<p>Several colleges my daughter is interested in specifically ask for recommendations from junior/senior teachers. As she applied ED, she needed to ask right at the beginning of the year, obviously limiting her to junior teachers as she didn't even know her senior teachers yet. She is applying for a scholarship with a due date of December 15, and decided to ask her current English teacher for an additional recommendation, as she did very well the first marking period and so far in the second one, and feels the teacher likes her and would be a good writer of a recommendation. The teacher told her she has a policy of not writing recommendations for students until after the second marking period. Based on this response, it seems that students are basically limited to junior year teachers, as colleges don't want to hear from 9th and 10th grade ones and the 12th grade ones don't know the students. This seems like a very limited selection of teachers as potential recommendation writers. In my daughters case, she really doesn't need this extra recommendation but she thought it would help to get another positive one, so it is not a major problem. But it got me thinking. Has anyone else dealt with this issue or thought about it? Thanks.</p>
<p>Well, I asked one junior year teacher (or rather, she asked me if she could, so I'm guessing that one's going to be decent :-D), and then a senior year teacher whom I've known since freshman year, as she's the advisor to the student government. Hopefully, she can speak about me both as a student (I'm doing well in her class) and as a person outside of class.</p>
<p>While naturally an 11th grade teacher knows the kid longer and might be preferable to a senior year teacher who has had the student a shorter time, the colleges DO say to also use 12th grade teachers. So, for a teacher at your school who has your D for senior year to say she cannot write a rec until after second marking period (which is past the application due dates) makes no sense to me since colleges even say they would want senior year teachers. </p>
<p>Actually this just came up for my D who is a current applicant. it is a little different than your situation but has the same point. She is in her junior year but is graduating high school one year early, thus there are NO senior year teachers ;-). That means asking junior year teachers except the same issue exists with that as with the rest of you asking senior year teachers in that they have only had you for a short time, thus she might prefer to revert to soph year teachers (like you would ask junior year teachers). </p>
<p>In HER case, all her schools but one needed only one teacher rec (unlike my other D's colleges who all wanted two teacher recs). As an aside she also sent two supplemental recs related to performing arts as she is applying to BFA programs. Anyway, she just needed one academic rec and she asked her current history teacher but she also had him last year as well so he IS an 11th grade teacher but this is her second year with him. However, now one college app does require two teacher recs. It is one of the last apps she has yet to do (finishing up the sixth one of eight at present). She decided to ask her current English teacher but chose to wait until today so he will have had her for three months (has an A so that helps), whereas she asked for all her other recs back in Sept. and have sent those packages onto other schools. He said yes readily. I trully think your D's teacher could have as well. I might have asked if senior year teachers won't write recs, how does a student comply with the fact that colleges do welcome senior year teacher recs, even ask for them (though you can send junior year ones which again I prefer but still...). </p>
<p>My other daughter asked the same history teacher this daughter asked but had him for 11th and 9th grades, two years. She also asked her French teacher but she had him for three years, including senior year which was an independent study with one other girl and this teacher for French 6, so he knew her quite well too. </p>
<p>While I would shoot for teachers from 11th grade and for teachers you had at least one full year, I certainly believe a 12th grade teacher at this point in the year, should be able to write a rec on a student.
Susan</p>
<p>I agree with you and that is why I encouraged my daughter to ask the 12th grade teacher. She is a very good teacher, from the "old school", and I think that she feels that she can't evaluate someone she has known for only one marking period. This is just my interpretation, I don't know her reasoning for sure. My daughter was sort of embarassed when she said she couldnt do it, and didn't question her further.</p>
<p>My S is like Soozie's D in that he is graduating early; he plans on majoring in math/science. He has asked for a rec from a lit teacher who taught him in 9th and 10th grades. For math/science, he was told by two colleges that he needs a rec from a high school teacher. However, he has not taken math in high school, and the only high school science course he took was chemistry in 9th grade. Since he is interested in physics, he asked whether he should ask for a rec from the AP-Physics teacher whom he had in 8th grade. Apparently, that is okay; but recs from college profs who have taught him more recently are not. Lucky the AP-Physics teacher remembered him! :)</p>
<p>Marite, that is sorta silly, isn't it? But of course you have to comply. To me, an academic teacher is an academic teacher. His current math teachers, even if at Harvard, should be able to speak to this kind of thing as well as any HS teacher could. </p>
<p>In your son's case, he can always opt to use a college professor as a supplemental rec that can speak to how he has handled college courses. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>Marite,
Did your S ask MIT admissions this question? How absurd that they not make an exeption when your S taking math/sci at college level all these years.</p>
<p>Soozie: Yes, that's what he's doing. I was just amused at the fact that the colleges are willing to use a rec from a teacher who has not taught S since 8th grade, just because he is a high school teacher (and S only audited the class anyway). Since the class was made up almost entirely of seniors, I don't see how the teacher could usefully compare S with them any better than a college prof can compare S with his college students who run the gamut from freshmen to seniors.
I got the feeling that the colleges felt they had to stick to the rules. But it made me wonder how much weight they are going to give to the rec.</p>
<p>My S had a similiar problem. He's a true senior, but hasn't taken a high school math class since 8th grade. Everyone thought he should be using college math teachers for recs, but he's had a different one for each course. He's asked each college what he should do, and they all give him different answers. He's using 2 high school teachers, and sending in a math rec as optional.</p>
<p>Bookworm:</p>
<p>Two colleges specify that the recs must come from high school teachers. They both accept supplemental recs from college teachers. MIT is not one of them.</p>
<p>Marite,
I think your S is a sure shot. The fact that he completed AP courses by 9th grade, that he took all those courses at Harvard, is just amazing. His letter from GC and his transcript will demonstrate just how advanced he was.</p>
<p>Marite, my take on this is that they want HS simply because that's their rule. However, since your son is so accomplished in math and has taken so many college courses, his rec's probably won't matter much (if at all). I certainly don't think they'll hurt him.</p>