Hello - My daughter is a senior and applying to some highly selective colleges. She is thinking she will major in something quantitative (engineering, possible or econ/business). She’s struggling right now with selecting two teachers for recommendations. She already has her AP History teacher who has agreed to write a recommendation. She knows the other teacher recommendation ideally should be another “core” subject, and ideally a quantitative subject. The challenge is that last year all of her quantitative subjects were taken online through our local community college (online even before COVID), so the teachers didn’t get to know her at all (she got an A in the class, but that’s about all they could say about her). She has a teacher currently for AP Computer Science who also had her for a course her sophomore year, so she could in theory ask this teacher, but even this teacher doesn’t know her particularly well (and interaction this year so far is all virtual classes). She’s debating between asking this AP Computer Science teacher and her orchestra teacher (she’s quite accomplished with the violin and this teacher has known her for years). I know there is no right answer, and that schools might be a little more open this year due to COVID limitations, but just wondering if folks have a strong opinion about which would be better.
Ideally she would want a STEM teacher to write that second LOR, however, I would favor a letter from someone who knows her well and is likely to write very highly of her over someone she doesn’t know.
Check if the colleges have specific requirements, though. Some do state a preference.
Agreed that it should be a STEM teacher since she already has the history teacher. I would not ask the orchestra teacher.
Is there a math or science teacher, from sophomore year that knows her well that she could ask? What course did she take with the current AP CS teacher? If it was a core, ask that person and they can reflect on your D from the experience in both courses.
Some schools, especially for engineering are going to want a core STEM LOR. Check the admissions requirements for the schools on the list.