<p>I was reading on UPenn's website and it says letters of recommendation should come from junior or senior year teachers. I am applying to penn ED next fall so that makes senior year teachers not an option. I really want a teacher I had sophomore year to write my rec. He knows me very well and even said he wanted to write it for me! I know he would write a killer rec.--by far better than any other teacher.</p>
<p>I talked to my guidance counselor and he did not know if it would be appropriate. He also said that he's worried it could harm my chances of admission. Does anyone know the deal with this -- or have a personal experience in which you submitted a sophomore year teacher rec and still got in? Do you think this is okay? I could use another junior year teacher but his letter would not be nearly as good. What should I do?</p>
<p>The general consensus is that 3 rec letters is the max before it detracts from your application. That said, I would get a rec from the sophomore year teacher but ALSO get two more recs from junior/senior year teachers to hedge your bets. Anyway, that’s what I’d do.</p>
<p>Not terribly relevant anymore since I applied seven years ago, but when I applied, I used a sophomore teacher and a junior temporary teacher (he filled in for my regular teacher for about 8 weeks). If the teacher knows you, let him write your recommendation. Along with plenty of my friends, I maintained a good relationship with many of my teachers from freshman and sophomore year of high school, so they knew me as a student and as a person much better than my junior/senior teachers, and they also had a good perspective of the academic/personal trajectory I took through high school. No reason to exclude them because someone said so!</p>
<p>SEAS accepted me this year, and I had a fresh/soph/junior rec, junior rec, and summer after junior rec. If you think that teacher really knows you well, another voice to vouch for you just adds another perspective to the app. If you were to do that, definitely add an extra rec just to make sure and sort of hedge your bets. </p>
<p>Anyways, good luck! And I hope to see you at Penn next year!</p>
<p>My daughter is very easy-going and has much contacts/conversations with her teachers and even school principals (since elementary school). They all expressed that she is very impressive. How do I suggest to my D to select the best ones to write recommendation letters?</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice everyone; however, I’m still not sure what to do. I think I may just go with the sophomore teacher anyway because I have maintained a relationship with him because of a club I’m very active in. Hopefully that is okay…</p>
<p>If you still keep in contact with your teacher through a club, I think it’s fine. My guess is that they say junior or senior year teachers because they want recommendations from teachers who you still currently interact with. If you are still worried about it, you should just contact a UPenn admissions office. I’m sure they would be willing to answer your question.</p>