<p>I have psychology classes in an institute. It is somewhat similar to MENSA. Can my teacher write me a recommendation? Would it be acceptable even though he's not a teacher in my school? I just feel like he's the teacher who knows me the best.</p>
<p>Bump bump. I really need an answer.</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve know friends who’ve had college professors and grad students write awesome rec letters.
A teacher who knows you the best will always write the most personal and informative letter.
Good luck!</p>
<p>^Thank you so much YuhikoJay :)</p>
<p>I would say this depends because I certainly can’t claim that I know the right answer for this.
It really does matter if you take RL from some1 not from your school because they give a lot of weightage to your high school and the stamp that it carries for authenticity and verification purpose.
My Math teacher was the head of the Math dept of my high school and she has taught me for 3years and loves me alot.I had initially planned to get a RL from her but she retired 2years ago so I chose not to ask her for RC and took it from some other teacher who knows me well too. You need the school stamp and at times the school may hesitate to put a stamp for some1 who is no more associated with the school (like in my case)</p>
<p>On the contrary,I’ve read in many college applications where they have clearly stated “We recommend you getting a recommendation letter from some1 who knows you the best inside out.” so according this,I could have taken my retired Math teacher’s RL.
But since my school is very strict and we have a new Headmistress…I did not want to take any risk with my application so I approached to another teacher who is affiliated with my school.</p>
<p>Is this meant to be a supplemental recommendation or one of the required recommendation requested by admissions? If the former, this shouldn’t be an issue since college admissions often provides a process for supplemental recommendations. If the latter you should ask the colleges to which you’re applying if this acceptable. Don’t assume that it is okay.</p>
<p>I had one of my internship professors in China write me a rec letter. No school stamp was needed XD
I think it helped me a lot, as I was applying engineering and the letter demonstrated I have had experience. In the end: accepted :D</p>
<p>Good luck everyone with college apps!</p>
<p>^The school stamp? Um, so you think if I ask someone else (outside my school) for the letter they’ll think I’m lying? I mean, I’m sure my teacher is willing to confirm he wrote the letter. It’s a complicated situation, I could ask someone from my school…yet I could just end up with a generic letter of recommendation.</p>
<p>if you’re doing common app, then just add your professor as one of the teachers.
Then you won’t need school stamps ;D</p>
<p>They MAY or they may not.
It’s really not safe to take any risk when it comes to college apps.
Colleges have thousands of applications but they are very skeptical to suspect an applicant.
Infact , I’ve heard that the Ivies have a good connection with each other.
Eg.If Harvard finds out something wrong or misleading in a candidate’s app then they may inform other Ivies about it too.
It’s just about utmost necessity in the end :-)</p>
<p>P:s- Yuhiko … You’re very lucky in this case 
:D</p>
<p>^But how’s that an issue if it’s really authentic?</p>
<p>They won’t think you’re lying. It’ll be a supplemental and doesn’t need a “stamp”.</p>
<p>^ I don’t want it to be a supplement. He teaches me psychology. Isn’t he an academic teacher?</p>
<p>Does that psychology class appear on your transcript? If not, then I wouldn’t have this take the place of a teacher recommendation. I think that would look odd.</p>
<p>^No, because I didn’t take the psychology class in school. What do you mean by “odd”? Do you mean fake?</p>
<p>Maybe not fake, but I would wonder why you had to go “fishing” for this recommendation. I’d wonder why you didn’t submit the requisite number from your school. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>^ I could, but I’m just terrified that my high school teachers will not write me a good recommendation. I think it will just be generic. And in a way, doesn’t that also hurt an applicant?</p>
<p>Show this to your teachers:
[Writing</a> Recommendations | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/writingrecs]Writing”>How to write good letters of recommendation | MIT Admissions)</p>
<p>^You’re missing the point. They’ll write generic recommendations because they don’t know me well.</p>
<p>The first thing you do is to go to the websites of the schools you’re applying to to see if they have any specific requirements for Teacher recs. </p>
<p>If not, then see that on the CA Teacher Evaluation form, the teacher must fill out their Secondary School and the School’s address. </p>
<p>Therefore, if you submit your psych teacher from an outside institute as a required (not supplemental) rec, you run the (very high IMO) risk of not fulfilling the Teacher evaluation requirement because this teacher does not qualify as a Secondary school teacher in an academic subject.</p>