I want to major in finance, but for schools that don’t have an undergrad business program, I plan on majoring in applied math/econ or math with a specialization in econ or stats, so it makes sense to have a math teacher’s recommendation.
I have two math teachers: one for AP Stats and one who’s been teaching me honors math since 10th grade (I’m now a junior).
I would really like to get my honors math teacher to recommend me, since they’re also adviser of a club that I’m a part of, but I don’t really talk to them. At parent teacher conferences a month ago, they said I never talk in class, but that I do talk to them outside of class and in the club.
As for the AP Stats teacher, this is my first year with them, but I’m not sure if they can give me a good recommendation because I don’t know them for that long, although I will be taking AP Calc with them next year. I don’t really participate in the class either because all they do is lecture.
The one you think will write a better rec. So from now until the end of the school year, make an effort to participate more in class and/or talk to them outside of class. If you still need help deciding, ask again at the end of this year or the beginning of Fall.
I agree with skieurope you don’t need to make this decision now. I don’t think there’s a huge expectation for a lot of talking in math class, but I’d make an effort to participate more. It seems like the honors teacher should know you better given that you have an outside activitiy with him/her as well.
You could also ask both of them to for a LOR then ask your counselor to read them and decide which is a better LOR to send in. On the other hand, just because you want to major in math doesn’t mean you need a LOR from a math teacher.
I thought my daughter had a fairly good evaluation (not a LOR) from a teacher for a special EC she participated in, but in the evaluation the teacher said even though my daughter wrote very insightful papers she didn’t participate as much in class discussions. Her private college counselor told my D not to ask that teacher for a LOR. She ended up asking her physics teacher for a LOR instead, and she was going to be an humanities student. It was also her private counselor who advised her to have her school counselor read the LORs before they were submitted.
@oldfort I’m not sure if my school allows my gc to read LOR’s from teachers. did your daughter get accepted into her top school?
On a different note, I still believe that getting a LOR from a teacher who teaches the subject you want to major in has more weight than LOR’s from teachers whose subjects have nothing to do with your major.
Hey! Your gc should be able to see the recs if your school uses Naviance, but you can check! I recommend asking both so you can read them over and have a choice. Ultimately, which teacher is going to talk most about your dedication as a student and your commitment to learning? Your grades will speak for themselves.
I don’t recommend you read them if it causes the colleges to think they are getting a recommendation approved by you. If a teacher shows you a recommendation voluntarily that’s their business, but you never ever ask to see them. I’m sure either teacher will write a good recommendation, it’s just a question of who knows you better and who communicates better. I thought my younger son was crazy to get a recommendation from his junior year math teacher. I know he was a great teacher and my kid loved him, but he had gotten a B+ in the class. But he knew what he was doing - he wrote a lovely letter that talked about how my kid understood math theory better than anyone else in the class and how much he enjoyed my son figuring out from first principles formulas he hadn’t managed to memorize.