<p>I want to apply to schools like MIT and Caltech next year that require a recommendation letter from a math/ science teacher. This poses a problem because I will be taking math through correpondence next year because I have exhausted my school's math offerings, and my science teacher doesn't write good letters.
I read a recommendation letter that he had written for me for a program that I ended up not applying for, and for a weakness of mine he put my lack of skill in writing science papers. We have only done 2 labs in his class this year, and I have scored well on both, thus I feel his claim is unwarranted. In addition, I won second at ISEF this year, and was accepted to RSI, so I don't think that its fair to say my scientific writing skills are a weakness. Although he's a nice guy, he has often complained about me missing school for science competitions. My research experience is my biggest hook for college, and I'm afraid that his recommendation letter will leave a back impression on colleges.
Should I talk to him about this? Or should I ask my old math teacher to write an recommendation (she writes ones that are very trite and formulated...nothing great, but not bad)?</p>
<p>I would personally use the old math teacher if your science teacher has a risk to write a bad rec.</p>
<p>Dude, if you are a rickoid, then you will get into MIT no matter how horrid your recs are</p>
<p>You say that you have research experience . . . perhaps you had a mentor or someone who helped you with your research and you could ask them???</p>
<p>But if not, it should be safer to ask the math teacher. Or ask both and see which one sounds better.</p>