I read in a recent post that some Adcoms – the poster was specifically referring to those of the University of Chicago – did not consider foreign languages to be “core” courses like English, Math, History, and Science and consequently don’t hold teacher recs from language classes to the same level of esteem as those from the aforementioned “core” classes.
Is this a prevalent view? D17 was planning to ask her Spanish teacher to write one of her recs - she always speaks highly of D’s work and is a good writer and enthusiastic educator.
Will the fact that it is coming from a foreign language rather than an English teacher be problematic for elite college admissions? Her other letter will come from a history teacher. She is not interested in STEM, so she;s not going to bother to get a science or math teacher.
Is she planning on doing foreign language in college?
Yes, but not necessarily as a major.
She has been studying two languages and next (her senior) year, will have reached the highest level (literature classes) in both.
She will likely end up doing some sort of interdisciplinary humanities program, art history, comparative literature (not offered at all schools) or area studies (e.g., medieval/renaissance or classics – even more rarely offered). She might want to continue studying the two languages she has been studying (esp. if she goes the comp lit route), or possibly learn some new languages, but who knows?
Since the teacher knows her so well, I would say that she should ask her Spanish teacher. The quality of the recommendation is what matters, IMO, but I’m not an admissions officer.
I had never heard this. I guess I could see how other subjects could speak better to intellectual ability or curiosity (as even at this level, foreign languages are more about memorizing and mastering basics rather than thinking ), but I would think that if your D has a good relationship with the teacher, has applied herself, and the teacher can write a good rec, it should not be a problem. Having raised this, you might want to be mindful of who writes the second rec so that it can address what this one does not.