*Rec Letters help. Cant decide.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>Okay,</p>

<p>I'm kind of in a dilemma here..and would greatly appreciate some feedback. Stanford is my #1 choice, so I'm posting this here as I would like answers from its pov.</p>

<p>Basically, I asked my *AP Lang teacher and my Calc BC teacher * to write my letters last year. My AP Lang teacher was also my soph english teacher, so she knows me well. Moreover, she's already written the letter.</p>

<p>However, I'm kind of having second thoughts on my calculus teacher. I did very well in her class, she knows me, she likes me, and she nominated me for the Rensselaer Medal (which I eventually did win)--but I'm not sure about how well she can write the letter/ how good of a writer she is, so that it doesnt come off as generic. </p>

<p>Thus, I'm thinking about asking my French teacher, who I've had since 9th grade, thinks I'm an excellent student, and in whose class I've done very well in as well. In fact, at the end of last she even offered to do anything to help in any way she could.</p>

<p>*What should I do?? Should I not have my french teacher write it, or have both my french and calc teachers write (and then decide which schools they would send their letters to)..or what? *</p>

<p>I chose my calc teacher, because she teaches me in math, which is another perspective on me rather than having a two humanities type teachers (english & french). *Does this (rec teacher's subject) matter much?? *</p>

<p>Additionally, do most people applying to Stanford have a third person also write a recommendation letter? Is this common? My middle school teacher offered to write one for me (she's amazing and I was her best student). Moreover, she would be able to talk about my passion for web designing...as I started it in ~5th grade, created a company later, and also created a website coded in php for her in 7th grade. *Should I ask her to write the letter? * </p>

<p>Your answers/feedback will be invaluable to me, so thank you in advance!</p>

2

<p>Hmm, this is a pretty cut and dry problem. The only dilemma is that you're thinking a little too much into this. You have several options:</p>

<ol>
<li>Colleges like versatility in the recs. So one humanities and one sciencey. So unless your French teacher is super duper amazing to you, don't do English and French. Non-native language teachers are also a problem because they unintentionally use english words that may have bad connotations. (I knew this one girl who had her Spanish teacher, and the teacher used the word 'notorious' in a complimentary way, but it still comes off as bad)</li>
<li>Your Calc teacher seems to appreciate your talent, and whether she majored in english or not, that will come through in a rec. </li>
<li>Supplementary recs are discouraged, unless they are the only source of information about an important aspect of your life (i.e. science research or tennis champion). In your case, it would be web design and it sounds like you've done some amazing things for it. </li>
</ol>

<p>My advice: Use your Ap Lang and Calc teacher. Then have the third teacher talk about web design. Have her talk specifically about your skills and don't be afraid to tell her what you want her to say. </p>

<p>Wow, I must be really bored. I've gone crazy with this answer.</p>

3

<p>Wow, thank you bluereedz! I really appreciate your response (it's very well thought out) as well as your patience in reading through my long post. Even though my French teacher is American & her first lang. is english, I think I will stick to getting letters from my calc teacher & ap lang teacher. And get that additional rec.
I guess I did start thinking about it too much...:)</p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>