<p>So now is the time that everyone who is applying to college will begin asking for recommendation letters. I know I personally have some questions myself, and I'm sure others may also. Here are some questions I have:</p>
<p>How many teachers should one ask for a recommendation letter?</p>
<p>What type of teachers should you ask (for example, mainly teacher you have in senior year, teachers from junior year, music/art teachers, etc.)?</p>
<p>How would one go about choosing which teachers to ask for a GOOD recommendation letter?</p>
<p>These are just questions to start off. If anyone else has questions as well, they can be added!</p>
<p>Depends what your colleges require. PICK THE TEACHER THAT KNOWS YOU BEST!!! That is advice I can not stress enough. Some teacher thats not gonna say “little jimmy sat in my class and did good work” a teacher that will say “little jimmy was like my own son”</p>
<p>When choosing your teachers, ask them up front: “I’m hoping to apply to colleges A, B & C and scholarships D and F. Do you think you can write me a very strong rec letter?”</p>
<p>They’ll tell you Yes or No. Also choose teachers from 11th or 12th grade, if at all possible. Colleges feel your most recent work is a better indicator than grades 10 or 9</p>
<p>–not always the one who knows you best, more the one who knows you well and can write a good letter. Sometimes, it’s “cute” they like you like a son or wish their kid would marry you- but that’s not really relevant. And for heaven’s sake, if you want to be STEM, ask a recent math-sci teacher. </p>
<p>@T26E4 That was very helpful! MIT is actually a school I’m attempting to apply to. Would it be bad to send that look to the teachers that I ask, just to give them an idea of what the letter should look like?</p>
<p>not at all. Many teachers do not routinely write LoRs for competitive colleges. The more adept they are with the info on that MIT page, the better.</p>
<p>Make sure to check what EVERY school on your list requires. Some schools have very specific requirements. For example, Franklin & Marshall requires 2 LORs from teachers who taught you in a major subject in 11th or 12th grade, which I take to mean that a second LOR from an Arts teacher does not meet their requirements. </p>
<p>@lookingforward That is not true hahaha. No college admissions officer has ever recommended that (except for MIT’s officer). I got recs from English and Foreign Language. I got into MIT, too. As a computer science major. </p>
<p>So, no.</p>
<p>Get a letter from someone who can speak best to your abilities.</p>
<p>Noel, you will be a freshman. Clearly you did something right. Think twice about telling other kids not to mind the wisdom of their choices, because no one told you and you did fine. One of the things that can impact a STEM wannabe is the lack of an adult educator perspective in an app that states, one way or another I want STEM. That comes from a math-sci teacher. Kids shouldn’t assume or go by what worked for someone else, They should do some wise deciding.</p>
<p>ps. “Major in neuroscience with minor in linguistics.” bio and ling, whatever. I missed where you listed MIT in your acceptances.</p>
<p>@lookingforward. Thank you for your advice! I will for sure be using at least one STEM teacher. He was my physics teacher last year and he’s the coach for a competitive STEM team that I’m on. I was going to have him again this year as a senior, but they hired a new AP Physics teacher. </p>
<p>As far as checking requirements, I think I will be ok. Many of my applications will be done through Common App, and they aren’t specific as to which teacher I get a letter from. </p>
<p>I know for MIT, the requirement is a rec letter from a STEM teacher, and a rec letter from a humanities teacher (like English, foreign language, etc.). At least that’s what I remember seeing somewhere. I’ll need to check again. But thank you everyone for the advice!</p>
<p>As far as MIT goes though, I have at least one STEM teacher, but I’m not sure which humanities/social science teacher I should ask. Since it doesn’t seem like a choir or band director would count (even though music groups are classes at my school), I’m thinking maybe my future AP Spanish teacher, but I’m really not sure. Any ideas? Maybe @noel597 since you got into MIT?</p>
<p>Not an adcom, but part of a team, not MIT. It makes sense, doesn’t it, to view putting your best foot forward from several angles? rkepp, you are on the right track thinking about this- and checking the colleges. Good going. AP Span may be fine- think of the traits the colleges want to see and whether this teacher can note them. Best wishes.</p>
<p>Thank you! I also thought of another “teacher” that would give me a very good LoR. Here’s the situation with it:</p>
<p>This teacher is the economics teacher at my high school, and is actually going to be a “Teaching and Learning Coach” in the next year. She has been a family friend for a very long time (since I was about six years old). She definitely knows me on a deep level, but she hasn’t technically been my teacher ever. The closest she has come is when she helped me when I self-studied AP Microeconomics. Would I be able to use her as a teacher recommendation, or is it more of a personal recommendation?</p>