Who should I choose for Teacher Recommendations?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi everyone, I was wondering if I could have some advice about teacher recommendations? Since AP tests, HSA's, and senior finals are over, I thought it was a good time to ask teachers if they could write my college recommendations. I've been debating between three teachers though for a long time and I'm still having doubts about who to choose.</p>

<p>Honors Forensics: He knows that I'm a hard worker, participate often (my classmates were kinda quiet), and was interested in class. I received great feedback from him on most of the assignments/tests/projects and I got an A overall for that semester. He also knows me better than all of my other teachers. There's also a chance that I may have him for AP Biology next year. I feel like he could write an excellent recommendation, and I'm positive that he would remember to write it and complete it on time. The thing is, I only had him for one semester and it's not an AP class. I'm just curious, does this really matter? (it's just that at my school, they basically force every kid to take 4-5 AP's their junior year...)</p>

<p>AP Language and Composition: I had my AP Language and Composition teacher for 3/4 of the school year (I had a bizarre schedule change and I was sent to another teacher for 1/4 of the year). I was kinda quiet for the 1st quarter (I only participated when no one else did) but I got good grades. But during the 2nd semester, I started to participate a lot more and I think this stood out. He gives back good feedback on some HW assignments (where we have to write long paragraphs in response to questions) and gave me back really great feedback on these current event journals we had to do this year. but when it comes to the in-class timed essays, I got kinda "meh" grades.</p>

<p>AP World History: I had her for the whole year and got an B for the first semester, but worked my butt off this semester and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get an A this semester. When it came to AP World History, I enjoyed class and participated actively, but I think the only reason I got an A in her class is because I got good grades on the vocab tests/quizzes/worksheets. But when it came to unit tests and essays, I basically got these "nice try" grades (they were around 80%-85%). Also, for some reason, it seems that A LOT of people are asking her for recommendations. I'm kinda afraid that she may write something generic for me or may completely forget about me (b/c she already has to write a lot of other recommendations).</p>

<p>Sorry for the lengthy post, but if anyone could offer me advice on who I should choose for recommendations, I'd really appreciate it! :)</p>

2

<p>Just from the “tone” of your AP Language and Composition paragraph and the “meh” grades you received on your in-class essays, it would seems as though your teacher would give OTHER STUDENTS in your class a better recommendations than they would give you. That should be a wake-up call right there, as you want your teacher to say that you are their top student, that your writing is better than anyone else’s in the class. Based upon your description of the situation, my vote would be to ask your Honors Forensics and AP World History teachers. Are those teachers your only choice for recs? What about math, chemistry, physics, computer science, 10th grade english etc.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the reply gibby! </p>

<p>Actually sorry I should’ve worded the thing about the essays in English better; he’s given me an 85% for every essay except one where he gave me a 95%. I didn’t think that an 85% was that outstanding or anything, so it was kinda like the situation in AP World History.</p>

<p>I was actually considering one other teacher originally, who gave back excellent feedback on all of my in class essays (except for one that she gave an 85%). But I had her for one semester in my sophomore year (Honors English) and 1/4 of my junior year for AP Language (I had a weird schedule situation). She gave a ton of essay during the time that I had her though, and she gave me very good grades with excellent feedback. She also told me that I was a really strong writer, and she was a pretty strict grader on essays and basically everything. There was also a situation where I had to write an essay with a partner, but my partner didn’t do anything (and lied about making progress) so I had to actually write the whole essay. I told her this before it was due and she was really apologetic about the situation and praised that I worked hard to compensate on behalf of my partner and gave me a really high A. </p>

<p>I was just concerned that since I had her for a weird amount of time (1/2 sophomore year, and 1/4 junior year) if that would affect anything… :confused: Sorry I probably should’ve included this in the original post but I wasn’t too sure…</p>

4

<p>I wouldn’t worry about the amount of time you had a teacher, or whether they taught you in an AP or honors class, or whether you had them in 10th or 11th grade. You should go with the teacher who will give you the best rec! That sounds like your sophomore year honors english/junior year AP language teacher.</p>