going to transfer as junior, struggling about which professor to ask.
First one is my math prof, I got A+ from his class last year but he said he is willing to do it but he has nothing to say besides I got A+ in his class.
Second is my vocal music prof, Got 2 As with him, class is 1on 1, knows me a lot, but just the subject is unrelated to the major that I am applying at all.
My feel is that I should go to the music prof since it should be better than a letter with nothing but general info.
Any advice?
Aren’t you supposed to use 2 recommendations for transfer?
Either way, 2 professors with good things to say is better than 1
Choose someone who knows you and can write about your strengths and any challenges that you have with demonstrated grit and what you’ve done to overcome challenges. Overall, you want someone who likes you and will say good things about you. Don’t necessarily choose the teacher you got an A in their class, or someone who teaches a subject you want to major in. The other factors are far more important.
sure. I already got 1 from my Spanish prof. Took her class for 3 semesters and got 3 As, I’m just struggling with the other letter
Oh, you already got one. How many are you allowed to have on the common app. If it allows for more than two you could always use all 3
I think I will just choose one more professor because I have one recommendation from my summer employer
Do you have any business or economics professors you have taken a class with who can write a recommendation? If you are applying to Wharton that would probably be a good direction to go. Also, I don’t know if a vocal music teacher would be considered an academic teacher (even if it was an official class).
My student who is an undergrad at Berkeley Haas where they didn’t ask for rec letters chose her Econ teacher for her rec letter to Wharton. Later when we checked with him, we discovered it may not have been a good letter, and we should have chosen her English teacher who raved about her. Again, be careful whom you pick. Don’t necessarily go with someone because it’s your intented major. Pick someone who thinks you’re tops!
I’m with @happy1 about the vocal teacher.
Also, remember, this is Wharton. You’re going to be competing with a lot of students for very few spots. Some of those will have really impressive recommendations. I think at least one of those recommendations should come from an economics/business/accounting teacher if you’ve taken one of those classes. I mean Wharton has requirements that if you’re applying as a junior transfer, you should have taken micro/macro econ, and financial/managerial accounting.
@philbegas @happy1 that’s a point. I can try to ask them for a recommendation, but my concern is that they literally know nothing about me except I got A in their class
^^no good IMHO; In the end, that won’t get you where you want to go. Just to check the box “Econ” doesn’t work here. It’s too big a gamble. ROI isn’t there in your terms.
^^^^I agree…if the profs don’t know you well enough to write more than your grade in the class then it isn’t a good option.
But op says the math prof doesn’t know them anyways right?
Transferrring into Wharton is a long-shot for everyone. The OP should give it his/her best shot! I do think it will hurt the OPs application if he/she doesn’t have a strong enough relationship with an academic professor to get a meaningful recommendation.