Short version: Can you have three teachers write letters of recommendation, and then pick and choose which ones to send to which school?
Long version:
I am a rising senior and I’m having some trouble choosing teachers to write my letter of recommendations. I have an unweighted GPA of 4.0 and I’ve got a few decent extracurriculars on hand, and with my interests I’ll be applying to a variety of higher-tiered liberal arts colleges and Ivies as my reaches. I have a 34 composite ACT with 36/35 in Eng/Read and 33/33 in Math/Sci, with a 36 in Writing.
From what I understand, schools like those I’m applying to (Williams, Yale, Pomona, etc.) want two letters of recommendation from teachers, please correct me if I’m wrong. I’ve got my American Literature Honors teacher writing one, and I’m confident that will turn out well. My second choice was originally to be my Physics Honors teacher, I thought it might be appropriate to have a varied set of teachers write me letters of recommendation, one from the more liberal arts standpoint and another from a stem-related course (I’m going to try to get either double major or a major+minor in CS and some liberal arts course, like maybe sociology or psych).
However, I’m wondering if that’s not the correct way to plan my letters of recommendation, because I realize that my AP US History teacher was very good to me as well, and has commented on my traits as a student before, and may be able to write a more personal letter. The kick is that there is a sort of student-recognition award given by all teachers, and I received one from my Physics teacher and not one from my APUSH teacher. I realize this all sounds a little petty, but between the two, they’re both incredible teachers and I’m not keen on having to choose between them.
My question is: If I’m applying to multiple of these higher tiered schools, would it be orthodox or acceptable to have both my PH and APUSH teacher in addition to my ALH teacher write letters of recommendation, and then just choose two of them for each college?
Thanks so much, please let me know if I was unclear on any part, I’ll be glad to clarify.
I’d go with the Physics teacher for your second recommendation for the reason you noted above - it is generally a good idea to have one humanities and one STEM teacher write letters. I see no benefit to asking a third teacher for a letter – IMO it is not right to ask someone to spend time and energy writing an unneeded recommendation. Teacher write recommendations on their own time and that should be respected.
And as an aside the schools you noted are hyper-competitive and cannot admit all qualified applicants so be sure to spend the time to create a well crafted list including reach (such as you noted above), match and safety schools that you would be happy to attend.
Thanks, happy1, for the advice. I actually asked a counselor just a moment ago as well in addition to posting this here (maximize my resources, right?) and they said that it is not uncommon to have three teachers write and then strategically choose which ones to send to where. Would you agree with that? You appear to have a lot of experience on CC.
I realize that the goal is to get into your top choice in round 1. But let me just toss something else out there…
If you end up on a waitlist (or you are deferred in an ED round), one of the things that you’ll want to do is contact the school and tell them about your additional accomplishments since your original submission. One effective thing to do at that point is to send an additional recommendation. Of course, it could be from a senior year teacher who is loving your current work, but if you feel that one of these teachers would do a great job of that, would there be any value in keeping them in reserve until then? Just another idea.
Very few teachers show you the recommendations (you have to sign a waiver) so I have no idea how you would decide which recommendation to send to which schools – I guess that would be a question to ask your guidance counselor. The guidance counselors in our HS did not recommend asking extra teachers for LORs for the reason I noted above but every school may operate somewhat differently.