I took AP Calculus my sophomore year along with AP Biology. I had a good relationship with both of my teachers… would solid recommendations from those teachers still be fine for Ivy League schools even tho they aren’t from 11th/12th grade teachers but are still for AP classes?
If your 11th/12th grade teachers barely know you and your 10th grade teachers know you very well (and preferably you’ve been in touch with them since 10th grade; they supervised some activity you did in 11th/12th grade), then go for it.
The problem is that 10th grade teachers generally give a description of you when you were in 10th grade which is not what schools want. Schools want descriptions of who are you now.
Did you do anything with those teachers after 10th grade? Are your relationships with your 11th/12th grade teachers bad, or just not as good as the 10th grade ones?
My kids both had LORs from Soph teachers and both got into NU which is highly selective. Both were able to write about “since soph year…” . So, although one data point is not a proof - it does show that it can be useful to have a LOR from a soph, or even a fresh teacher. Good Luck!
@rdeng2614 I still keep in touch with my Calc teacher… I could get it from an 11th grade teacher for AP English Language probably, as our relationship was good, but arguably not as good with the two teachers in 10th grade.
Also, is two Teacher recommendations (outside of counselor recs) all that is needed for Ivies?
While true, if the 10th grade teacher still has interaction with the student, s/he can probably still write an effective LoR and still discuss how the applicant is now. FWIW, I used a 10th grade teacher LoR for all of my applications, including those that requested LoR’s from 11th and 12th grade teachers. He was an AP teacher and I did have interaction with him after the 10th grade, however.
For recommendations, yes.
Check the college requirement, there is no general rules. Some school only accept junior or senior teacher’s LOR, but some may include advanced course taken earlier too like Stanford.
@skieurope I kind of touched on that, saying it would be fine if they kept in touch or if the teacher supervised some activity that OP did.
If you still kept in touch, then calc would be good.
Did you keep in touch with the Bio teacher?
outside of saying hello when we see each other, not really. @rdeng2614
So if that’s the case, maybe switch out the Bio teacher for someone else. Besides, it is also preferable that you have 1 Math/Science teacher (Calc seems like the best bet) and 1 Humanities Teacher (AP English Language could be good).
Obviously if the college specifies that it requires 1 STEM rec and 1 humanities rec, it would be wise to follow that guidance. In the absence of any specific requirements, don’t try to read between the lines; 2 outstanding STEM recs are better than 1 great STEM rec and 1 so-so humanities rec. For instance Penn says:
http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/whatpennlooksfor/teacher-evaluations
Ok so im guessing a 10th grade teacher (if i keep in contact with them) is ok then…