Is it better to have an outstanding recommendation written by a teacher who taught you a regular level course, or to have a regular recommendation written by an AP teacher?
This year due to some scheduling conflicts I was forced to take the regular level social studies course instead of honors level, however, it is taught by the same teacher and we are very close and I am very certain if I asked him for a recommendation, he can write me an amazing rec and he will probably mention the scheduling conflict.
On the other hand, i could ask my AP BIo teacher who doesn’t know me as well to write the rec, i’m sure his recommendation wouldn’t be as personal. I don’t plan to major in anything relating to science.
SO i’m just curious, what would the college admissions officer rather see?
<p>i would get the regular teacher to write it</p>
<p>The college won't make the connection between the teacher and whether or not they taught an AP course. Definitely go with the teacher that knows you better (and will write you a much better recommendation).</p>
<p>Gosh Dufus, you must think adcoms are really dumb!</p>
<p>Get the teacher who will say you are exceptional.</p>
<p>Yeah, get the teacher that will write the best letter. I used my english teacher from sophomore year and my Econ teacher I had first semester this year. Econ was a total blowoff class, but the dude said great things about me and how exceptional of a student I was. Seemed to work for me.</p>
<p>Regulars teacher.</p>
<p>They can write a better paper on why you would be a good canidate.</p>
<p>zagat, I didn't say anything about the intelligence of adcoms, but let's see. There are 8 or 10 people looking at 12000 applications over an evaluation period of about two months. When presented with all of the information and looking at the application for at most an hour, I don't think they are going to rush from the teacher rec to the transcript and still have time to care. This is not an CIA security clearance. I will reconsider and take into account that the teacher would probably mention the class that he/she taught the student.</p>
<p>^yea, that's what i'm concerned with. because obviously the AP teacher will mention I was in his AP level class, but the other teacher would say I was in the regular level class. However, he would mention the reason why I wasn't in honors.</p>
<p>Consider who is better at writing recs. I know a teacher who is amazing at bsing recs and making kids look like gods, AND he's the head of the department, which makes it even better, so even the kids who barely knew him but took his class got him to write their rec. If the regular teacher knows you better but absolutely sucks at writing recs (look at his/her track record from previous kids who have asked him/her to write their recs), then I'd go with the AP teacher.</p>
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If the regular teacher knows you better but absolutely sucks at writing recs (look at his/her track record from previous kids who have asked him/her to write their recs), then I'd go with the AP teacher
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<p>How would the previous kids know if the professor writes good recs or not since they dont get to see the recs?</p>
<p>Look at people who are older than you and led similar high school careers and had about the same GPA and rank as you. Then look at where they got in with the teacher's recs. I dunno, that's what I did. Granted, you have to take into effect the essay as well, but essay aside, it gives you a pretty good view at the teacher's writing capabilities. I was sort of lucky in that I was horrendously annoying in my AP chem class in my junior year (I love matches...), but I still asked that teacher to write one of my NJ gov school recs, and I got in (my grades weren't that great either), so it gave me a good view of his writing. Yeah...</p>
<p>All in all, teacher recs are only a bit in the app. The teacher only sees you in the classroom and perhaps at ECs, but he still doesn't know the entire you as much as they try to advertise it, but that's only my opinion, so you can ignore it if you want to. Lol.</p>
<p>Its much better to get a recommendation from an AP/IB teacher..
But if you have a very bad relationship with a teacher, dont ask him for the rec.. Ask a regular teacher you know better...</p>
<p>Colleges dont typically care about your major during the admissions process</p>
<p>2 of my 3 recs were from "normal" teachers. Get teachers that know best, it doesnt matter if they were AP or wtvr.</p>
<p>colleges DO care what your intended major is</p>
<p>^that's what I thought too, because obviously say you were planning to major in Biology or a science major they would much rather want to hear what the AP bio teacher though of your performance in his/her class. Granted that's not going to make you or break you but if your recs were from your Spanish teacher and Psychology teacher, they might raise an eyebrow.</p>
<p>If you declare a major on the application, then they probably would prefer a recommendation from a teacher in that field. However, the recommendation is more about character than about how well you did in biology. Adcoms at very selective schools are looking for phrases like "Bill is one of the best students I have come in contact with during my teaching career" or "All of the students look up to Bill and respect him". If those phrases aren't there, then the recommendation doesn't help that much. Go with whoever will say the best thing about you. I have never seen a college guide even consider the concept that an AP teacher recommendation is better than any other teacher.</p>
<p>Often you don't have to declare your major until after your sophomore year in college.</p>