Hi CC!
Just like what the title says, I wonder what schools require applicants to specifically get one letter of rec from a STEM teacher and one from a Humanities teacher. I am planning to major in Political Science and I was going to get one from Politics teacher and another one from English teacher. Is this a bad choice?
Thanks!
Many schools do. You have to check requirements for every school you plan to apply.
AFAIK, there is no comprehensive list. If it’s not on their website, each college will tell you if you ask
Harvey Mudd was the only school my kids applied to where this was specified. You should check the admissions requirements on the website of each school you are interested in, it should say if they have a preference.
Most schools will not specify beyond asking for core or junior year teachers.
Good thing my schools didn’t ask for STEM recommendations. I only had one STEM class junior year, and it was… rough.
The vast majority of colleges require ZERO rec letters. Thus, the advice to you to check the individual schools’ requirements per their webpages
Thank you all for kind replies!
The schools I am planning to apply–and apprarently I forgot to mention–are Yale and some ivies and I have, indeed, checked if they need one from stem and one from humanities. However, my college plan is not perfectly set yet and it’s the time to ask teachers about the recs, right?
So, Harvey Mudd is one I was considering. What would others be?
@ThomasKMJ if you are applying for colleges this fall, then you probably don’t need to ask them for recommendations right away. I would wait until the fall semester, but give them plenty of time.
MIT requires one STEM and one humanities rec. I got ones from my calculus and English teachers.
The perfect time to start conversation with your recommenders is late spring of your junior year, Many recommenders limit number of letters they write.
You said you are planning on majoring in Political Science. Harvey Mudd only offers STEM majors (Physics, Bio, Chem, Computer Science, Engineering, Math…). Yes, technically you could attend Mudd and major at one of the other schools in the Consortium, but I Mudd is very STEM intensive and requires you to take classes in all the STEM fields. Doesn’t really sound like the place for a Political Science major.
@MITer94 My school is a very small and competitive boarding public school with not a lot of faculty members. So I thought it would be better to ask them a bit earlier, as competition to get recs from good teachers will get harder as deadlines approach, I suppose. Thank you for sharing your experience, though! 
@Ballerina016 Right, that is why I decided to ask them earlier. I’m a rising senior, though. Semester system here in Korea is quite different from the US system.
@ClaremontMom I did say that I want to major in Political Science, but I am also thinking about applying as a STEM student. I was kind of mistaken on that one. I was confused with Claremont McKenna.
Thanks! I’m getting great helps from here.
Yes, Claremont McKenna is a much better place for a Political Science major! (It also has STEM majors, so your options are still open)
Lots of schools require you to ask for recommendation before the end of the year so teachers have time to either work on them.