<p>The app form is somewhat amibigious as to the teacher references you can have. Would Psychology be considered a science or a social study? I only ask because my other reference is from a history teacher so if psychology was considered a social study i couldnt include his letter</p>
<p>Psychology is considered a social science, I think, by most people. </p>
<p>They have restrictions on who can recommend you? They didn't have that last year.</p>
<p>call the office of undergrad admissions.</p>
<p>Psychology falls under social studies, definitely not a science. Science includes subjects like biology, chemistry, physics, environmental science, earth science, and anatomy. And yes, this is required: "We require that your recommenders be teachers who have taught you in grades 11 and/or 12 in two different subject areas from among the following: English, mathematics, science, foreign language and history/ social studies."</p>
<p>Oh, that might have been the case. </p>
<p>Last year I sent in one English rec and one history rec.</p>
<p>Most schools have that kind of restriction. Basically, you can't have two recs from teachers in the same subject. If one is a history teacher, you can't have the other be a psych teacher. However, you can include one of them as an optional rec.</p>
<p>collegecanwait: this is too important to leave to anybody else but the adcoms themselves. Call them.</p>
<p>Psychology is a social science, not to be confused with "social studies."</p>
<p>Back in my parents' day, they had separate high school courses in history, civics, and geography. By the time I went to high school (in the Seventies), these had been combined into a curriculum called "social studies," which also included a smattering of economics, and perhaps sociology.</p>
<p>The admissions committee is lumping "social studies" in with history, and treating it as one subject. They're asking you to stick to the basic core academic subjects, and to get one recommendation from two different teachers who teach two different core academic subjects.</p>
<p>If you have one recommendation from a history teacher, if you follow their advice, you'll get another one from an English, math, science, or foreign language teacher.</p>
<p>just for everyone else's info, i called the office and they said it was acceptable, but not recommended. I am just going to get an english teacher instead. Thanks for the advice</p>
<p>Yeah, "acceptable, but not recommended" is basically a euphemism for "unless you're an extremely hooked applicant, this alone may send your app flying towards the reject pile". I would definitely get another teacher's rec, even if it may not be as good. If anything, you can submit the psych teacher's rec as an additional one.</p>
<p>How many rec letters does Stanford need? 3?</p>
<p>Two required teacher recs, just like every other school, and one optional. And there's also the college counselor/advisor rec, although those aren't weighed as highly because they tend to be pretty generic.</p>