<p>Hi, I'm currently a rising senior in high school. I've been interning at a physics laboratory for the past two weeks and will be here for at least another 4 weeks. Since I work with only four other students, my professor knows me very well. In addition to helping out around the lab, I've been doing a solo project, which he's been overseeing. Just wondering, since my professor knows me very well, could he potentially write me a teacher recommendation for college? Not as an "extra" recommendation but as one of my main two recommendations. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Also, if I can ask him for a recommendation, which form would I use. The common app’s isn’t really suited to anyone who isn’t a teacher.</p>
<p>I don’t think that’s a good idea at all.</p>
<p>You’re not applying for a position as a laboratory technician. You’re applying for a position as a student. And in the course of evaluating your application, the college wants to read a reference from a person who’s supervised you working in that capacity, and who can talk knowledgeably about how you’ve performed previously in the role of student. Unless you’re writing papers or turning in problem sets for this professor, he can’t provide the kind of information that colleges really want.</p>
<p>This is the very reason why the Common Application’s form is not, as you say, really suitable for someone who isn’t a teacher.</p>
<p>Read the college websites, the vast majority of colleges require a someone who has taught you in a class, but there are a few exceptions.</p>
<p>If a college permits a non-teacher to send a main LOR, I would recommend you still seriously consider the advice Sikorsky gave you.</p>