<p>So when I visited Cornell one of the deans of admission spoke to us about CAS and admissions and whatnot. He said that you need two recs from teachers from your jr and sr years but you can send however many you want. My problem is that I want to send 4-5 b/c 2 of my sophomore teachers know me extremely well and was one of the best, if not the best student they ever had (not to sound cocky but I was lazy 10th grade and didn't take honors English with APUSH when I should have and now am in AP Lit so you can imagine how I was in comparison with the other kids). They also know my personality very well and know a lot about me and whatnot so I definitely want recs from them in addition to my two, possibly three, senior and junior year teachers. Won't 4-5 be too much though and then be looked down upon negatively even though it's allowed? I guess I could take out one of my jr/sr teachers who taught AP Gov and doesn't know me like the other teachers but I want to go into gov/IR so I figured I better have him too and he can help express my interest. So what do you guys think? Also, how many did you send so I can compare myself? Thanks!</p>
<p>lulz. overachiever. Get 2 junior year, 1 senior year. That is enough.</p>
<p>I think 4-5 is too many. Like one extra is fine. Idk but I would see it as ‘why does this person need 5 different people to prove (s)he is good when others can do it with two?’ that could just be me though. I wouldn’t have a teacher who didn’t really know you write a rec. Even if he is a teacher of the field you’re interested in. I feel that a generic rec, even though it’s from someone who is connected with what you want to do, is less meaningful than a rec from a teacher who really knows personally. If you’re interested in gov, it should show on your app regardless of which teacher writes your rec.</p>
<p>both of my recommendations were from teachers i had junior year, for precal and analysis and ap bio. even though i became really close with all of my teachers freshman and sophomore year as well, i picked the teachers who really made an impact in my life and who really inspired me (as cheesy as it sounds). i developed a real rapport with these teachers…hence 2 recs. just dont overdo it and choose 4-5 teachers because you liked all of them. can you choose 1 from a “humanities” subject, and 1 from a “math/science” subject, to show how you are a well rounded student who does well in both kinds of classes?</p>
<p>Thanks everyone, great points!</p>
<p>And I was thinking of getting my honors jr English/current AP lit teacher and my honors pre-calc teacher. But I really want to throw in my 10th grade English teacher and 9th/10th grade science teacher too, lol. Now that I think about it though I might take out the science teacher as she might be a little more generic than the others, but she’s college-obsessed haha and since freshman year always said I’d go to her for a rec. So I guess I’m down to 3: AP lit, honors pre calc, and sophomore English (he helped me get through a lot and is kind of like the uncle I never really had). That’s more reasonable right?</p>
<p>definitely more reasonable</p>
<p>keep in mind that some of your fav teachers might be others’ favs as well, so make sure you give them the teacher rec forms early before they are totally swamped by everyone else (and then have to rush things)!</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip! Yeah, that’s why I’m even asking this question so I can ask them this week, especially since I’ll be doing ED! Tips on how to go about approaching them? Do I just flat out ask them and be like, “hey so and so, I was wondering if you could write a recommendation for me?” blah blah blah.</p>