From Quora: "Should I go to my language teacher of 3 years or my English teacher for a recommendation when I apply to MIT?"

Choose the teacher who knows you best, probably the language teacher of 3 years, rather than your English teacher, assuming: (1) the English teacher doesn’t know you as well as your language teacher; (2) the language teacher has nice things to say about you, and will put those things in writing; and (3) the language teacher is fluent enough in English to write a coherent recommendation for you in English.


NOTE THIS WELL: If the teacher is otherwise likely to write things you wouldn’t want the MIT admissions people to see, then obviously, DO NOT ASK THAT TEACHER FOR A RECOMMENDATION. While this should be obvious, maybe it isn’t to you. It’s a balancing act - the likelihood of getting a good recommendation vs. how well the teacher knows you. Hopefully, the teachers who know you the best also are the ones who would write you the best recommendations, but we know that’s not always the case, even (maybe especially) when it’s not your fault.