I hope to major in Biochemistry and want to apply to a wide range of schools, many of the schools I am considering are liberal arts. I think my biology and chemistry teachers know me best, I work with them closely and they like me. I have heard that they both write good letters. I’ve checked the websites for these schools and cannot find any specific requirement for which subject the recommenders must teach, almost all require two LoRs.
Will it look bad if both of my letters of recommendation are from teachers in the natural sciences? I could possibly ask my history teacher, but he doesn’t know me as well.
I read about the “custom” that a student should ask one humanities teacher and one STEM - how rigid is this? Will colleges look down on my application if I ask my two STEM teachers?
If a college does not specify who should write LORs, i would think having two from STEM teachers would at worst be a very minor ding. However this is purely conjecture. I’m not sure you’ll find hard data.
If it were my D, I would strongly encourage her to have one letter from a humanities teacher.
My daughter had two STEM teachers write all of her recommendations, minus the one for MIT which required one non-STEM recommendation. It did not seem to effect her in any way, she was admitted to MIT with the one non-STEM letter, as well as into Duke with the two STEM recommendations. It is more important in my opinion that you pick teachers who know you well and won’t just write generic recommendations.