<p>So the UMich letter of recommendation form has been posted for the 08-09 application and I want to get started on it before every senior in the school is asking for letters in the fall. Thinking back, the two teachers that truly know me best both academically and personally were ones I had freshman year (my English and history teachers). Their classes were the most demanding I have ever had, I earned As in both classes and both teachers got to know me very well. Since then, I don't feel as though any teachers have gotten to know me well and I haven't truly excelled in any exceedingly difficult classes. Would it be okay for me to ask that one of my freshman year teachers write my letter of recommendation instead of a junior or sophomore year teacher?</p>
<p>idk about UMich, but in general, colleges want letters of rec from soph/jr (not sure about sr.) teachers only.
you can probably check the UM website about this.</p>
<p>Preferably only junior yr. teachers.</p>
<p>Don't ask now... wait until October or so. Honestly, I would be ticked off if you asked me for a recommendation right now. It's the end of the year and teachers have to deal with grading finals and determining grades. It's highly unlikely any teacher will work on recommendations now or even over the summer. You giving your teacher a recommendation form right now is basically saying, "Hey why don't you hang onto this piece paper until the Fall when you'll actually start working on writing recommendations. I hope you don't lose it between now and November."</p>
<p>Don't do it. Also, colleges prefer junior year teachers.</p>
<p>newjack, I really don't think that's the way things work. Most teachers appreciate having plenty of time to work on letters of rec, and not having to push them all into a one-month period. It's not like teachers aren't grading anything in October either. As far as being concerned about loosing the form, I know the teacher I asked (at the end of my junior year) did loose the form. which took all of 3 seconds to remedy, considering teachers generally write the letters on their computers anyway (around here anyway), and from there it's just a matter of checking a few boxes. Wouldn't you appreciate having 3 or 4 extra months to complete a task?</p>
<p>Why don't you just ask the teacher first if he/she would be willing to write a letter of rec. for you for your fall college applications, and then ask them if it would be helpful for you to give them the form now so they'd have a longer time, or whether they'd prefer you hold onto it until the fall?</p>
<p>As to whether a freshman teacher is a good idea... probably not as good as sophomore or junior, but maybe if it's a really great letter and you could use one freshman teacher letter and balance it out with a letter from a later teacher... could go with that.</p>
<p>It's a judgement call. My son submitted letters from sophomore teachers (one of which he had for soph and junior year both). It was fine.</p>
<p>Yeah, our teachers ask for the papers requesting letters/recommendation forms before the summer before senior years. It depends on the teacher, I suppose, but most appreciate the extra time because too many students leave them to too late and they have to do a LOT in peak college application time.</p>
<p>I'd pick one of the freshman year teachers- whoever will write the better letter (English), and then a more current one. One earlier teacher would be okay, but don't use freshman year teachers for both of them.</p>
<p>I didn't think colleges wanted soph yr teachers either, although I think one of my kids sent one along with 2 junior year recs. Definitely think freshman year will be considered too long ago so less relevant. Check the websites of the colleges you're interested in. For example, this is from Stanford's site (and the typical position of the schools my kids applied to):</p>
<p>Quote:
Teacher Evaluations</p>
<p>Qualitative accounts of your academic abilities are important to us, and your high school teachers are usually our best sources of this information. We require two teacher evaluations and we strongly request that these letters come from 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. The best piece of advice we can give, as you choose teachers to write these evaluations, is to choose people who like you and who will share unique examples of your academic strengths and personal qualities. We will accept a maximum of two teacher evaluations.</p>