Looking for clarification/suggestions on 3rd Teacher for evaluations

[ders_dad]

DS is beginning to line up the teachers who will eventually submit evaluations for his USAFA application. In reading the USAFA website info, I understand that teachers must be "11th or 12th grade English instructor, Math instructor, and one other instructor (preferably a Science instructor, but may be History, etc.)". Couple of questions:

1. Am I reading it correctly that the "one other instructor" must be 11th or 12th grade?
2. What's the opinion on the "preferably a Science instructor" part?

DS took honors Chem in 10th grade, is currently taking IB Biology, and will be taking IB Physics in 12th grade (that's just the way it worked out). DS is getting an A in biology but says his teacher is a bit of a wet noodle (let's just say DS uses more colorful and teenage-centric language). His guidance counselor says the biology teacher writes uninspiring recommendations and suggests DS seek out another teacher, if possible. He could wait until 12th grade and use his IB Physics teacher but that teacher will not have had DS in class very long and DS is shooting to get application as complete as possible before @ September. (and the Physics teacher may not be so hot, either - who knows?).

If it were permissible, DS would love to use his honors Chem teacher from 10th grade. As an alternative, he could use his IB history teacher for 11th grade (who DS really likes and knows DS quite well) but is worried about the "preferably a Science instructor" having more weight because he will be majoring in an engineering field. If it matters, DS got a 36 on the science part of ACT.

 

[Cerberi]

It is less a ‘recommendation’ and more of an evaluation of the student. The process is structured and did not call for much essay writing if I recall properly.

 

[falconchic88]

Agree with Cerberi, it's pretty much an electronic evaluation form, so no need for a flowery eval. The guidance you quoted above makes it sounds like all 3 teacher evals should be from 11th or 12th grade teachers, so I would use the IB Bio teacher for the eval form, and maybe ask the honors chem teacher to write one of the additional optional LOR's if your son has a good relationship with them. (I don't recall the optional letters saying they couldn't be teachers, but maybe double check on that)

 

[BlueStar]

One of my dc was in a similar situation and opted to use a 12th grade science teacher who hadn't known them very long. At the beginning of the semester, dc made a point of getting to know the prof, going to office hours, sharing their goals, etc. So when the time came to ask for an eval about 6 week into the semester, the prof knew dc fairly well and had seen excellent class performance too. It was one of the last items to be completed in dc's application if memory serves me correctly.

FWIW, I know some applicants are super anxious to submit their applications very early, but in our experience (n=2) and from reading on these boards for 8 years now, I am not sure there is any correlation between early submission and early appointment. It might just increase (oh no!!) your waiting time...