So right now I’m applying EA to Georgia Tech as my top choice, but it says they only accept one rec from a counselor and one from a teacher, and that any other letters are not considered at all. At the end of junior year I asked both my AP Chem and my BC Calc teacher to write recs for me and I don’t know which to send. I want to double major in biochemistry and mathematics, I got extremely high A’s in both classes, and got 5’s on both exams. In addition, I was pretty close to both teachers. However, I also had my chem teacher in 10th grade for honors, and she also taught my older brother for 2 years. I think that I was personally closer to her and she is more experienced (head of the science department and got her masters at Princeton). My Calc teacher is a lot younger, but I did slightly better in his class. There were numerous tests I got perfect scores or very high A’s on when his class averages were less than 60% (out of ~150 students), and I know for a fact that I achieved the highest score out of his students on several tests as well. I think that both teachers have a good opinion of my character as well as my academic achievements, but I don’t know which letter to send. I know that either will be great but I am quite conflicted since I loved them both as teachers and since I want to major in both of their respective subjects.
Oh and this kind of goes without saying but I won’t be reading either letter so I can’t just choose which one is better.
Letters of recommendation are a frustrating part of the application process since you really can’t control what is sent. It sounds like you are leaning towards your chemistry teacher, so go with your gut. I don’t think it matters that you did slightly better in calculus.
They should both be solid recommendations. I’d ask the guidance counselor at your HS – sometimes they have a good.sense.of which teachers write particularly strong LORs.