<p>I've had this teacher for freshman and sophomore years and I feel she knows me better than any of my other junior teachers. Is it really that bad to send in a sophomore one? My other one is a junior from a teacher who taught me 2 AP classes.</p>
<p>Its preferable to get recs from teachers who you had/have junior/senior year because admissions officers want to know how you’ve grown throughout high school, who you have become and obviously the more recent the recommendation the clearer the picture they get of you.</p>
<p>It’s not a giant blight on your application if you dont get both your recs from Junior/Senior year teachers but it will be viewed less favorably. A good rec is a good rec though so you should be fine, the extra personal insight from a close sophomore year teacher will probably more then make up for a rec from a junior/senior year teacher with whom you had a distant relationship with.</p>
<p>Mhmm… so it won’t hurt that much?</p>
<p>How exactly can senior year teachers give insight when they’ve only had you for 2-3 months?</p>
<p>If they want to see growth isn’t it better to have one earlier teacher and one later teacher? That way they can see how you’ve changed… the junior/senior year teachers can’t really comment on how you’ve grown unless they’ve had you earlier…</p>
<p>I do have one junior teacher that I can get a recommendation from, my BC calc teacher. However, he’s really old school (like, typewriters), and he has this weird policy that he only writes one recommendation for a student…
I absolutely need a math rec for Columbia engineering (I spoke with an admissions person about it already…) so I have no clue what to do… I’d rather go to Stanford but I have a better chance at Columbia and I don’t want to screw that up by not sending a math rec…</p>
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<p>the fact that Stanford admissions officers prefer Junior/Senior year recs is striaght from the mouth of one of their admissions reps (the one that does New Jersy + other states?)</p>
<p>and i somewhat agree with senior year teachers not being the best judge about “growth” and I use that word because again it was what was said by the admissions rep so mabye it is slightly misconstrued in the sense that growth means “who you are now, who you have become” even if they cant comment on who you were before/the “journey of your becomming”</p>
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<p>its frowned upon but not excessively so. like I said a good rec is a good rec, if there is a significant difference between the level of insight a sophomore year teacher can offer over your calc teacher then you would probably be best off going w/sophomore year teacher.</p>
<p>but you know your situation, i would read this and decide which you think would benefit you more:</p>
<p>“we strongly request that these letters come from teachers who have taught you in grades 11 and/or 12. These letters, however, may come from teachers who have taught you in grade 10 if they are from teachers who have taught you at an advanced level (e.g. Honors, AP, IB, etc.) in a particular subject.”</p>
<p>[Teacher</a> Evaluations : Stanford University](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/application/freshman/evals.html]Teacher”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/application/freshman/evals.html)</p>
<p>Is that one outdated or something? The 09-10 application instructions say</p>
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<p>It doesn’t specifically mention “honors” as an advanced level course that is acceptable for grade 10.</p>
<p>At least in my school, the teachers I had as a senior were the same ones I had as a sophomre, so it worked out for me :)</p>
<p>@feux: Well im assuming its relevent/up to date considering its stanfords official admissions website, and if there was any significant change in policy we would be notified immediately…</p>
<p>and regardless they basically say the same thing?</p>
<p>although i do get that the mention of honors is kind of a big deal for you, i would recommend addressing this by emailing your admissions rep, you do have a valid–and possibly important–point.</p>
<p>the reason they give the guideline of junior/senior year teachers is because most students don’t have a whole lot of contact with teachers after they’ve left their class. I mean, you might stop by occasionally and say hi, but chances are you don’t have heart to hearts with them, so they don’t really see how you’ve grown as a student or a person.</p>
<p>Now, having said that, if you feel that this teacher can REALLY attest to who you are at the time you apply and not who you were 2 years ago, then you’re fine. They won’t frown down upon it if you happen to keep in touch with the teacher even now and if your teacher can give insight on your current person. That’s what they want to know. “Who are we admitting now, and how have they grown” I feel that you might even be making a good choice of chosing a teacher you had soph year (considering they can attest for the person you are now), especially since they will be able to give the most insight into how you’ve grown.</p>