I’m a rising senior this year with an intended major of philosophy (or interdisciplinary ones such as PPE (phil, polisci, econ), EPE (ethics, polisci, econ), LJST (law juris & social thought), etc. I’m looking for a career in law or international diplomacy (or something in that area).
I’m applying for many T20s and LACs (princeton, yale, vanderbilt, georgetown, emory… as well as williams/amherst/swarthmore).
I currently have 2 teachers I have asked for rec letters from: My AP Psych teacher and my AP Lang teacher. I’m incredibly close with my AP Psych teacher, he’s helped me so much in exploring what I’m interested in throughout high school. My Lang teacher has been my teacher for 2 years so far, and I would say I’m a pretty strong writer. I talk to her often as well about books she likes, various ideas outside of the classroom, etc. She’s also the coach for another debate team, and she’s seen me debate/analyze debates so she could also talk about that since she’s somewhat familiar with debate. She’s also wrote recs for many students at our school who have gotten into great colleges (Princeton, Rice, etc) and I really think she cares for her students a ton.
My question is if not having a STEM rec letter would hurt me in any way, or be a lost opportunity? I’m also fine with STEM (captain of robotics team, top in ap chem class, etc) but it’s not what I would necessarily like to pursue in the future. In terms of stats, I have full A+s for all my stem classes (aside from one A last year in algebra 2), and a 770 math section on the SAT (although I have a 800 english) so hopefully there aren’t any doubts about my ability in STEM. Are there any schools that require (or ‘strongly recommend’) a STEM letter if you’re not pursuing STEM?
If so, would it be possible to submit the STEM rec as a third teacher rec, or as a sort of supplemental?
Many colleges who require 2 letters of recommendation prefer to see one STEM and one humanities/social science regardless of intended major. This was also the recommendation from our high school; does your school counselor have an opinion on your plan?
Btw, good letters of recommendation are not dependent on grades achieved in the class, but focus more on participation/contribution, how you might deal with academic setbacks, etc. in other words, about what you will bring to a class. Colleges can see your grades on the transcript- letters of recommendation are meant to provide more color. From your description, your AP Lang teacher sounds perfect for a LOR.
There are, but it is not clear to me that they are schools that would be a good fit for your intended major.
As examples, MIT strongly prefers that one reference be from a STEM teacher. Caltech requires this. However, these are two schools that at least to me do not seem to be the best fit for what you want to study.
I am thinking however that you might want to get a third letter of recommendation from a STEM teacher. One single A that came without a + sign attached to it plus a 770 on the math part of the SAT are hardly considered to be weaknesses. No one is perfect after all.
Well, admissions may view it as a weakness of the school. But that’s another topic.
With the caveat that basically no school wants 3 teacher recs. And the ones that allow extra recs almost universally want the extra from someone other than a teacher
I’ve heard of that as well!! But I was just wondering a) if that’s more so for schools like mit/caltech (like dadtwogirls mentioned) and b) is it as stringent for humanities students. Ultimately I do think I can get a decent rec letter from a STEM teacher, but I don’t think it would be as unique as my others. I did some digging on this site and it looks like a couple schools (eg yale) seems to used to say they ask for both, but they no longer do that? maybe?
I’m pretty sure I told my counselor and she was fine with it and I don’t think our school ever mentioned a recommendation of one stem/non-stem– I just somewhat knew about it from general research. I will double check with her on Thursday, though (I have a meeting with her!)
And 100% on the grades part!! I definitely would want my teachers to focus more on the character of me than the grades.
Like I said, our school’s counselors (and we have a dedicated college counseling department, they are not general counselors) recommended it for all students, for all colleges that required 2 letters.
ahh I see! ahhhh I’ll try to figure out if I should maybe swap one of them out then… I’m kinda sad because I’m really close with both of them but I think getting a stem rec would probably work fine! thank you so much for the advice :DDD
Take a deep breath. Admissions officers do not evaluate your GPA in a vacuum. They look at your School Profile, a document your high school guidance counselor sends along with your transcript.
At this point, your numbers (GPA and SAT) have done their job: they have proven you can handle the coursework. What will actually decide your admissions chances now are your extracurriculars, essays, and letters of recommendation.
but I think getting a stem rec would probably work fine! thank you so much for the advice :DDD