I just looked at Stanford’s Apps and it requires two recs from either junior or senior year. This worries me because both of my recs are from sophmore year teachers.
Is this common with many of the other selective colleges? For college-bound seniors, where did your teacher recs come from??
Thank! 
<p>If they specify where the req's must come from then you certainly have to follow the requests. Most schools will want Jr/Sr year. These are the people who have taught you lately. Remember that each year is more important than the last as far as performance goes. So if the school doesn't specify, then you can use what you have, but a Jr or Sr year recco will be more meaningful, and showed that you continued to perform.</p>
<p>dd used the Sr year English teacher, a Jr and Sr year science teacher (who she had done EC with fman and soph year), and another jr year science teacher when she needed an extra. All for highly selective.</p>
<p>My son's came from:</p>
<p>AP English teacher (that was also his drama coach)
AP CS teacher (who was also his robotics advisor)</p>
<p>The english teacher was from senior year, the cs teacher from junior.</p>
<p>one of my recs was from an AP english teacher who i had senior year and freshman year, another was from an AP US history teacher who i had junior year, and the last one (which i only needed for a handful of schools) was an AP Biology teacher....</p>
<p>But how can Senior year teachers get to know you within such a limited time period, especially if I am apply EA?</p>
<p>I would imagine that you shouldn't get a rec from a senior year teacher if you are applying ED/EA.</p>
<p>Going back to sophomore year for a rec might be most appropriate when there has been some kind of ongoing involvement (e.g., like OhioMom's examples of a drama coach or other EC advisor).</p>
<p>Colleges tend to like Jr/Sr recs not only because of recency but because students are probably doing higher level work in those classes.</p>