in subject nonrelated to my major VS. a I-don't-even-know rec from my senior AP teacher in subject related to my major...</p>

<p>So I guess the big question is... does the year / subject the teacher teaches matter more than what the teacher has to say? If I want to do pre-med, will admissions officers look down upon my application if my recs are both from humanities subjects, even if I have a supplemental science research rec? </p>

<p>Thank you all so much. I've been agonizing over this.</p>

2

<p>Can you send recommendations from all of them?</p>

<p>You can major in English or political science or whatever while doing the pre-med courses, if that is your interest.</p>

3

<p>No, I’m pretty sure all the colleges want either only 1 or 2 teacher recs. They accept supplemental ones, but I think they prefer those not to be from another teacher and rather someone who sees you in a completely different setting.</p>

4

<p>Also, I’m pretty sure I’ll be majoring in bio and minoring in business.</p>

5

<p>Bump bump bump! Any input would be appreciated :)</p>

6

<p>Bump!!</p>

<p>I basically have the same problem. </p>

<p>(I’m a senior planning to apply for bio as a major, but I don’t know any of my junior year math/sci teachers very well, whereas I know 2 humanities teachers really well. I will also be getting 1 or 2 supplemental recs from bio professors whose labs I’ve worked in, and those should be very very good. Given this, would it be okay to ask 2 humanities teachers despite my plan for a science major? </p>

<p>Other alternatives:

  1. ask my sophomore Honors Chem teacher [but idk if asking a 10th grade teacher is a good idea…and we’ve only kept in contact marginally]
  2. ask my senior year math/sci teachers [but idk if i’ll get to know them well enough in time…and they may have tons of other people asking, so they may not take my request if i ask later, like in November or something. And I can’t ask them for early action])</p>

<p>@AforAmbition, could you tell me what you ended up doing and how that turned out for you? Advice from other people is also REALLY appreciated!!! thanks!</p>