Choosing a Teacher for ED Recommendations

Applying to College
1

<p>Does everyone get at least one recommendation from their English teacher? For ED, is it okay to ask a teacher from senior year with whom you will have 2 senior classes? </p>

<p>Since the common application forms will not be up until July, should you ask the teacher now, give the teacher your resume, and then follow up with them in the fall with the common app teacher rec form? </p>

<p>Have any of you got recs from teachers who may not write that well, but had great things to say about you? i.e if it is a tie between a teacher who can wrote phenomenally and one that knows you better because you made a better impact in their class, which one is better?</p>

<p>Thanks all for your help and input.</p>

2

<p>Ok so I wasn't planning on applying early and this is what I did. I emailed my teachers in the summer so they could start thinking about it but didn't give them the forms until school started. I didn't ask an English teacher, I had a math and a history teacher. My math teacher I had in 11th grade and again in 12th and my history teacher I had in 9th 10th and 12th. I don't know if asking a teacher who doesn't know you yet would be a good idea, maybe wait until a week or two into school before you ask (just to make sure they don't hate you). And a less well written rec that tells something great about you is better than a vague but beautifully written rec.</p>

3

<p>Does everyone get at least one recommendation from their English teacher?
I didn't get one from an English teacher, although I did ask my history teacher to write one. Some schools want one rec from a humanities teacher and one from a math/science teacher, so that might be something you want to keep in mind when choosing teachers.</p>

<p>For ED, is it okay to ask a teacher from senior year with whom you will have 2 senior classes?
Has the teacher taught classes during sophomore/junior year, or perhaps been the teacher sponsor for a club? It's probably okay to do, but the concern is that a teacher from senior year would not know the student well enough to write a good recommendation.</p>

<p>*Since the common application forms will not be up until July, should you ask the teacher now, give the teacher your resume, and then follow up with them in the fall with the common app teacher rec form? *
I gave my teachers the forms and my resume around late Sept early Oct for ED applications. The general rule of thumb at my school was to give the teachers 4-6 weeks notice. Other schools may have different policies though (I've heard some schools want the kids to ask the teachers before summer vacation)</p>

<p>Also, I'd tell the teachers you need the recs at least one week before the actual deadline (e.g. If the deadline is Nov 1, ask the teachers to finish the recs by about Oct 23) That way you have a bit of a cushion in case something happens, or the teacher forgets, etc. Follow up a week or so before the deadline to gently remind them.</p>

<p>Have any of you got recs from teachers who may not write that well, but had great things to say about you? i.e if it is a tie between a teacher who can wrote phenomenally and one that knows you better because you made a better impact in their class, which one is better?
I asked my history teacher to write me a rec because I did really well in his class, and also was involved with a club he supervised. He is however, notorious for typos, and some grammatical mistakes, but he was able to write a great rec. He did show me his letter before sending it off to make sure everything was correct, and I pointed out a few errors which he fixed before mailing.</p>

<p>Overall, I would say go with the teacher that has great things to say. Hopefully the teacher will have someone else look over it beforehand to fix any errors, or at least the errors won't hinder the message.</p>