<p>My oldest daughter is just finishing her sophmore year and recommendations for college would not normally be on our minds right now, however I feel she may be in a good position to be asking one of her current teachers for a recommendation.</p>
<p>As background, she is very bright but developed a real math anxiety starting in middle school. She went from being in honors math in 8th grade to regents math in 9th grade to regents math with a daily support class in 10th (mind you, she is honors-level and AP classes for her other subjects). She went into Trig really nervous but has a wonderful teacher. Being a bright kid in regents/support gave her alot of confidence. And she worked very hard. She is getting great grades. Her teacher is so proud of her and is always raving to the guidance counselor about dd and what a great student she is. </p>
<p>I feel like this teacher could possibly write a great recommendation for dd and think dd should ask him this year for it since she is currently his student, as opposed to the end of jr year/beginning of sr year. I mentioned to dd and she mentioned it to her gc and he agreed. But thought I'd ask the opinions of the experienced parents on cc and see what you think? Good idea?</p>
<p>Oh! And if we do ask, what is generally done for teachers who provide recommendations? Does the student usually write a thank you, give a small gift? TIA</p>
<p>Many colleges have the specifice requirement that recs be written by Jr/Sr year teachers and/or teachers from an advanced class. If this was an AP class or your D is a year “ahead” in the subject it may be OK, but I would look at the requirements for the schools that she might be interested in. Maybe you could ask the teacher to write the letter now while D is fresh in his mind and have on file for later use (could come in handy for scholarships as well). If your D applies to common app schools the teacher will need to upload the rec directly but you will be able to pick and choose from among all the recs your D has specific to each school’s requirements and allowable number. Some schools have a very specific cap and some allow several supplemental recs.</p>
<p>What college has a specific requirement that recs be written by Jr/Sr year teachers and/or teachers from an advanced class? I have never heard of that.</p>
<p>This is what I was thinking as well. My DS just wrote his teacher recommenders a personal Thank You note giving details about where he has chosen to attend. I wasn’t allowed to read them, so I hope that means they were specific and personal, rather than just a “Thank you for my recommendation.”</p>
<p>I believe Stanford does, and others may that I haven’t researched. Stanford also allows only 1 more rec and it must be faxed and is not supposed to be a teacher but some other person who know the student in a different capacity - although a music or other arts director is OK.</p>
<p>I agree with previous posters. Many schools want the recs to come from Jr/Sr year teachers. I actually think Jr. year teachers are the best because if the kid is applying early anyplace, a Sr. year teacher won’t know the student very well by October. </p>
<p>You also want to be careful if you send extra recommendations. It should really say something very different and unique. If it echos what’s said in the other letters, you’re wasting the admissions department’s time.</p>
<p>What people aren’t considering is the level of the course. I think an AP taken in soph year is fine for one of the required LORs.</p>
<p>I have never been a fan of sr teachers if the student has not had them previously for a class, and particularly for early and rolling admission schools.</p>
<p>All the schools cited above say ‘prefer’ or ‘recommend’ - none of them forbid the use of a 10th grade teacher. It is better to get a recommendation from someone who knows the student well and can say something persuasive, even if it’s a 10th grade teacher, rather than a letter from someone who knows the student less well and can only say the usual platitudes about how pinkmomagains kid is ‘an asset to the class,’ ‘a pleasure to teach.’ Obviously, if there are 11th grade teachers who can write a rec that is comparable to the one provided by the 10th grade teacher, that would be best - but sometimes you have to choose.</p>
<p>Also, no reason why your D can’t continue her relationship with this teacher after she moves on. If they had a good rapport, your D might find it rewarding to check in periodically and let her 10th grade teacher know how she’s doing.</p>
<p>True - it looks like the math class in question is not an advanced course, so teacher would be speaking about the student’s character, drive and academic improvement. This could be a great supplemental rec - especially if math is not to primary area of interest. However, they will likely want 1-2 core academic recs from Jr/Sr teachers (as said, junior are usually better unless student has a teacher sr year that they also had as soph).</p>
<p>It also depends on where D of OP will be applying. If Stanford or Yale says they prefer it I would be inclined to take them up on that. Other schools are more casual in the number and type of recs. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to “collect” it or ask teacher if they would be willing to draft one for later use. One never knows how things will play out in 1-2 years.</p>
<p>Integrated Algebra (which is the 9th grade math course for almost every freshman in NYS) culminates in a regents exam. It is also the minimum exam needed to obtain a NYS high school diploma.</p>
<p>Geometry, usually given sophomore year, culminates in a regents.</p>
<p>AL/2Trig (taken in either sophomore/Junior year) culminates in a regents exam.</p>
<p>Make sure that your daughter completes the sequence by taking Geometry along with the regents so that she will be on track for an advanced regents diploma.</p>
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<p>I think that the teacher may hold off writing the recommendation until s/he see how your D fares on the AL2/trig regents exam, which is given on June 19</p>
<p>Here is what Franklin & Marshall College asked for:</p>
<p>“Complete the first section of the Teacher Evaluation Form and give it to two teachers who have taught you a major subject in your junior or senior year.”</p>
<p>At least one other college that my daughter applied to also specified junior or senior year and Wheaton College strongly suggested same.</p>
<p>What’s your daughter doing this summer? This teacher could write a great recommendation for that. It would be surprising if there wasn’t a better choice for a teacher recommendation by the end of next year, but just in case there isn’t I’d suggest your daughter try to keep in touch with this teacher next year. As others have said, many colleges do prefer more recent teachers for recommendations. Does your school have a math honors society? My younger son did math tutoring as part of it. He’s my kid who is less good at math, but because it was a bit of a struggle for him, he was much better at explaining it than his older brother who was Mr. Math.</p>
<p>I think it makes sense to wait and see if your D bonds with any of her junior year teachers. If not, you have this math teacher as a backup. I strongly agree that any teachers who she has for senior year only probably will not know her well enough to write a great rec in time for the deadlines.<br>
Since this math teacher is currently so impressed with your D, I highly doubt she will forget her in one year, so she would be able to write a rec at the end of junior year without difficulty.<br>
Good luck as you start this college journey! It is quite a ride.</p>
<p>For a business major should you ask a science/math teacher or would an econ and english teacher be OK? Son is very reluctant to ask anyone - he hates to put people out he says. We were told to ask early or they may reach their limit. He’s a junior and I’m stressing about this. He seems to think that although he’s getting an A- in Physics, that teacher won’t write as good a recommendation as the English teacher.</p>
<p>Unless he’s applying to a school where you have to apply to an undergrad business school you don’t really need to worry about this. Some schools will give you instructions for who to ask - for example my older son had to have a math/science teacher AND a humanities/social science teacher for MIT. My younger son however, didn’t have instructions from any schools, but they all required two recommendations. Both my kids had one math/science recommendation and one humanities/social science recommendation. Younger son got a really wonderful letter from his junior year math teacher even though he didn’t have top grades in it.</p>
<p>You really hope LoRs will mostly focus on the academic skills your college list wants to see. If you think this teacher will write about persistence, involvement, leadership in class, etc, go for it. After you see how she does in 11th, you can decide whether to use it or ask a higher level math or sci teacher. </p>
<p>When a kid goes through a big transition, as yours has, some teachers may inadvertently overstate how nervous she was in the beginning. See if D can lead her to focus on the ultimate stengths, not the timid start. She can talk this through with the teacher. It can help a non-STEM kid to have some math-sci recs. Usually that’s higher than trig, though. </p>
<p>I agree, the best thank you is to say in contact with the teacher- that’s fulfilling to them.</p>
<p>How do you deal with an “unavailable” teacher of one of your kid’s 2 AP classes? DD had originally planned to get rec letters from both AP teachers, but a couple of weeks ago the AP Calculus teacher took leave for the rest of the year (and is then retiring) after being charged with hitting a student. Another teacher has taken over this class, but she is not one that DD knows, and it’s too late in the year for this teacher to be able to make a credible recommendation for her in this class. She wants to major in bio. Her AP Bio teacher is still in school (she hasn’t hit anyone) and will write one of the two recs. Do you think a college might wonder why DD chose not to get a rec from the AP Calc teacher? Should she tell them? Her fallback for the second rec is her honors English teacher, who fortunately thinks she is great.</p>
<p>^ That’s a question for the GC. It’s not bad to have the AP bio rec, then one in humanities, as mathmom noted. The bigger issue is STEM kids who send no recs from math or science. (That begs questions.)</p>