Question: My retired freshman year global history teacher offered to write me a college recommendation. She also happened to be my unofficial counselor for a competition for all of my junior year. If she does write me a recommendation, does she take up one of the two necessary teacher recs or does her rec act as the one additional rec you can add? I'm also hesitant to get a rec from her because I've been told that recs from teachers from your junior year are best. However, I feel that she knows me extremely well. Would it be OK to get a rec from her?
If you decide to get a recommendation from this teacher, you should use it as a supplemental one. Colleges will definitely be more interested in official references from teachers who taught you in your junior or senior year. Although this retired teacher may know you better than any others, admission folks may feel that her rec doesn't carry sufficient firepower because she only taught you when you were a freshman.
