<p>I’m planning on applying next year to Maryland, and I was wondering if I could get my teacher recommendation from my Quiz Bowl coach, because I feel as if he could write me the best recommendation, because he made me captain my sophomore year. The only problem is that he was never my teacher for an actual class, so can he still write my teacher rec.</p>
<p>thanks for the advice everyone haha???</p>
<p>No. Colleges aren’t trying to admit quiz-bowl captains; they’re trying to admit students. They want to hear from someone who can assess your ability to do the job of being a student. They want to hear from somebody who’s taught you in an academic subject: English, math, science, social studies or (sometimes, but not always) foreign language.</p>
<p>Sikorsky is right, BUT sending in a supplemental letter of recommendation would help the admissions board get a better perspective of you as a person.</p>
<p>If he never taught you, that shouldn’t be an official teacher rec. However, you could send it as a supplemental recommendation or have him write an in-house recommendation that will be sent to your counselor to help him/her write your counselor rec.</p>
<p>Good points, Anna and smwht.</p>
<p>mhmmm i didn’t know you could send a supplemental rec</p>
<p>You can. But don’t send a hundred of them. </p>
<p>A rule of thumb that I’ve seen elsewhere on College Confidential (and enough times, in enough different threads, that I’m inclined to believe it) is that if you’re asked for n letters, it’s safe to send them n+1. But a person really should make sure that his or her supplemental letter sheds some light that the required letters don’t. In your case, it sounds likely that the extra letter would.</p>