<p>I've noticed that on the W&M ADMITIT! blogs that Ms. Wendy Livingston (Senior Assistant Dean of Admission) said the W&M RECOMMENDS any additional recommendations (required being the one from the guidance counselor) be from academic teachers.<br>
How would it be if I got one from a 9th grade teacher, and another from a debate coach whose known me literally ALL of high school (she has PLENTY of stories to tell)</p>
<p>What kind of stories are they going to tell? </p>
<p>The admissions committee wants to hear from teachers who can attest to the likelihood that you’ll be a really great college student. They want to hear about your intellect, your curiosity, your perseverance, your inventiveness, or some other attributes that will enable you to succeed in a top-notch college. And they want to know about who you are now more than who you were in the ninth grade.</p>
<p>For this reason, most colleges ask for letters from teachers who have taught you in an academic subject (English, science, math, social studies or foreign language) in your junior and/or senior year. These are usually the people best equipped to give a current assessment of your mettle as a student.</p>
<p>Can your debate coach talk about your ability in the classroom? Can your teacher from ninth grade assess how you measure up to your classmates these days? If they can’t, their letters won’t be very helpful to the admissions committee. If they can, *will *they? Take a look at this advice about teacher recommendations from MIT’s admissions office: [Writing</a> Recommendations | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/writingrecs]Writing”>How to write good letters of recommendation | MIT Admissions). If you think either of these teachers can write that kind of letter for you, then ask them whether they think they can, and would be willing to.</p>
<p>That was brilliant. Thank you Sikorsky. </p>
<p>My Debate coach whose known me for 4 years would - i hope - be able to write a lengthy recommendation. She’s witnessed me go from an oblivious novice debater in 9th grade to a much more educated and eloquent varsity debater by 12th grade. She’s witnessed me work on several innovative arguments and ideas throughout my debate career. She really liked me last year. HOWEVER we’ve had our ups and downs. She hated my guts in freshman year, but by sophomore year she absolutely adored me. Junior year she liked me too but I kinda slacked. But there are a lot of good stories she could talk about reflecting my intellectual innovation and curiosity. Do you think she’d write anything about the bad times we’ve had? Also she doesn’t know much about my academics with the exception that she saw my straight A’s report card once.</p>