<p>I recently met with a teacher who is the faculty advisor for a club that I have a leadership position, and he informed me that he has been writing me a recommendation letter. I've already lined up my teacher recommendations for all my schools, and I'm already submitting a supplementary letter from a research advisor, so I'm a little concerned about this, having heard so many times that colleges don't like resume padding with extra recommendations. I also don't really see how there's a polite way to say I don't need it, especially after he's already started writing it.</p>
<p>At our HS, students have the teacher recs submitted directly to the guidance dept. The guidance dept includes the teacher recs, guidance counselor rec and transcript in one package that is mailed to the colleges. My son asked a couple guidance counselors to look over his recs and advise him on which ones were the strongest. To his surprise, his “best” came from a teacher in one of his weakest subjects - best in that it stressed his passion for learning, toughest schedule taken both in HS and at local colleges, and his desire to try new things (like theatre) even though they would/could hurt his GPA. It was never about grades… My son never read the letters but used different recs for different schools/scholarships depending on the situation (some schools/scholarships wanted the best grades, some wanted independent, self-motivated learners, some wanted to see leadership experience).</p>
<p>You could ask your teacher to submit it to guidance to be used as an additional rec when needed. For all you know, this rec could be your strongest - considering the teacher is offering/preparing to write you rec without being asked. If you are deferred or waitlisted, you may want an additional rec to send along.</p>