<p>I'm a junior this year, and my English teacher has announced that she absolutely refuses to write any recs for anyone at all next year no matter what. This is extremely bad for me because a.) she really likes me and she writes amazing recs, and b.) i'm not sure there are many other teachers I really want to/can ask. Are teachers (especially junior yr teachers) really allowed to just not write recs for anyone? Isn't this like.. part of their job or something? </p>
<p>Also, do most schools want more than 1 teacher rec? I read somewhere that they mainly want recs from junior or senior yr teachers, but I doubt I'll have time to get a good rec from any of my senior yr teachers because usually we're supposed to ask them in early September and they won't really know me by then so... yeah. Thanks.</p>
<ol>
<li>No they are not required to write recs at all. NEVER FORCE TEACHERS to write recs for you as my friend basically BEGGED for a rec and it was hastily written and overall detrimental to his application rather than beneficial.</li>
<li>Most schools recommend 2.</li>
</ol>
<p>Hm.. do they usually want a rec from an English teacher? This is also bad because English is pretty much my best subject, except my English teacher sophmore yr didn't really like my writing style basically and she's not that nice of a person so I'm hesitant to ask her to write me a rec</p>
<p>my experience with teacher recs has been really bad.
my advice?
no matter who you ask to write your recs, nudge them in the direction you want them to focus on. by no means tell them what to write, just tell them what to emphasize. for example, your active participation in class, your ability to bring interesting, thought-provoking issues to the table, personal things like that. even teachers you think know you really well may end up writing a cookie-cutter rec. that should give you more options in terms of who to ask. </p>
<p>another tip: asking younger, newer teachers might not be a bad idea. older teachers may have more experience, but younger teachers are more eager to do a good job, and they'll most likely put more effort into your letter of recommendation. the most important thing is, they'll be more open to suggestions.</p>
<p>Would it be okay to have my Physics teacher write one, and my physical science/chemistry/anatomy & physiology teacher write another one, or should I avoid having 2 science teacher recs? (I'm not planning on majoring in a hard science)</p>
<p>It depends on the college. Some, like the University of Chicago, specifically require one recommendation from science/math and one from history/English/foreign language. If the college does not have specific requirements, you're fine. My physics teacher and calculus teacher wrote most of my recommendations. </p>
<p>What about a foreign language teacher instead? (S)he should be able to write a recommendation for you.</p>
<p>I'm horrible at spanish, it's by far my worst subject, and I can't stand my teacher so that won't work unfortunately. I may end up asking my history teacher, but I'm not sure whether he likes me or not, and this year he "forgot" to send one of the senior's recs so he's sortof unreliable</p>
<p>My English teacher was like "I just wrote about 20 recs for seniors, and only meant about 3 of them and I'm not doing that again, so work hard!" I think any teacher will write a rec, they just want you to work your hardest to earn the rec.</p>