<p>My Calculus AB teacher just annouced he is leaving our school at the end of the year. He is a wonderful teacher, and i would have been in his class Junior and Senior year (also, he is the sponsor of my club). I was looking forward to him writing one of my recs as he is one of the few teachers at my school who knows how to write a rec (and well at that). Would it be possible (even feasible) to ask him now, as a soph, or should I just can the whole idea?</p>
<p>Well, colleges generally want recs from recent teachers (so, junior or senior year), so I wouldn't recommend asking for a rec now. If, in two years, you still feel that this teacher knew you the best, you could ask him for a rec then. But this involves getting contact information (that's unlikely to change) and making sure that this teacher doesn't mind writing a rec for a former student. </p>
<p>However, you might change a lot in the next two years, and then a rec from him won't be accurate at all. And even if you did ask him later, he might not be able to recall you quite as clearly.</p>
<p>Unless you have a phenomenal relationship with this teacher, I wouldn't recommend asking him for a rec now. You should ask him for his contact information, but definitely try to establish this sort of relationship with your junior and senior year teachers.</p>
<p>ask for a letter of recommendation at the end of the school year -- ask for it to be left unaddressed (no "Dear...") and ask for several copies.</p>
<p>What you will find is that you will need more up to date recs for colleges, but many summer programs ask for letters of recommendation and that letter will come in very handy!</p>
<p>my son is homeschooled and so he takes outside classes at several places, like the CC and the local college. After each class where he felt that he connected with the professor, he asks for a letter of recommendation and permission to copy it. This has worked out great -- the letters are awesome and when he applies to a program, he just makes a copy.</p>
<p>Make sure the letter contains the contact info (just a phone number or email address is fine) so that the recommender can be contacted.</p>