Recommendation Troubles

Colleges and Universities A-Z Middlebury College
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<p>I'm in a bit of predicament. Coming into my senior year, I thought I knew exactly which teachers to ask for ED Middlebury recommendations. I'm not entirely sure now, however. Originally, I was going to ask:</p>

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<li><p>My AP English teacher, who was also my junior year CP English teacher. He was a college professor until coming to my public high school last year. Today, before class started, he offered to write me "a great recommendation" without me even asking for one.</p></li>
<li><p>My Honors Modern Physics independent study supervisor. She was my CP Physics teacher last year. I was the only junior in the class, as students usually take physics classes during their senior year. I definitely stood out academically, and I have a great relationship with her.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>I had decided that I would ask the two above teachers to write my recommendations. Then, I found out that my philosophy teacher got his MA in English Lit at Middlebury (he went to the Oxford campus of Middlebury's summer graduate school, Bread Loaf School of English). I've only really known him since September 2nd, but we already have a great relationship.</p>

<p>So now I'm trying to figure out what to do. My questions:</p>

<p>1) How much do you think my philosophy teacher's status as an alum would influence a rec? Would it not really matter much since he went to Midd for graduate school, not undergrad like I hope to do? This is probably my most important question - I really just want to know how much his alum status would affect admission officers' views of me, if at all.</p>

<p>2) Do colleges prefer to see recs from various, different fields of study, or from the fields that you're most interested in? Although modern physics is extremely intriguing, I'm planning on majoring in the social sciences.</p>

<p>3) Would sending in all three recs be a bad idea? Admission officers usually suggest only sending in more than two recs if the extras provide a new perspective on the student. I don't know if they would. I feel like my philosophy teacher's perspective would be similar to that of my English teacher. If I have my philosophy teacher write me a rec instead of my English teacher, I would feel as though I might be trading off my English teacher's relatively higher knowledge of me as a student for my philosophy teacher's alum status. That doesn't seem right.</p>

<p>4) My principal offered to write me a recommendation. I feel as though he would provide a different perspective from the other teachers, as he knows me more for my extracurricular school involvement than he knows me for my academics. Should I pick two teachers and have him write me a supplementary rec? I most definitely would not want to send in four recs, as adcoms would probably just read a couple. Three would already be pushing it, in my opinion.</p>

<p>Any and all advice and/or guidance would be very much appreciated! If anyone wants to provide input on question 1 especially, that would be great.</p>

<p>PS - Sorry for the mini novel!</p>

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<p>I’m quite sure that the best advice is to have the teachers who know you best write the recommendations because, even if the person got an MA at Middlebury, if the letter seems at all uninformed or lacking in detail because the person doesn’t know you as well, it just wouldn’t be as good. Many colleges do like (and some require) recommendation letters from contrasting disciplines. Middlebury doesn’t require it, but it makes more sense for a liberal arts school than submitting letters only in the area you want to pursue IF you have the appropriate recommenders which it sounds like you do. On the extra letter, you probably should do what your school’s college counselor recommends and definitely avoid 4; however, if the counselor doesn’t think there’s a definitive answer I might submit the one from the principal.</p>

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<p>I agree with Hitch… Have the teachers write who know you best. And then… JUST IN CASE… you’re deferred ED, you might have this Midd Alum teacher write a short rec/note following your first semester with the added bonus that he will know you a lot better and can probably more accurately say, “this student would be a great fit to Middlebury.”</p>

<p>And to prove the point further: Son applied ED to Dartmouth. One of his teachers was indeed an alum, thought he’d be a great fit and is also a Dean of students. Didn’t make a hill of beans worth of difference.</p>

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<p>You’re right, Hitch, the teachers who know me best should write my recs. Thanks for your wonderful insight, especially regarding my question about recs from contrasting disciplines. It was very helpful. My school doesn’t have a college counselor (everyone has a guidance counselor, though, but they range in their helpfulness and knowledge). The guidance counselors suggest that extra recs should have the word “Supplementary” written across the top so admission officers know which two to read if they don’t want to read all three. Is this a common practice?</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice, Modadunn. Your son’s experience certainly put things into perspective!</p>

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<p>Hello everybody,
I am a future international student and I want to know whether Middlebury college requires recommendation letters or not?! If yes, is there any recommendation form suggested by the college or the teacher can write the letter without special requirements?
Thank you</p>

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<p>Your principal’s comments could be incorporated into the school’s letter (which assume will be written by the guidance counselor) so you can ask him to forward an email with comments onto the counselor. The schools want to hear in detail from teachers that know you the best and have had you in a recent class, so agree that the English and the physics are the relevant ones to ask. Really Midd won’t care specifically about a recommendation from someone who got an MA at Midd, if this teacher otherwise doesn’t know you well. And I think diversity is good in terms of one humanities, one science teacher, no matter what you are planning on going into.</p>

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<p>I agree completely with rufus. That’s the perfect way to handle the Principal’s offer. Also, assuming there is still some kind of a Why Midd question on the application, you could say you have a teacher who got his masters blah blah blah, and you feel confident from your conversations with him that you would be very happy there, and would love the chance to take full advantage of all it has to offer including blah blah blah (Make sure this is true first, though :))</p>

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<p>As noted on the website below, two teacher recommendations are required. There is no form. The letters should be written by teachers who know you well and can speak about your uniqueness and achievements. </p>

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