S25 attends a professional arts high school, but plans to study political science. He has the following recommendations lined up. If a school only accepts ONE teacher recommendation, we are having a hard time choosing, especially if they don’t indicate it needs to be from a core subject.
Illustration - S25’s “major” in high school. Teacher has had S for two periods every day for all four years and S is now a Teaching Assistant in his class. We know it will be 10/10 because he has written recs for S before for competitive programs, and S has gotten in to all. HOWEVER, some schools may not see this as a core subject even though it is considered one in their professional arts in their school.
AP Biology - Junior year. Teacher adores S and will write a great one. However, can’t really speak to S’s writing or school involvement much.
English - Junior year. Not honors or AP that year, but can speak to S’s writing. They weren’t the closest, but he was a huge fan of S’s writing and S had an A+ in the class.
AP Government - Senior year. Has only been S’s teacher for two weeks, but they know each other previously through Model UN (he’s the advisor) and they get along very well. Cannot speak much about teaching S at this point.
The Principal - apparently he only writes 1-2 each year. S has a class of 400 and is not in the top 25 students, but has been on student council for three years and the principal is a HUGE fan of their activism, advocacy, and offered to write a glowing one unsolicited. Will submit wherever a school accepts an “other.”
Most colleges want two LOR…one from a STEM teacher and one from a humanities teacher. So…choose those two first, in my opinion. So…I’d do biology and English from the list above. They know your student. If an extra LOR is allowed (you need to find out), then choose from the others. The principal sounds like a good extra to me…but that’s just my opinion.
AP Gov - core subject, related to the student’s intended major, and the teacher knows him from model UN.
2/3. AP Bio and English are tied for me. But if you submit AP Gov, then I’d pick Bio to have a STEM recommender.
The Principal - since it sounds like this is a bit of a honor to have a recommendation from him. But, some schools do not allow for additional recs beyond teachers so your student needs to do their due diligence.
Illustration - While I love that they know your student so well, it’s not related to his intended major and not a core subject.
If a school requires one teacher and allows one optional, then the principal can be submitted? Or would you suggest two teachers (i.e. AP Gov and AP Bio)?
Curious about “most”. D19 applied to /was interested in a range ranked between about 30 and about 80 and I only recall one that required two teacher LoRs, some would take more than one if you wanted though. Most wanted one teacher and one counselor.
Certain state schools (not flagships) don’t require them at all. Do you mean most top-tier schools?
If it’s additional to the guidance counselor, I would send the Principal’s recommendation. The fact that he only picks one or two students a year speaks volumes to me.
Not sure because S25’s list has a wide range of schools ranked around the same as yours and includes some state schools. Most do want one teacher and the counselor, but many will take an optional 2-3 in addition. Some state schools want none, and we have one state school that has one required and three optional plus the GC!
Regarding whether a specific college sees art as a core academic subject for frosh admission, you may want to check that college’s web site to see if art is listed among other subjects required or recommended for frosh applicants to include in their high school course work.