Self-study
Hi all! I am looking for help/detailed instructions for adding a recommender to my LSAC account. A past professor told me I can add them as a recommender on my account. I began the process once and seemed to have no issue, but then had to get some follow up information. Now, in my LSAC account, I simply cannot figure out how to just add a recommender without paying for the CAS registration. It feels a bit early to pay for that -- I'm not planning on applying until next fall and I don't want to deal with that right now I just want to add this professor. I am 99 percent sure there is a way to add a recommender without paying for CAS yet, but every time I try I get routed on the website to my LSAC shopping cart and am prompted to pay for CAS registration. Any tips?
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3 comments
Hey @SL09 - Just adding in another two cents from the AdComm perspective!
What bob247hammer said is true - LoRs will stay on your record for several years.
However, here's something that we're not sure about right now. Up until literally two weeks ago, you didn't have to purchase a CAS subscription in order to do a few things such as log an LoR to your record. That's changed literally in the past two weeks - that's what you're seeing when you're logging in to LSAC.
What we don't know about is if LSAC is still requiring you to purchase a CAS subscription for each individual year in which you need it.
This is an issue that reapplicants have run into in the past - they didn't realize that they had to buy another CAS subscription for the second time that they applied.
This has been a moot point for people in your position until now. If your prof had mentioned this to you on Feb 15, you could have added them as a recommendor without having to pay for CAS. But now you have to pay for CAS to add a recommendor. If you would also have to pay for another CAS subscription when you want to apply in Sept/Oct, I think it'd be best to politely tell your prof that LSAC has changed a few things, that you don't want to get dinged for two CAS fees, so you'll be in touch again over the summer with further instructions once you get things clarified from LSAC.
For what it's worth, I'd encourage you to call LSAC about this. Historically, CAS fees were good from Sept 1 to Aug 31. But if you need to buy a CAS fee before doing things like adding transcripts and LoRs AND if the CAS fee for the coming admissions year is only good starting Sept 1 AND if apps open on Sept 1 and you want to apply right away, it seems to me that LSAC is going to get tons of CAS fees, LoRs, and transcripts right on Sept 1. Up until now, they received tons of papers over the summer and that spread out the workload a bit.
I’m pretty sure you have to pay for CAS first to add a recommender regardless of when ur applying or whatever. But the letters are valid for 5 years with CAS purchased!