Letters of Rec

Applying to College
1

<p>Okay, so I'm deciding which teachers to use for my letters of recommendation, and find myself in a bit of a dilemma. I already know that I want to use my AP US History teacher from junior year, but she is the only obvious choice. Here are the 3 that I am considering for my second rec and the pros and cons of each:</p>

<p>My AP English teacher: While I did very well in his class because English is a subject that comes very naturally to me, he is just the type of guy that you really cannot read. I just cannot tell if he likes me or not and would consequently give a good rec. It was a very quiet class and he just did not provide a welcoming atmosphere, so I ended up not participating in class all that much. However, he always gave me extensive positive comments on my essays, which I got high scores on, and I got a 5 on the AP exam, which I can tell that teachers generally appreciate. Also, I'm not sure if it is wise to have two recs from the English-Social Studies area and none from the math-science area, especially since I want to be a biology major.</p>

<p>My AP Stats teacher: He is one teacher who very obviously likes me. However, I just cannot say that he knows me very well and I am very obviously not a math genius, though I did get an A+ in his class and a 5 on the exam (which he now congratulates me on every time he sees me). He could testify that I am bright and work hard, but I don't think much beyond that. However, there is the benefit that he comes from the Math-Science area, which would make my recs more balanced. And no, I don't have another teacher from the Math-Science area who could write me a rec because my science teacher from last year is out on maternity leave until after applications are due and my senior year teachers are generally against writing recs for students that they have only known for a couple of months.</p>

<p>My sophomore history teacher: So it's obvious what this rec has going against it. 1) It was not an advanced course. 2) It would not be from a teacher that I had from my junior/senior year, which I think is what is typically recommended. 3) I would end up having two recs from the same subject area. However, his teacher was not shy about telling me that I was the best student that he had ever had in over 20 years of teaching, and very clearly would write me an phenomenal rec.</p>

<p>What should I do???</p>

2

<p>go with the Stats teacher</p>

3

<p>Definitely the Stats teacher. His enthusiasm will show.</p>

<p>Although, to be honest, the English teacher wouldn’t be bad either.</p>

4

<p>Any of these teachers would be a good choice, honestly. I don’t think you need to agonize over the subject areas too much – even though having balance is good, it is far more important to have excellent letters of recommendation than it is to have them rounded. You did very well in all three of these classes; you get positive comments from all three of the teachers and have done well in all three of the classes ultimately. It really wouldn’t matter which two of the teachers you picked for a recommendation.</p>

<p>Don’t you usually need three letters of recommendation for schools? You could pick the stats teacher and the English teacher if you were really concerned about the subject area thing. Or, you could pick different teachers for different schools; that’s what I did. For some schools I had different sets of teachers give me recommendations because I had so many great teachers who had good things to say about me.</p>