Transferring: letter of recommendation question

I'm currently a freshman at a non target in MA, i'm looking into transferring after this year. Boston college is amongst one of the schools I plan on applying to.

my question lies here.

I currently have a good chunk of professors who are willing to write me letters of recommendation.

Calculus prof microeconomics writing teacher (went to bc UG and grad, and still involved in bc community) advisor/ first year seminar prof. (has a lot of connections in the area)

I know most schools look for 2 letters of recommendation now my question is which 2 do you guys think will hold the most weight.

i really want to have my calc and microeconomics teacher to write me letters of recommendations but my writing teacher went there and is well connected and so is my advisor.

what do you guys think?

Thanks for all inputs.

9 Comments
 

Why are you applying to BC? In terms of their cost of attendance and their placement it isn't an ideal school, assuming you want to go into IB after graduation.

For teacher recommendations take one professor who will write you the best letter (ask other faculty/students you feel comfortable bringing this up to) and for the second letter ask a professor who taught a course that is relevant to your intended major/career path. If these are one in the same than a good rule of thumb is one "soft" subject (humanities) and one "hard" (math/science/business) subject. I would go with one Calc/Econ and one Writing/Seminar.

 
Sean518Why are you applying to BC? In terms of their cost of attendance and their placement it isn't an ideal school, assuming you want to go into IB after graduation.

For teacher recommendations take one professor who will write you the best letter (ask other faculty/students you feel comfortable bringing this up to) and for the second letter ask a professor who taught a course that is relevant to your intended major/career path. If these are one in the same than a good rule of thumb is one "soft" subject (humanities) and one "hard" (math/science/business) subject. I would go with one Calc/Econ and one Writing/Seminar.

considering my HS gpa which wasn't that great, i figured anything in the ivy's is out of my league, and BC was a solid choice yet not too far from home. but what would you recommend?

and as far as the letters go i think my microeconomics teacher may be able to write the better one instead of my calc prof and i have a higher grade in that class also.

and for writing seminar i just might side with my writing teacher since it's kind of even between the two.

 
Best Response
Lotin

considering my HS gpa which wasn't that great, i figured anything in the ivy's is out of my league, and BC was a solid choice yet not too far from home. but what would you recommend?

As someone who went to a non-target and transferred to UVA/Michigan/Cal, etc., put a solid two years of work in at your current school.

I went to a tough private school and wasn't always great about turning homework in, so even though I had great test scores I didn't get into the type of college I was capable of getting into coming out of HS.

I was motivated when I got to school and killed it freshman year with a 3.95, had a 3.9 when I applied and got into 3/5 schools I applied to (no Ivies or anything though, not really my thing).

Put three solid semesters together and start thinking about this in November/December of sophomore year. Your college grades will carry a lot more weight.

OCR is on-campus recruiting. Also, your financial situation is necessary to know. Most schools have absolutely terrible financial aid for transfers.

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Honestly what they do doesn't matter as much as how good the letter actually is in terms of promoting you as a good potential student. Go with the professors that you connected the most with or who liked you the most. I went with two of my engineering professors who really took a liking to me and aced their classes as well as a professor I was doing research with and had spent significant time with.

Also be sure to check the requirements on the letters because some schools want them from a professor who taught a specific subject.

 
MatthiasHonestly what they do doesn't matter as much as how good the letter actually is in terms of promoting you as a good potential student. Go with the professors that you connected the most with or who liked you the most. I went with two of my engineering professors who really took a liking to me and aced their classes as well as a professor I was doing research with and had spent significant time with.

Also be sure to check the requirements on the letters because some schools want them from a professor who taught a specific subject.

i understand what you're saying, i have a good relationship with all of them but hopefully by the end of the semester, i can come down to 2 clear ones, and pertaining to the specific subjects letters of rec. i'll take a look into that, i completely forgot.

 

The point I meant to make was more to the fact that BC is rather expensive, I don't know your financial situation but you should consider some less expensive alternatives or schools with better OCR. BC is by no means a bad name to have on your resume but there are schools that are less expensive and have the same, if not better, OCR.

Don't discount yourself, transfer admission is a whole different ball game. I got into schools as a transfer that I wouldn't have dreamed of applying to as a senior in high school.

 
Sean518The point I meant to make was more to the fact that BC is rather expensive, I don't know your financial situation but you should consider some less expensive alternatives or schools with better OCR. BC is by no means a bad name to have on your resume but there are schools that are less expensive and have the same, if not better, OCR.

Don't discount yourself, transfer admission is a whole different ball game. I got into schools as a transfer that I wouldn't have dreamed of applying to as a senior in high school.

I understand what you're saying, financially BC would probably not work unless I received a good amount of fin.aid

and pardon me but what is OCR?

 

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