<p>Hi, I attend a full time boarding school in South Africa. I will be using the common app for all my applications and I need some advice. One of my recs will be from my math teacher and the other from my 'housemaster'. Would it be unwise to use my housemaster for my teacher rec? At my school, the housemaster is basically responsible for the students in his house, he takes an active interest in every facet of my life and I feel that he is in a position to write me a very good rec. Unfortunately he hasn't really taught me (except for 6 months in grade 9) so he can hardly be called an academic teacher. My school counsellor has told me that the colleges are completely okay with using a housemaster and that several of last years students did it. This is not very comforting as he is very new at his job and not many of last years students got into good colleges. Should I go with the housemaster??? Or should I look around for another teacher?</p>
<p>Please BUMP</p>
<p>Ask the colleges, just e-mail the adcoms. It's hard for us to know what the colleges will accept.</p>
<p>I would say go for whomever can write you the best rec, not necessarily who you know the best (although those can often be one and the same!). At my school, there's a teacher I know extremely well, so I asked her to write a letter for me for a summer program -- and the letter wasn't anything special. So this may/may not be your headmaster, but just do what's most effective in the long run. And yes, talk to schools you're applying to.</p>