<p>Do recs have to be from teachers that you had either junior/senior year?
I know that my APUSH teacher (sophomore and junior years) will be writing one of my recs, but I had planned on having the other one be from either my soph Spanish or soph English teacher. When I shared this with my GC, he said that I couldn't do that. So I was planning on having my Spanish teacher from this year (who will also be my AP teacher next year) write the other rec and reference my soph Spanish teacher. The thing is, my soph Spanish teacher absolutely loves me and I'm tutoring two of her students right now and she keeps telling me how she "trusts me like a colleague," so hopefully my current Spanish teacher would be able to reference her...</p>
<p>...I hope this makes sense :)</p>
<p>No, unless the times have changed.</p>
<p>Personally, I used my English teacher from Sophomore year as one of my recs. He was an amazing writer, but more importantly, he thought I was one of the most amazing students he ever had. I'm pretty sure his rec was a big part of my acceptances to Duke and Princeton.</p>
<p>However, if you do get a rec from someone in your sophomore year, I would make sure your other rec is a teacher from junior/senior year (which is what it looks like you're going to do). </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I agree. Sometimes colleges won't let you use teachers from before junior year. Generally it's better to use teachers who know you more better (these tend to be junior year or senior year teachers).</p>
<p>There is not actual rule against this as far as I know. I would say to go for it, especially since you still have interaction with the teacher thanks to your tutoring. If you had barely talked to this teacher since sophomore year, I would be wary, since you may have changed a good deal (which is the common worry with having freshman/sophomore teachers writing recs). However, with the continued interaction and high praise, I would question your judgment if you didn't ask this teacher for a rec!</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice everyone!
I'll have to talk some more with my counselor before I decide on anything first.
I'm just wondering if I do end up using my JR year Spanish teacher, can she reference the other one, or is that weird?</p>
<p>Yeah, that's kind of weird. Ideally whoever would ask would just flat-out explain why the colleges should accept you. Maybe your junior year teacher could mention that you are much appreciated by the Spanish teachers for tutoring students, or just ignore the sophomore teacher altogether and have the junior year teacher say that you tutor students. It's kind of weird to say, "oh, and her sophomore spanish teacher loves her."</p>
<p>That's what I thought. My guidance counselor made it sound like it's commonplace or something. </p>
<p>Thanks again for all the input :)</p>
<p>I have another question related to this, and I didn't want to start a whole new thread.</p>
<p>A classmate advised me not to use my sophomore year Spanish teacher, because she does not have as impressive a resume as my current one. He says she went to a MA state school [although I'm pretty sure she went to UCONN at some point... but that doesn't matter], so she doesn't have great authority. My current Spanish teacher used to live in Brazil during the summers and has basically traveled the world... very experienced. How much do colleges look at this? I heard it doesn't matter where a teacher went to college unless it's the one to which you're applying... is this true?</p>
<p>Teachers don't send their resumes with the letter of recommendation. How will the school know that one went to a state school or one lived in Brazil?</p>
<p>That's exactly what I was thinking. That's sure a relief! Thanks :D</p>