<p>Now that school is finally in swing (just started last week here), my D is ready to approach teachers regarding writing recommendations. She is applying early action, so we need her to get this done ASAP. From what I have been reading, it seems important for the academic recommendation to come from an English teacher, so they may comment on the student's writing abilities as well as all of their other qualities and attributes. Here lies the dilemma: Grade 12 AP teacher - she has had for 6 days and she does not even know D nor her abilities yet; Grade 11 Honors - retired in January (we do know how to get in touch with him, but is this OK?); Grade 10 Honors - passed away suddenly last school year. The Grade 9 teacher is still there, but D has not had her since. She is very involved with the Journalism program and is on the school paper, yearbook, and writes for a local weekly paper, but would the Journalism teacher's recommendation be considered an "academic"? In our system - its not and is an elective that does not count towards GPA (which is another story - LOL!!) Her intended college major is Print Journalism. It seems to me that the recommendation should come from a teacher who knows her as a writer, which would eliminate Math and Science teachers. Any help would be much appreciated!</p>
<p>I would try to contact the retired teacher!</p>
<p>It does not have to be the English teacher. Anyone who has taught classes that were writing-heavy will do. My S got a rec from his 10th grade social studies teacher because that was the class in which he did most writing (not the AP classes!).</p>
<p>I think you could get in touch with the retired teacher through your daughter's school administration. (They could make the first contact for you.)
Retired teachers often write letters for past students. This is very common.</p>
<p>My daughter's recs came from her soph history teacher and her junor math teacher and an extra from her music teacher. No desire to go into any of those fields but they were excellent rec-writers. Go with who can write the best.</p>
<p>English teachers are popular because they can (usually) write better. </p>
<p>If journalism is your daughter's main interest, I think the journalism teacher should be a good choice as well.</p>
<p>My suggestion:</p>
<p>Find that retired English teacher, if you can, and ask for a rec.
Also submit a "supplementary" rec from the journalism teacher some folks have a problem with the "non-academic" business.
Does she also need a rec from a math/science instructor?</p>
<p>What school (or if you don't want to identify, what type/selectivity of school) is she applying to EA?</p>
<p>For some, the journalism rec may be fine. For others, I think core academics teacher recs are best. In that case, I think either the retired teacher or a social studies teacher would be good for the "writing" aspect; then a science/math teacher for the second rec. For this type of school, the journalism rec can be extra, if the school accepts/does not discourage supplemental recs.</p>
<p>I think it's best to have the rec come from a teacher who knows her well and can write a 'true' recommendation as opposed to a template. Generally, history and other social studies classes require a fair amount of writing so maybe she could request one of those teachers to do the rec. </p>
<p>A word of caution though - if possible, review the rec letter before it's sent. My D has a history teacher write a rec whose writing and grammar capabilities were horrific. His writing was at the second grade level at best. He also referred to my D as a 'he' (she's far from it) at one point in the letter. We just threw this letter away. As another poster stated, an English teacher s/b more capable of writing (but I wouldnt count on it in the public school system).</p>
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A word of caution though - if possible, review the rec letter before it's sent.
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<p>Alas, this is not usually possible or considered ethical, and I agree that's a problem in the public schools. If you have a trusted (and literate) GC, perhaps the GC could "vet" recommendations.</p>
<p>In our case, we selected recommenders that we knew to be articulate (as well as smitten with D's abilities).</p>
<p>Aso, I agree the J teacher should write a supplementary recommendation, and the academic recs should be written by a math/science teacher and a humanities teacher. There's a recent CC thread on this:</p>
<p>and the consensus was that Journalism is not an academic subject.</p>
<p>An English teacher is an ideal recommender because, at least in theory, s/he should be able to express her/his thoughts well in writing. This could just as easily be true of a teacher in another discipline – so don’t feel that your daughter must submit an English teacher's rec. The point is not that the recommender needs to know your daughter as a writer, but rather that the recommender him/herself has to be articulate.</p>
<p>My son also applied early so his 12th grade teacher hadn’t had a chance to appraise his work. His 11th grade teacher had moved out of the country. Since he was able to anticipate the 11th grade teachers departure, he asked her to write a recommendation in advance which the 12th grade teacher then incorporated into her own letter. </p>
<p>I’d suggest that your daughter either contact her 11th grade teacher herself, or, if possible, ask her 12th grade teacher or guidance counselor to do so.</p>
<p>I second UCSD's point to do some homework on the quality of the recommendations coming from that teacher first. We had an AP Stat teacher, who was also the chess team coach, write the letter because he had known S for four years, and S had done great in his class junior year. However, the letter was barely readable, never mentioned chess, and made a remark about not knowing S well! We thought it had been sent in and only saw it when the ED application was found to be incomplete and we were given the letter to mail in ourselves. This guy is extremely friendly in person and I don't think he was intending to be obnoxious. I just don't think he was comfortable with writing. </p>
<p>It was too late to get another one at that point. S got accepted anyway, despite this atrocity of a letter, but it was not a good moment.</p>
<p>Well, my D saw her 11th grade English teacher (retired) at a function the other night and he told her that he would be glad to write her recommendation. The nice thing is - when she was 11, he was the director of a play that she was cast in (the youngest cast member with all adults), so he has known her outside of school, too. We are feeling much more relieved now that we have this figured out. Thanxs for all the great suggestions!</p>
<p>Glad that you got that worked out.</p>
<p>I will add, though, that we looked for teachers who knew D and S well, as people, rather than what subject they taught, as long as it was an academic subject. S's first rec was from his 10th grade math teacher, a very articulate woman who clearly adored him and had made it clear he was the best student she'd ever had. Second one was from a soc studies teacher who also seemed to have a great rapport with him. FRom personal knowledge, I felt they were women who could speak about who he was.</p>
<p>We did not read the letters, but his GC told S they were "everything you'd want them to be."</p>
<p>The GC was the key for us. not many people at the school seem to have a lot of experience with low-percentage admission schools, but she had gone through the process with her own kids, so she was more up to snuff on the details (especially in comparison with D's GC.)</p>