<p>I really connected with a teacher I had in sophomore year- If I asked her for a rec instead of my junior year teachers, would that be frowned upon/look weird/be a 'red flag'?</p>
<p>Also, what if both my recs are from a sophomore year teachers- with one of them being from a teacher who taught me in sophomore year and a course in senior year?</p>
<p>My son submitted 3 rec letters. Two were from teachers he had sophomore year, and the third one was from a teacher he had both sophomore and junior year. They were teachers who knew him really well, and who he knew could write not just a strong recommendation, but one that was also personal and specific.</p>
<p>Lots of time when kids are applying, their senior class teachers don’t know them that well yet, so junior year can be the first place to look. But in my son’s case he didn’t have the same depth of relationship as he had with those teachers he had as a sophomore, so he decided to ask them.</p>
<p>It must have been okay, since he got accepted.</p>
<p>Some schools (I think Tufts is one) specifically ask for senior or junior teachers, but you’d have to check that out with the individual schools you’re considering. I don’t think most really specify, but the usual advice you’ll get is to go with at least junior teachers. Still, it’s your choice to make. It worked out just fine for my kid.</p>
<p>If you don’t mind me asking, what schools did your son get into?</p>
<p>He applied ED to Amherst College and was accepted. It was his first choice, and of course with the ED acceptance he didn’t have to submit applications to the other schools on his list.</p>
<p>To me it makes sense to get the very strongest letters you can, rather than sacrificing that on a technicality so slight as the difference between sophomore and junior year. Plus one of your letters will be from the teacher that will also have you senior year.</p>