My daughter is filling out an application for a scholarship that asks for a recommendation letter from a math or science teacher and has guidelines about what should be addressed in the letter. Questions:
it says a letter, not one. Would sending multiple letters be frowned upon?
It does not say from high school or from your highest level teacher. Which one or multiple would you choose?
a)7th grade Algebra 1 teacher/Girl Scout leader/Family Friend: previous letter targets exactly the guidelines and
continues with other experiences that make her a good candidate
b)9th grade Algebra 2 teacher/Spirit Club Adviser: 4 years spirit club, Haven’t seen content.
c)11th grade AP Calculus teacher (a, 5 on exam): It is short and not very thorough with addressing the guidelines.
She is going into Nanosystems Engineering. This Scholarship is from a computer science type organization. She competes on the Cyber Defense team at the school. Yet she has decided not to request letters from any science teacher or her cyber defense adviser. She does not have confidence in a letter from cyber defense. Since all this information is available on her application, will it look weird in anyway if she sends multiple recommendation letters and they are only from math teachers?
I’d stick to one. You don’t want to seem pushy or like you can’t follow directions. I think it should be assumed the letter should be from a high school teacher. I’m guessing she’s a senior now? A 7th grade teacher would be at least 5 years old at that point, and I’d think it would look suspicious, like you couldn’t find any high school teacher in the past four years to write something positive. Can you find out what’s in the 9th grade teacher letter?
My suggestion to my daughter was to use the 7th grade since it targets the guidelines and includes girl scout experiences in high school (Financial literacy, long-term goal setting and planning, resourcefulness…) in combination with the lacking recommendation letter from the Calculus teacher. But, we were both concerned with it looking like not following directions.
She should not use the ge 7th grade letter because as @CourtneyThurston said, it looks lijedshe peaked 5 years ago a If they want a math teacher, it should be junior year AP calc teacher. You D should ask this teacher and give him a copy of her annotated resume/brag sheet to write the letter
As it turns out, my D was mistaken about the AP calc teacher, and the letter sounds on target from what she now says; I haven’t seen it. It is her highest math. They didn’t offer even AP Stats this year. Thanks for the advice everyone.
"My suggestion to my daughter was to use the 7th grade since "
In the nicest way possible I have to question your judgement a little if you really thought this was a good idea. Maybe your D should be asking these questions to her guidance counselor, who will have experience with applications like these.