Self-study
I'm a second year in undergrad, graduating a year early, and am applying for law school this fall. I haven't really made any stand-out connections with any of my profs, and I'm afraid it might be too late now before applications. There was one or two that gave me great writing feedback in my first year, but I'm not sure if that was memorable enough, and I didn't really talk to them.
I also have two jobs- one as a law clerk at a small firm I've been at for 3 years and have a great connection with my boss; the other, I've been a typist for a year, helping on a law prof's research at my school's law school (T20-40 range), with whom I'm very friendly. I also recently got an internship at a national law firm; my supervisors are paralegals, and I don't know them too well yet, but we're friendly.
I heard that schools want at least one academic letter if you're applying right out of undergrad, but I'm not sure at this point if a meh one would hurt me? And if I should just go the full professional letter route? And which professional letters should I prioritize?
my mar lsat diagnostic was 161, i'm aiming for 170+ in aug and T50 schools.
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2 comments
I hope I can help give you some context from the admissions perspective, @IsaSaki!
Yes, admissions officers are going to expect an academic letter if you're applying to law school either as a current college student or a recent grad (for example, someone who is graduating this May and is applying in September). There's really no way to get around it. It would look really odd if there isn't an academic LoR.
To your question of whether a "meh" letter would hurt you, it really wouldn't. The LoRs don't make or break applicants. I usually read the LoRs last. By the time I hit them, I had already determined whether I was going to vote to admit, waitlist, or deny. What I wanted from the LoRs was a confirmation of that vote. So in your case, if I saw one good professional letter and one meh academic one and I was already thinking "admit," I'm not being nudged off that vote because of the meh letter.
So as far as getting that academic letter, I'd start with the profs you had this past semester. I wouldn't worry about whether or not you made any connections with them because you can make a connection with them now. Introduce yourself, mention that you really enjoyed their class, that you're thinking of applying to law school in the future, and you were curious if this professor would be kind enough to write an LoR for you because of x, y, and z that you picked up from class. It's possible that you still have a week or two on campus to make this initial connection. If you've already left for the summer, there's no time like the present to send an email.
Another option is to make those connections with profs in the fall. That would likely delay your apps a bit since they can't write an LoR for you until after the class is over. But I at least wanted to mention this as an option.
Regarding your question of which professional letter to prioritize, I'd prioritize the job you've had for three years. As an admissions officer, I'll get more insights into what you bring to a professional setting from that kind of letter vs the typing/research assistant position. But I really wouldn't fight you on this! Either/both would be totally fine!
I hope that helps!
@JacobBaska Thank you so much this was so insightful!