<p>I'm a homeschooled student, and I need to choose between six potential letters of recommendation. Can you tell me which letters you think would be best?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Biology, Chemistry, Human Anatomy Teacher
Grades: 8-11.
Status: Started
Pros: I did extremely well in all of her classes, staying after class to talk about scientific breakthroughs, articles I had read, etc. She said I was one of the best students she had ever had. Can attest to my ability to discuss complicated issues with classmates.
Cons: Her classes were never particularly rigorous, and as a teacher at a Christian tutorial, her recommendation may not hold the weight of, say, a college professor. (FYI, I retook chemistry and biology as AP classes in later grades.)</p></li>
<li><p>Latin III-V Tutor
Grades: 7-11.
Status: Asked, not yet started.
Pros: As a tutor, she knows me better than most teachers, and I consistently did well in our lessons. Her recommendation is necessary for schools that require humanities recommendations.
Cons: After eleventh grade, I decided to quit studying Latin because I wanted to focus on other subjects. Also, she is not the best writer.</p></li>
<li><p>DE Differential Equations Teacher
Grades: 12.
Status: Not asked
Pros: As a high school student, I have by-far the highest grade in the highest level mathematics course offered at my local community college. I've stayed after class a couple of times to ask about proofs he withheld from lessons, and he seems to appreciate my love of theory over application. Also, as a college professor, his recommendation may carry extra weight.
Cons: This is a one-semester class, so he doesn't know me very well on an interpersonal level. Also, some of the louder students answer more questions than I do.</p></li>
<li><p>DE Calculus-Based Physics Teacher
Grades: 12.
Status: Not asked
Pros: Again, I've got the highest grade in the highest level physics course offered at my local community college. Since this is a lab-based, assignment-filled course, the teacher knows me a bit better than my differential equations teacher.
Cons: I don't like the way the professor teaches, and I don't like the class. I don't think my dislike has ever been apparent, but seriously, I hate this class. (Rote memorization of formulas is not the best way to learn physics.)</p></li>
<li><p>PROMYS Professor
Grades: 11.
Status: Asked, not yet started.
Pros: An excellent teacher whose recommendation will explain the rigor of the PROMYS program and my participation in it. I really put a lot of effort into the problem sets and the midterm write-up (which is in the permanent records), and I was one of a very few students to score higher on the final exam than the midterm (and I scored much higher).
Cons: The professor doesn't know me very well, and his recommendation will largely be based on my permanent file at PROMYS (which includes the midterm write-up, exam scores, counselor and research mentor notes, etc.). Also, I wasn't the strongest incoming student at PROMYS (scored around 50th percentile on the midterm), but I did work really hard to improve over those six weeks.</p></li>
<li><p>Employer, Chess Coach
Grades: 6-12.
Status: Not asked
Pros: He knows me extremely well. He taught me in the first chess camp I attended, and after I had won several tournaments, became my coach. A couple of years later, he asked me if I would like to volunteer at the chess camps, and I did. I volunteered every summer, and today I am paid by his company to teach summer chess camps and local chess clubs.
Cons: The local chess community is saturated with extremely smart kids (statistically, a 35 ACT is the median among my fellow high-school level teachers), so I don't stand out as much as I do at the community college or my homeschool tutorial.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Sorry for the word-vomit, but I'd love to hear your opinions! I'm guessing I'll send 2-4 recommendations to each school, depending on whether they discourage or encourage additional letters of recommendation. As a homeschooled student, though, recommendations seem to be weighted heavily.</p>