<p>Do recommendation have to be from teachers I had recently? I'll be applying for college next year and one of my Freshman year teachers knows me best.</p>
<p>I think whatever teacher knows you best is better than a teacher who has had your recently. I mean, ideally, they would have had you recently AND know you best.</p>
<p>OP, it depends. Have you had that teacher as a mentor in any clubs or activities? </p>
<p>If you haven’t really interacted with that teacher since freshman year, I would say unless that teacher loves you like his/her own child, don’t get a rec because a freshman teacher won’t really know the current you.</p>
<p>If you have kept in touch and kept her updated and she still knows, remembers and can give you the best recommendation, then by all means get it.</p>
<p>Yes I visit her on average of every other day. No one else in school knows me better than her. I’m just worried that colleges will be requiring Junior/Senior teachers only.</p>
<p>You really need to look at the requirements of colleges that interest you. They’re not all the same. </p>
<p>For example, one school on my daughter’s list specifies that the teacher must be or have been your teacher for math, English, science, social studies or an AP/IB class in the 11th or 12th grade. This list excludes a foreign language teacher. Other colleges would welcome a letter from your Spanish or Latin teacher, but apparently this particular college wouldn’t.</p>
<p>If you have kept contact AND continued to work with your freshman year teacher, I’d say go for it. But if you haven’t…I would probably advise against it. </p>
<p>Especially at more competitive schools, letters of recommendation can be extremely important. Your rec writer should be able to speak not only of your academic abilities, but also of your character/personal qualities. But remember…colleges want to hear about the achievements and characteristics of the person you are NOW (not who you were freshman year).</p>
<p>If the teacher can’t write about your personal qualities and character as you’ve recently demonstrated them, they probably are not the person to write your rec letter.</p>
<p>If the teacher can’t specifically write about your academic achievements and contributions to the classroom as of the last year or two, they probably are not the person to write your rec letter.</p>
<p>Best of luck :)</p>