<p>Do your teacher recommendations have to be from certain teachers (junior-year teachers, math/science teachers, etc.)? I want to major in Econ and then get an MS in Commerce from UVA, but my best subjects are math and English. I was thinking of having my recs be my sophomore English, sophomore history, and junior English teachers (all AP). Would that be a bad idea? My science and math teachers for junior year were all at a separate school (dual-enrollment program) which I don't go to anymore, and I think it would be awkward just to email them and ask.</p>
<p>I might also include my sophomore math teacher.</p>
<p>First of all, you have too many recs. 2 recs, 3 tops if the school allows additional recs. Some schools don’t want recs at all. Sophomore teachers are not ideal, but your junior year math/science teachers probably wouldn’t be appropriate. Are there any senior year teachers you could ask? If not, then you use your junior year english teacher and sophomore math teacher. My recommenders were both senior year teachers, although one also had me in math sophomore year.</p>
<p>How can you ask a senior teacher? How will they know you well enough to write a proper recommendation? School just started a couple weeks ago…</p>
<p>Why would you not be able to ask a senior teacher? You can just ask them, they’re teaching you now and they will know you how you are now. You can talk to them. I used my geosystems teacher who I explained my predicament to. We spent about 45 mins one day talking so he could get to know me and what I do with my time. My first app that I needed the rec for was Dec 1 deadline. That’s plenty of time for a teacher to get to know you. Even for nov 1 deadline- they have 2 months. You tell them you like their class and you need a rec for college. Ask them if they’d be able to write a positive rec for you. Most will say make sure you participate in class over the next month so I can get to know you and your work ethnic.</p>
<p>You may definitely ask more than 2 teachers to write you LOR. My D actually asked 4 last year. But you don’t have to assign them all to all schools you are applying. Some schools would have certain requirement such as teacher from 11th or 12th grade and/or from the 4 (or 5) core subjects. Some schools may consider AP teachers even if you took that class in sophomore year. Other than that, you really want to have a teacher that had more interaction with you in the past to be your recommender. It would be more convincing and the LOR would have more content. For instance, a teacher taught you for 2 years that have seen how you have grown, or a teacher that also is an adviser for an EC. So you may find different teachers to be better for different school applications. A letter with superficial content is not really helpful. So a teacher from senior that just know you for a few weeks may not be able to write a great LOR for you. In short, the first thing is to make sure your recommenders are comply with the school’s requirement, then choose those who know you well (in a positive way) would be my suggestion.</p>
<p>It’s more common to ask teachers from junior year because they have known you for a full year as opposed to a few months. If you feel that you have a senior year teacher who knows you better than any junior year teacher then go for it, but a generic recommendation that commends you for keeping up with your work will (most likely) not tip the admissions decision either way.</p>