<p>Im kind of a quiet kid and dont make that much of a connection with my teachers, i feel that the class is too big and i feel intimidated, thats why i want to go to caltech where the classes are tiny so i CAN make a connection... should i be worried about my recs not being THAT great???</p>
<p>how long have you known the teachers?</p>
<p>hah, the funny thing is that i havent had a single teacher more than one year in all of my high school life... my school is quite pathetic...</p>
<p>Whatever you do, be sure to make that third rec come from a math/science teacher (unless things have changed). When I was coming through (granted this was way back in 2000; I hope things have changed), they specified one rec from a math/science person, one from a humanities person, and one "other." Well, I chose the "other" to be my band director, probably the teacher who knew me best of all, after 4 years of hard work in her classes. </p>
<p>I didn't get in EA and was told over the phone when calling to inquire about what I could improve (there was basically nothing I could do on the "numbers" side) that they wished they'd had "another math/science perspective." So I submitted a fourth rec from my physics teacher, and then they let me in. I think if what they really want is a second math/science perspective, they ought to be up-front about asking for that.</p>
<p>I felt it was really quite unfortunate that I was penalized for using the teacher who knew me best, though, when I was led to believe that I really had a choice about what to submit.</p>
<p>Ironically, the recommendation of that same band director, with whom I've continued to work during the summers, now as a percussion instructor for the marching band, was instrumental (no pun intended!) in getting me some very nice post-grad opportunities.</p>
<p>i thought you only needed two recs? one from math/science, one from social sciences... could i get one from my employer maybe? (its not really math/science related)</p>
<p>Back when I applied you definitely needed three. It could've changed, of course.</p>
<p>It has : ). Probably for the reasons that Joe describes.</p>