So I read that we generally need a rec letter from a GC and two teachers. I have a great rapport with my French Teacher who writes wonderful glowing letters, and as one of her best students I am sure she will be happy to help me.
The other teacher is what concerns me. Do I need one from a STEM teacher, or should I request one from my APUSH teacher, who is one of the best teachers I have had, although I only had him this one year. He manages to get EVERYONE in the classroom engaged in discussions, and as someone who is usually very quiet in class, I am surprised at how much I have participated in his class. I am sure he is the person who nominated me for the History prize that I won at our school awards night last night.
My STEM teachers, well, like I said, I don’t feel they really know much about me other than I always do my homework and have done well in every class until this past year. I don’t want to ask the teachers where I am getting a B this year, and several of my former math/science teachers have retired or left, one who remains that I had part of last year had a mid-year maternity leave so we had subs almost half of the year.
I am thinking I want to pursue Engineering, because as a female who has done well before now, it might give me a competitive edge. But I am really unsure about it.
Will I need a rec letter from a STEM teacher? Should I have my GC explain why I don’t have one in her letter?
I will have a 3.9 UW and 5.0 WGPA after this year ends, taking a brutal schedule, and I am hoping for elite schools in New England that meet full need.
Depends on the school. Some schools like MIT, Harvey Mudd, Caltech, etc. require one STEM and one Humanities rec. If you don’t have one, you won’t even be considered for admission. My advice to you is: check with EVERY school you are applying to. If even ONE school requires a STEM rec, get a STEM and Humanities rec for every school.
It is much more important that your recommenders be able to say something about you. If all your physics teacher can say is “showed up, did the homework, got an ‘A’”…well, that’s not really helping your case. Doesn’t hurt, but it’s wasting space that could be taken up by your English teacher talking about how you were so inspired by a unit on Shakespeare that you got the school to spraypaint murals from Midsummer Nights Dream in the wall.
Note that this holds true regardless of your proposed course of study. Most students change their majors in college, some of them many times over. You won’t really know what you’ll want to do with your life until you’ve explored a bit. And even if you do pursue engineering, knowing you also love French literature HELPS your application immensely. Monomaniacal students are boring students.
If I read in your essay that you’re really excited about going into microbiology, but your recommendation letters are from your art history internship at a local museum, that tells me you like learning some things - anything - just for their own sake. For an academic, there is no more valuable commodity.
Unless the colleges require one of each (check their websites), I would go with the ones you described.