Hi,
Need advice on teacher recommendation letters. When getting a recommendation letter is it OK to get one from an inexperienced teacher (or another form of this question: when selecting a recommending teacher, what is more important: teacher’s experience or teacher’s familiarity with my background/qualities).
More info: Our school requires to request recommendation letters during junior year and I asked three teachers tentatively. All of them agreed and one them is my primary. I am conflicted about the second letter: which one to choose. One is a senior teacher, been with school for a long time, but he does not know me well. The second option is a young teacher - it is her second year as full-time teacher. She knows me better and is very enthusiastic to give a letter. I took both their classes in junior year and did well (A’s). I thought I would send her letter to most universities that allow 2 teacher letters but second guessing myself after coming to know that I am the only one in my class who is taking her letter (everyone else are getting letters from experienced teachers).
Does it matter? I understand the differences in letters because of their familiarity with process etc. but am wondering if schools see one letter in more positively than another?
any advice will be appreciated (am running out of time). tia.
It’s always a chance one takes. There are older experienced teachers who know the key words and phrases, that are brilliant in writing recs. Then, there are those who are just tired of that whole ordeal. And teachers on the spectrum in between. You just can’t tell.
I believe that a well constructed info sheet to a teacher to be very valuable. Actually to anyone writing a rec. Make it easy. Practically write it for them is what I say.
The young teacher is, at the end of the day, someone who was certified as a teacher. You (and universities) wouldn’t appreciate someone vet a ‘you’ they’re not familiar with and miss qualities that may not be present in your personal statements or your application as a whole as much as they would vice versa. Good luck!
Take the one who knows you best. It will contain much more useful information for the admissions committees about you.
A “I’m a long time, very senior, blah, blah, teacher and I’ve met xyz - seems like a good kid” won’t impress an AO, and would probably make them question why you selected that teacher.
As noted, the teacher may be new but he/she is a professional educator. The process isn’t rocket science, so knowing it isn’t a huge benefit. Knowing, and being enthusiastic about, you is a benefit.
Thanks all for the comments/advice and affirming my own thoughts - went ahead and submitted the recommendation of the teacher who know more about me (and is enthusiastic to give the letter). Hoping for the best now.
I would say what matters more than how experienced the teacher is in terms of teaching are the following:
how well they know you – do they know you just from a big class? or have they spent times to get to know you in extracurricular activities or classes?
how much they click with you – the more they click with you, the more likely that they will say good things about you. This is important because the teachers get a form to evaluate/rate you on a scale of things like “top 5% of all students they taught” etc.
