<p>Is there a method to getting letters? I suggested to our juniors that they seek out teachers soon and ask for recommendations so they get on their "lists" early. Obviously they want to talk to teachers that will give them good recommendations but should they target teachers that teach classes in their intended majors or does it not matter? The one person we want to give DS a recommendation is not a teacher but a coach. Is that not a good thing? I know one school he is applying to specifically says no coaches, which is fine. This coach is also on the admissions committee for a highly regarded school so I am thinking he would know all the right things to say--that and he thinks DS walks on water :).</p>
<p>I know their counselor has said to come to her with their list before they ask anyone and she will let them know which ones do a better job than others :). </p>
<p>Our other kids didn't need letters way back when for the schools they looked at.</p>
<p>Most schools want letters from core academic subject teachers (usually math, science, social studies/history, English, foreign language). Some schools want one STEM and one humanities. Some schools want at least one from your likely area of study. Many will take an extra LOR from a coach, EC advisor, music/art teacher, etc. All caution against sending in a pile of extra LORs that all say the same thing. Check with schools of interest YMMV.</p>
<p>Other important considerations: pick teachers who know DC well and are articulate enough to give them some uniqueness among the superlatives. The best choice is not necessarily the class where DC got the best grade, but probably not a course where DC did not do well but “tried really hard”. Finally, make sure DC asks in a way that lets the teacher gracefully say no. “Would you feel comfortable writing me a good recc?” “Do you have time to write me an LOR?” Better to get a decline than a mediocre LOR.</p>
<p>D asked her teachers before the end of Junior year if they would write recs for her to have them lined up (that was what her GC suggested). I have heard you should have LOR’s from a variety of classes (not both in the same subject area). D asked her math and history teachers. She had both of them for 2 years in 10th and 11th grade and she had a good rapport with each of them. Then her Lit teacher offered to write LORs for anyone who signed a list as they were leaving for summer break. D signed up and ended up with 3 LOR’s. The only problem with this is that the Lit teacher’s rec ended up 2nd when uploaded to the common app. I’m not sure if it was better than the 3rd place one or more likely just happened to get uploaded that way, so schools who only wanted 2 recs did not get the one from her history teacher whom D thought probably really wrote a good one. So far she’s been accepted to every school, so it all probably didn’t matter, but maybe something to be aware of.</p>
<p>Two academic teachers. Take a look at the requirements - as I recall MIT wanted one from a non-science teacher! You want someone who knows the student and can say good things and write decently. Junior year teachers will generally know their students best. We knew that our son’s jr. year APUSH teacher was taking the job seriously when he asked the students to give him the following in the fall: the list of colleges, any thoughts about probable majors, a copy of their favorite paper, a paragraph saying which text book they’d liked the most and why, and a reminder of what the AP score had been.</p>
<p>My younger son got an amazingly good letter from his math teacher even though he’d been a B+ student in the class. He loved that teacher, and the teacher knew he understood the material even though he didn’t always test well.</p>
<p>Since the coach wants to write a letter, I’d have him write a supplemental letter.</p>
<p>WOW Mathmom–what a nice APUSH teacher. I hope our kids are that lucky. DS’s Algebra II teacher from last year who will also be his AP Calc B/C teacher next year would be my first choice for him based off the things he has said about DS at conferences, etc. I have no idea if he can write a good letter or not though :). His Spanish teacher from sophomore year would also be a good candidate as he is the adviser for an activity DS is in and DS will be the captain next year. Would he be ok to ask?? He has had DS in this activity since 9th grade. The “better” teachers this year are not in classes where DS 'shines" I guess. All of his teachers like him but I haven’t gotten the " your son is amazing" vibe from them like we have from these other teachers.</p>
<p>DD is easy, her AP Chem teacher and her AP Lit both think she is golden. Her Chem teacher even came to visit her when she was in the hospital in the fall. His wife is a doctor and he has put DD in contact with several dr’s in the area to do job shadow’s etc. We like him. :).</p>
<p>Helps if the student provides the letter writer with a “brag” sheet. Some teachers are not aware of the student’s other classes, their overall GPA, the EC (varsity sports/team captain/first chair), club sports outside of school (ie USA Swimming/Diving, travelling soccer/hockey…) and other outside interests.</p>
<p>This is so they are not writing the letter in a vacuum of just the class they taught the student.</p>
<p>Also include an event, conversation, class discussion, paper, literally anything that will relate the student to the teacher. Something that the teacher can use as a jump point for their letter revealing that they know the student (really know). It doesn’t have to be a A+ paper, or a 5 on the BC Calc exam, but rather something that speaks about the student to the respective admissions committees. What the student will be bringing to the university community, how will their presence enrich their campus.</p>
<p>Sometimes this will give an identity to the application, when submitted with essays and ECs will bring the student to life for the adcoms.</p>
<p>I would pay attention to the advice to run the list of teachers by guidance so they can tell her who will write better letters. Oldest D asked her favorite teacher, who turned out to be a poor letter writer. She showed the letter to D and asked her to read it to see what she thought. D then showed it to me, and I offered some constructive editing. I felt strange doing that, but the letter made me cringe.</p>
<p>Youngest D wants to ask a 10th grade science teacher, who she will have again as a senior. Some schools say junior or senior teacher, so we are hoping this will be OK. He was also her coach freshman year, so knows many aspects of her.</p>
<p>katwkittens–I like the idea of a brag sheet. Last year in a PE class DD was helping a friend with something they were doing and the teacher “suggested” she go back and work on her own “skills”. Her friend said “um, you do realize who this is right”–my DD has been a state participant in that sport since 9th grade–he had no idea :).</p>
<p>My older son used his Latin teacher for a letter, and in retrospect, I think it was a mistake. He always did very well in Latin and she’d had him for several years, but she couldn’t really speak to his ability to write a paper or analyze material. Unfortunately his last paper in APUSH the main teacher reactions was “Why only four sources?” (He’d read more, but he couldn’t be bothered to use more writing the paper.) :rolleyes: For a smart kid he can be quite stupid!</p>
<p>If GC’s see the letters, by all means ask them, but in our school they really have no idea.</p>
<p>It is tempting to go with only teachers who gave your child As, but we went a slightly different route with one of S’s recs. He only had three Bs in high school–all from the same advanced math teacher over six semesters. He worked really hard but the competition and the teacher were both tough (lots of Tiger kids in the class). Despite his Bs, when he was a sophomore the teachers asked if he would be interested in tutoring some of her students in other classes. Of course he said “yes” and I presume he did a good job because she ended up referring several students over the next two years. When deciding who to ask for recs, she seemed a perfect choice because only she could “explain” why he did not have a perfect 4.0 UW and what a great kid he was. S made sure she had his transcript, which had all his grades and his SAT, SAT Subject scores, and AP scores. He did very well in math in all three, which we attributed to her (and she knows it!) We haven’t seen the rec, so I don’t know if the choice was the right one, but she certainly seemed eager to do it and her rec was turned in the day after he gave her all the info.<br>
He is 3 out of 4 so far with lots of merit money at two of them and the UCs still to go, so I assume her letter was good. I guess the message I am trying to convey is go with a teacher who knows and values your kid regardless of whether the kid had an A in the class throughout.</p>
<p>I’ve heard from the excellent GC at our D’s school (who is also a former admissions officer) that what colleges really want out of the teacher recs, more than any lovely stuff about what fine character your child has, is to get a sense of how a student is going to contribute in a classroom setting. So one question to ask your S is which classes does he feel most engaged in? Which teachers are likely to be able to say that S enriches the learning environment for other students with his contributions?</p>
<p>My stem kid got recs from non stem teachers. We figured his record spoke for itself in math/science. His english teacher asked us if he could write ds’ lor - we were shocked, he wasn’t in ap and wasn’t even getting an A. To him he preferred to write for kids who were intellectually curious, not just wanting the A. This is the most sought after lor in the school and I believe was a big push into the yes pile for S.</p>
<p>Ask the teacher who knows your child as intellectually curious, attentive, participates in class and adds to the class in some way.</p>
<p>eyemamom has exactly the advice we used. DS applied to all his schools as a chem major. He had his letters written by his AP Psych and APUSH teachers. He chose those teachers because he loved the classes and he participated a lot in class and had a good relationship with them. It must have worked because he got into 7 of his 9 schools with only one deferral (not pursued) and one denial. He’s happily attending his #1 choice school.</p>
<p>Pick teachers who know your student, not just ones where they did well in the class.</p>
<p>I urged my daughter (whose intended major is English) to get one of her recommendations from her physics teacher, because this fellow told me that when he imagined what his own daughter would be like as a teenager, he thought, “I’d be happy if she turned out like D of Absweetmarie.” D’s school has a pretty good system that forces the kids (and the parents) to reflect on their academic ups and downs (it’s a big school) via questionnaires filed through Naviance. This is something like the “brag sheets” referenced above, I guess.</p>
<p>Well D2 did a dry run for summer programs, she found out who is reliable and who is not. I tend to think the ones who are department chairs write better letter of recommendations. We’re in the wait and see mode. If she gets into these summer programs, D2 definitely will ask these teachers again, if not she will find someone else but she definitely knows who not to ask.</p>
<p>My daughter choose her two junior year teachers who she felt knew her best as a person. They both “got her” in terms of understanding her sense of humor etc.</p>
<p>SteveMa…your kids should request letters of recommendation from the teachers who know them well, and can/will write them a good letter of recommendation. In OUR experience…letters had to come from teachers of academic subjects first…not coaches. A supplemental letter could be included from a coach IF the school allowed that.</p>
<p>E.G. our engineering major kid had a letter of recommendation from her 10th grade English teacher, and her homeroom teacher who also happened to teach math. </p>
<p>Our music major kid had a recommendation from his 11th grade English teacher, and in his case, his music teacher (he was applying to music performance programs only). He included a supplemental recommendation from his private music instructor.</p>
<p>Both kiddos had targeted their application lists by the end of their junior years. They were able to give the teachers a WRITTEN request that included the addresses of the schools. They did so in May of their Junior years so that the teachers would have time to either do them before the school year ended OR at the start of the next school year.</p>
<p>I told the kids to come up with a list of teachers they would like to ask and then run that list by the counselor. I gave them suggestions based off of this thread. DS came up with what I would say are the “right” teachers. DD came up with her 8th grade math teacher :). Now, he does know her well and without sounding creepy, he has kept in contact with her and her with him. He attends some of her sporting events, etc. They just clicked. It isn’t inappropriate at all. I did tell her that he probably isn’t the best candidate and gave her better ideas to consider…kids. I think her AP Chem and AP lit teachers would be the best. Her AP Euro teacher would give her the “right” kind of recommendation but I’m not sure how well he would write the letter. I would probably request that someone “proof” the letter before it is turned in (probably the counselor). He is a newer teacher.</p>