I don’t know. This is my 1st rodeo so am still figuring it all out.
But…
I think it’s totally fine to go w/the physics teacher if he’s considering engineering. There’s a LOT of physics in engineering.
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From what I have read about getting recommendations, the grade is not as important as what the teacher might have to say about the student. So, a teacher in a class where he has a B that can talk about the way he works well with other students, or describe his hunger for knowledge, or give an example of a time he has gone above and beyond would be better than the teacher of a class where he has an A who doesn’t have anything of note to say.
Of course, if he has a class where he both has a good grade and the teacher has those kinds of things to say, that is probably the best!
If your child is the kind of student that some teacher might say, “he is the most capable/quickest learning/most responsible student I have ever had“ that could be a good recommendation, also. But that would probably be more likely to come from a class where he has an A, and most of our children will not be the “most“ anything student that a teacher has ever had. (My son might be the most smart-mouthed kid a teacher has had, I guess… 
)
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Thanks for the input and it makes sense. He is typically vocal and participates in class especially when there is lot of discussions in class for Humanities classes. Last year english teacher specifically left comment about that. That’s one reason he wants APUSH as he feels he contributes and usually one to take the other side of the debate if the conversation.
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Just want to let you guys know, you can also ask teachers/ coaches/ etc others who you can’t get a recommendation from for whatever reason (limits on #, grade……etc) but you can ask them to write a small blurb for your child that they can submit directly to your child’s GC and they can incorporate it in their LOR about your child. This is a great way to get more voices to speak on your child’s behalf that can offer various perspectives of your child. My son had a couple of his club advisors, clubs he was very involved with write for him. Hope this helps!
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My understanding is that language teachers are not the best choice unless it is specifically related to their major. And my s21 did ask a teacher who gave him a b and was a 10th grade teacher because she was the best fit. She was thrilled to write him a letter and we were told it was excellent.
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We are really struggling with the letters of recommendation, although our situation is very different from most of y’all’s. S24 is homeschooled and for freshman through junior year all of his classes have been online through various providers of classes for homeschooled students.
He has five core subject teachers this year. I didn’t realize it going into the year, but it turns out that three of those classes (all the STEM classes) do not have any “synchronous“ meetings. Basically, the teachers give work, post recorded lectures, and grade the work, but they have no actual interaction with my son. 
That has been hard enough for learning the material, but it is even worse for recommendation letters.
His literature and history teachers do have once a week synchronous meetings, but the history teacher specifically asks the students not to say anything during the class, and the literature teacher consistently gives my son low marks on participation, even though he has asked what he can do to bring them up and followed all of her recommendations. (He has a 97% in her class, so it’s not affecting his grade negatively, but he feels like he shouldn’t ask her for a recommendation.)
He’ll be taking some classes dual enrollment through a local CC in the fall. But looking at the application deadlines, it seems like he really needs to pick someone who has taught him during junior year. (He had some fairly significant trouble with attitude & meeting deadlines during his sophomore year, which has thankfully improved this year! But I think none of his sophomore year teachers would be a good fit either.) It seems questionable whether senior year teachers will have known him long enough to get a good recommendation letter in by the earliest deadlines.
And we feel like the teacher recommendations are especially important for him because I have to write his counselor recommendation. 
Anyway…it is a dilemma.
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There is a home-schooling section of CC. Maybe someone there has gone through a similar dilemma.
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At our prep for college night the college advisor said recommendation come from 11th grade core teacher. Well, S24 is having some medical issues this year and is taking a hit on his grades so not sure what we will do in the end.
D18 used whatever teachers she felt knew her best. S20 used non core teachers. So not sure how it played in college admits, but they both got into college with merit. So who knows….
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Thanks for the sharing the experience with your S21.
This is great idea. Thanks for sharing.
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One of the teachers we went with for a recommendation was D’s ASL teacher. We did the normal APUSH and Physics(also coach) but we added the ASL teacher. We thought the ASL teacher probably doesn’t get a lot of requests and she thinks the world of D so we really think that letter was great and individualized.
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Having a B should not prevent your son from asking recommendation from that teacher. As long your son is comfortable asking the Physics teacher and your son feels the teacher knows his strengths go for it.
D24 already got an yes from her English and Math teachers which were her first choices. We had our guidance counselor’s meeting in mid January and it took several weeks of nudging for D24 to ask her teachers. Now she says rest of her class is scrambling to get on their favorite teachers list as their guidance meetings happened only in the last couple of weeks…
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D24’s school suggests 2 recommendation letters but most students don’t get both of them as most in-demand teachers (STEM) have limited capacity to write individualized letters that speaks to the strengths of the kid that can make a difference when applying for competitive colleges/programs.
Language/History teachers recommendations can make a difference if the kid is really good in those subjects and showcases them consistently in their assignments. My D certainly has that covered 
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And typically English and History teachers are more descriptive writers
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Yes this is how I feel also. That’s why one STEM and lang/Social sciences seems like a good option.
Yes will speak to S24 and ask him to make a choice soon so he can ask the teachers. in our school also they hit limits and if they do then you will have to use Asst Principal or GC and they use your resume/brag sheet and write based on that and I feel that will feel very generic.
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D24 checked in for the SAT at 7:45 am. People were still getting their IDs checked at 8:30 am. 140 kids took the exam at the testing location. Didn’t get finished until 1:00 pm and they excused kids 1 row at a time from the back of the room…14 rows…and D24 was in the front row, so she didn’t get out of the building until 1:30 pm.
Almost 6 hours from start to finish.
There will be absolutely no doing of HW today.
Not sure anyone on here listenes to Sarah Harberson podcasts or reads her blogs- but she has a ton of advice of each step off applying. How to fill out a brag sheet- etc. definitely worth following her and it’s all at no cost.
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I haven’t listened to those podcasts, but will definitely check it out! I listen to a lot of “Your College Bound Kid.”
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I think you’ll find she has tons of great info. She has Instagram and FB live where you can ask questions and she has printables the help. Also another awesome resource we used was Ethan Sawyers College Admissions College Admissions Essentials and His College Essay Essentials. This was a LIFE SAVER learning how to pack in all activities with the minimal characters you have as well as deciding what style of essay and how to pick a topic. Lots of hours reading thru these and writing an rewriting- but TOTALLY worth it. They do the hard work in schools d their EC’s etc…… and these resources really help you know your packaging if well.
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