<p>Mods: I am asking about a British school, but it's about reference letters, so I'm not quite sure where the thread should go. If it feels like it's in the wrong place, it'd be excellent if you could move it to the right one. Thanks. </p>
<p>I'm currently applying internationally to Oxford in England for Economics & Management and I'm at a complete loss as to who to pick for my reference letter. </p>
<p>I'd thought that I could pick 2 teachers as references, but apparently I can only pick one. Right now, I'm torn between my current AP Economics teacher and previous AP Calculus BC teacher.</p>
<p>According to the course requirements, Oxford is looking primarily for achievement in Mathematics when applying to Economics & Management. Unfortunately, that is my one glaring weakness- I received a 4 on the AP Calculus BC Exam last year. That was due to personal laziness + illness and I take all blame for it. Therefore, I'm independently studying Calculus again in an attempt to retake the exam and hopefully score a 5. </p>
<p>My Calculus teacher has been a big support and knows that I could have gotten a 5 on the exam last year had I not been so frivolous with my time (being ill a lot didn't help either). I know he'd write me a good reference, but I'm worried that it will draw attention to my score of 4. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I've been working with my AP Economics teacher for the past few months as well, attempting to speed through the course in a few months in order to study higher level Calculus-based Economics. I've been scoring extremely highly in her class and completing all work on time, not to mention I try really hard to understand what's going on and ask a lot of questions. I think she has a high opinion of me as a student, even though she has only known me for two months. After all, she's willing to write a rec! </p>
<p>So again, I'm torn. I feel that if Oxford is looking primarily at my faults (my Calculus score is unusually low compared to the rest of my standardized tests) or simply doesn't care about my performance in Economics, it will probably regard my Calculus teacher's opinion higher in an attempt to explain my lack of performance in that area. On the other hand, if they're looking for signs of speedy recovery and enthusiasm (I really do love my Economics class), I feel that they'll look towards my Econ teacher for signs that I've progressed much further as a student and that I'm really interested in what I'm applying to study.</p>
<p>Since I have absolutely no idea who Oxford wants (for an American school, I'd send both), I'm really looking for help here. If anyone who is familiar with their admission process or can deduce how they'd decide, I'd be extremely grateful to receive a reply. Thanks for reading!</p>