I had posted a very similar thread on the Parents Forum, but here’s an edited version for you to look at and comment on. While a lot of colleges request that applicants submit letters from teachers in two different academic subjects, most of the colleges I’m applying to have said it’s OK for me as a homeschooler to submit letters from CC instructors in the same department. So I guess that makes this a little easier to work with. Below I’ve listed a number of people who could write recs for me – some of them are instructors, some of them are supervisors for various EC’s – how well I know them (on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the ones I know best), in what context, and potential strengths and weaknesses of choosing these individuals to write recs. I’ll probably end up submitting one or two optional recs, but if I do, I want them to say something new about me. Bear in mind that my mom will also be filling out my secondary school reports. Oh yeah, I’m applying to Columbia, Harvard, Pomona, Rice, Saint Mary’s (CA), Stanford, and Yale. For the people with an asterisk (*) by their names, they’ve written a rec for me before – if anyone wants to read these, I can PM or e-mail them to you for your opinion.
MR. A
-will have known him for about a year
-instructor at CC in Calculus I (11th grade)
-potential strengths: I think he liked my sense of humor and love of puns! I wasn’t afraid to ask questions in class, and I still stop by his office now and then to say hi (from the sounds of it, relatively few students do so). He recommended me to tutor in the math resource center. I got an A in his class. He thought it was pretty cool that the youngest student in the class (I was fifteen turning sixteen) could do so well in college calculus.
-potential weaknesses: While I had an A all semester long, it slowly got lower and lower, so I wound up getting what I believe was the lowest A in the class. I may give the impression of simply working moderately hard and not being exceptionally brilliant.
-how well I know him: 5-6 (I think I know him better than most students do, but I can’t say I know him extraordinarily well)
DR. B*
-will have known her for 3.5+ years
-instructor at CC in independent study Bio Study Skills (8th grade), Introductory Bio Lab (9th grade), and Cell Bio (11th grade)
-potential strengths: She’s thoroughly acquainted with my love of biology (I’ll be a bio major), and she’ll be attending the poster session for my summer research program at Stanford (she’s also planning on visiting me there sometime - she lives nearby). She’s very enthusiastic about my doing this research internship. We’ve spent many, many hours sitting in her office chatting about anything and everything. For the record, she has degrees from Yale and Columbia (and a postdoc at Stanford), so she may key off of that.
-potential weaknesses: I probably could have done better in her Cell Biology class (it’s for biology majors) - I had a strong A, but I was fifth overall in a class of roughly 17 or 18. She wrote a nice rec for me for my research program, but I think she’s possibly nice to almost everyone for writing recs though I doubt anyone else will be asking her for a rec for freshman admission to my colleges.
-how well I know her: 9-10 (She’s one of my best friends!)
MS. P*
-will have known her for 3 years
-my instructor at CC for Introductory Bio lecture (9th grade), Human Anatomy (11th grade), and soon for Human Physiology (12th grade)
-potential strengths: She’s very well acquainted with my goals, and I’ve overheard her commenting to a couple other students (when I wasn’t officially listening) that I’m an amazing young lady (aww!). She’s noticed that I learn because I love to, not just for a grade (though I’ve gotten A’s in her classes), and she seems to like all the questions I ask during class and during her office hours (this might be particularly good for Stanford’s desire for intellectually curious students). She and I have had a number of great conversations, and she knows that I listen to her life advice. Like Dr. B, she’s really excited about my summer research.
-potential weaknesses: She has shown some concern that I may be so focused on doing well (in the sense of having high goals, not being a grade grabber) that I miss out on what remains of my childhood. Also, my A in Anatomy was rather low this semester, but at least it was steady (my exams were relatively strong, but my quizzes were, umm, bad).
-how well I know her: 8-9 (She’s become less of an acquaintance and more of a friend over the past semester.)
MRS. S*
-I will have known her for almost 3 years
-my instructor at CC for Genetics (11th grade) (but I originally met her in my freshman year when she substituted in my Biology Intro class)
-potential strengths: I did extremely well in her class, and she even told me that I blew away the class with my end-of-the-semester presentation. I’ve tutored a few of her students (in both biology and chemistry), who apparently have said wonderful things about me to her, and the students in turn have reported to me that she raves about me. I’ve gone out for coffee with her a couple times, and I believe we’ve reached a moderate to good level of friendship (as opposed to a regular student-teacher relationship).
-potential weaknesses: Her class wasn’t exactly hard (it’s a non-majors’ class I took it for fun), so I don’t know how that would influence what she would write, if at all. Similar to the situation with Mrs. D (see below), the fact that she’s currently more of a friend than an instructor may make a letter a challenge to write, but I think she would be objective.
-how well I know her: 9-10 (What can I say? She’s also another one of my best friends.)
MRS. D
-will have known her for 2-3 years, although she’s been an acquaintance for slightly longer
-a neighbor of mine, her son and I coordinated a summer science club/day camp for kids that was held at their house last summer, I’ve babysat her nine-year-old daughter a couple times, and I’m also on her daughter’s swim team
-potential strengths: She’s had the chance to see my leadership skills in working with young children and communicating my love of science to them (she actually helped out with the science club), and she’s also seen me receive the coach’s award for swim team last summer. She teaches business at a CC, and her son has commented to me that she has mentioned that I seem to be a lot smarter than most of her students! She’s well aware of my goals, and she enjoys chatting with me. She’s offered to write a rec if I ever need one for anything.
-potential weaknesses: As much as she enjoys chatting with me, I’m concerned that my relationship with her is more of a friend type than a volunteer supervisor type and would thus put her in the awkaward situation of having to analyze a friend. At times she feels slightly distant, but I can’t say that’s the norm, and I can definitely catch her at a good time.
-how well I know her: 7-8 (becoming more of a friend than a good acquaintance rather quickly)
The following three individuals I don’t know just yet, but they’re all involved with my research internship at Stanford, and may thus be strategic. In fact, I’d like to have ONE of these people write a rec for me (I’d be a fool not to). I’ll tell you what I know about them, and you tell me what you think about them.
DR. M
-he’ll be my faculty mentor (the guy that oversees my lab), and I believe he’ll be present in the lab about 50% of the time I’m there this summer (though he won’t be directly supervising me), sounds pretty enthusiastic about having me in the lab
-I don’t think he has a ton of seniority (he’s new to the med school there), but he’s at least an Assistant Professor
-he went to Yale Med School and he taught at Harvard maybe a key player
DR. U
-director of this research program and a Stanford Assistant Professor, oversees admission to the program (something like a 6-7% admit rate)
-met me a couple years ago and is definitely familiar with my passion for this area of biomedical research
-I believe I’ll have relatively little contact with him over summer, which is unfortunate, because he’s the head honcho of this program
DR. W
-she’s the postdoc who will be directly supervising me, also excited about having me in the lab
-unfortunately not much seniority on the faculty foodchain, BUT…
-I have a feeling I’ll get to know HER the best over summer
So I always have the option of having Dr. M or Dr. W write the letter and having Dr. U sign it what would you recommend?
Also, I’m considering asking Ms. P and Mrs. S to write a joint letter the letters they wrote for me for a summer program complemented each other perfectly, and they get along very well (they’re best friends), so I don’t think this would be an impossible request in their eyes.
So please go ahead and pick who’s gonna write my recs!