<p>I am planning to apply to pre-med and I was wondering should I make it a point to get my rec from my ap bio teacher even though I took it sophmore year, or should I get it from a more recent teacher, assuming the quality of the rec is the same.</p>
<p>It’s recommended that you ask a teacher you had in your junior or senior year. But since it’s an AP teacher, you might be able to? I would focus less on what subject they teach, and more on their relationship to you. The better that is, the better your rec will be. (which is all that really matters)</p>
<p>I think they can have more of an effect than people think. A very well written rec by someone who truly knows you can help make you stand out in a pool of apps</p>
<p>Nevertheless, I recommend that you ask a junior-year teacher. If you think you want to be a pre-med, any teacher from the hard sciences would be appropriate. In fact, if you think you want to be pre-med, any teacher who would be appropriate for ANY applicant would be appropriate for you. Not all pre-meds are biology or biochem majors.</p>
<p>^ Agree with those all. The best rec letter is that which comes from a teacher that knows you well.</p>
<p>If your sophomore year AP Bio teacher knows you well, then by all means go that route. Think about the reason Jr. or Sr. year teachers might be preferred – colleges want to see a rec from a teacher who has seen you perform in a high level class. If you took the high level (AP) class in sophomore year, then more power to you.</p>
<p>True enough. But I’ll say that as a teacher, I’m better able to write about my more recent students, even when the students I’ve had in previous years were stand-outs. Maybe it’s just me, but there’s a lot that passes through my head during the course of a school year, and some of the older stuff tends to get dislodged.</p>
<p>Do NOT choose a senior year teacher. Teacher letters of recommendation are for the admission officers to see better what you are like in class and how you perform. How is a senior year teacher suppose to know after only a few months? If you choose a senior teacher who you have not spoken to much, you run the risk of the teacher simply feeding off of your brag sheet for the letter. Much safer to choose from junior year or sophomore year.</p>
<p>I can see that what I’ve written implies you should ask one of your current teachers. Sloppy writing on my part!</p>
<p>I emphatically agree that senior-year teachers do not yet know their students well enough unless they’ve also taught them in a prior year.</p>