Hey everyone! I’m a junior who’s having a dilemma with teacher recommendations. Ideally, my primary recommendation would be from my AP Physics teacher, as I make the highest grades in her class, talk to her almost every day, and have tutored other students after school throughout the year for her. Plus she’s an awesome person who’s helped me find my passion in engineering.
The only thing that’s making me hesitant is the fact that she is an immigrant from Pakistan. She speaks fluent English, albeit with a strong accent, but she frequently makes writing errors on physics homework she writes herself. She’s already written a recommendation for a summer program I applied to, but before she wrote it, she asked me for things like my class rank, overall GPA, officer positions, and other things that admission officers will already know.
What I’m worried about is just that - I’m scared she might form a generic letter that won’t provide much input on my character and performance in her class, even though I am very close to her. The results for my summer program (SSP) haven’t come back yet, but should I be concerned about this?
I would absolutely not worry about her writing ability in terms of grammar/diction/mechanics/fluency, as long as she understands how to write a good rec (anecdotes!) and is motivated to write one for you. This sort of thing isn’t really uncommon, and colleges aren’t going to judge you by the English fluency of your physics teacher. @doubleslit
You can ask your guidance counselor if she would be a good choice as they often have a sense of who writes good recommendations. But colleges are not judging the quality of the teacher’s writing, they care about what she/he has to say about you.
I think you would be foolish to miss an opportunity when you clearly have a good relationship with this teacher. An awesome person who helped you find your passion seems like the best person to write a rec about you.