FresnoMom

My son asked his APUSH teacher and his Spanish teacher for the rec.

mercruz

@ attentuation?: Not required, but it does help I believe. Furthermore, it is also important to submit letters from the correct grade levels.

drpepper867

my recs came from my ap calc/stat teacher and my ap bio teacher (and got in) ....so i didn't have one in the humanities. i don't think having a rec from a humanities teacher would've particularly helped for me.

attenuation

Stanford is weird... it accepts recs only from 11th and 12th grade...
So you guys all strongly discourage asking teachers from 10th grade, hm?

mercruz

Actually, you can submit a letter from 10th grade but "it is strongly discouraged" or something like that.

nngmm

If that is the teacher who knows you best, LOVES you, and can write, it is better than a generic rec from a senior year teacher that can hardly remember your name.

mercruz

Also, don't ask a teacher just because you think that they're "impressive." Just because he/she has a PhD & MA &Bachelor's from said school or is a professional athlete or found the cure for Cancer, doesn't mean this a good person to ask for your letter. Ask someone who knows you.

attenuation

Thanks for all your helpful replies!
Actually, the issue I have is not that I'm afraid that I don't have a teacher who adores me. Rather, I am afraid that the teachers that adore me cannot write. This science teacher I have, for example, has expressed to me many times that I am one of the top students of his career. Plus, he knows me well. But he wrote me a recommendation for a summer science program, and showed it to me.... ah, it was not good writing at all and read like a bunch of faint praise. It was not anecdotal at all, although I personally can think of so many instances / situations that would show my character in his class. ... This cannot be good. Can I suggest to him specific points that I would like for him to include for my college recommendation, or would this be unfair?

mercruz

I can't see why you couldn't hint at him. When I asked teachers to write letters for me, I remember compiling a sort of resume of all of my acheivments and then high-lighting the ones that said teacher could comment on (i.e. History Day Coach=History Day, Mock Trial, Chem Teacher=Science Olympiad, Work-load, etc)

curious77

Perhaps write a cover letter to your teacher highlighting what you loved about his/her class and the experiences that made a great impact on you. Then the teacher's recollection will be refreshed with specific instances that can be incorporated into your letter of rec. The teacher obviously trusts you and wants you to know how highly you are regarded since you were shown the rec. Try the letter. Someone on another thread suggested printing out the school's admissions criteria or suggestions about what they want to see in letters of rec and giving it to the teacher. I believe they provided a link to something on MIT's site that was great to provide to a teacher.
I had recalled Stanford wanted a techie and fuzzy rec, but I may be confused with other schools. I also suggest you use the 10th grade teacher as your optional if Stanford insists on 11th and 12th grade teachers. Stanford is pretty serious about the rules that they state for the application process. I would not suggest igoring any.

attenuation

Yeah, I think I know of that link (the MIT one... I believe this is it? MIT Admissions | Info For Schools & Counselors: Writing Evaluations ). But when I asked my guidance counselor about providing a cover letter, he said I should not do that.
.... giving a teacher a cover letter won't be taken as being overly controlling and mistru****l (that the teacher cannot write it the best way possible without the information provided)?

curious77

It probably will depend on how you write the cover letter. I think (in contrast to your guidance counselor) that many teachers appreciate it. Just phrase it as a request and in saying why you selected that teacher you can provide the examples you would like highlighted in the recommendation. For example: I am asking you to write this rec because your class has inspired me to pursue..... especially when we did....and I designed the lab for .... and you allowed me to teach the class about.... You fill in the blanks. But phrasing it that way is complimentary and appreciative of the teacher and triggers his or her memory.

googol123

Make yourself unique. I'm sure you know how much emphasis stanford places in its essays by now.
Beyond the acamdemia, I'm sure you have some interesting ideas/activities that people could find interesting. Don't fall into stereotypes. ie. "I worked in a soup kitchen and therefore became a better person" doesn't work to well.
Don't worry too much about "amazing recs", as long as you don't select someone who will actually write you a negative rec letter you'll be fine. Be polite and provide them with your CV, stamps, envelopes etc.