Letter of Recommendation...Recommendations

Mitchell-1

So I've found myself in a bit of a pickle with regards to letters of rec. One of my own making, but still. I am nearly six years removed from college at this point, so finding professors who remember me is a bit of a stretch. Thankfully I applied to grad school a year after college and had to ask for recommendations. I was able to track down one of the professors who still had a copy. He made slight alterations and submitted. One down. The other two have ignored my emails, so I'm not counting on hearing from them. That leaves me in need of a minimum of one more.

Normally, I could ask a current or former manager / senior co-worker, but my situation makes that difficult. I worked for company A right after school for a few years before leaving for company B. At company B I did not get along with the team lead in my first position and ended up switching teams just before I decided to apply to law school. I left company B to return to company A as my position with company B was all encompassing and would have left less than no time to study for the LSAT or write essays. Needless to say, my second team lead there was not exactly thrilled with me leaving so shortly after switching, despite understanding my reasoning. She might have been willing to write one, but has also ignored my email. That would leave all the managers / leads I've had at company A, all would be more than willing to write me great letters of rec under normal circumstances, but having just returned I cannot tell them I'm going to be leaving just yet. This is due to financial considerations / the very likely scenario of them looking to get rid of me before I hit the one year mark due to provisions in my offer. I've thought this through pretty thoroughly and there is no one I could ask who would be likely to keep it to themselves (at least not a risk I'm willing to take).

So I'm running out of ideas. I don't do things like volunteer work, etc. I've thought to ask a few grad TAs I used to work for in college with no response (seriously, how difficult is it just to send a "no" email, this is worse than online dating*). Worst case I can probably find someone just to fill the quota, but it won't be a good one. Like, I might as well just write one myself and submit it at that point. Any outside the box ideas I might not be thinking of?

* Please note that this is a joke and I understand the impulse in both scenarios to say nothing and am ok with it.

Alex

@"Mitchell-1" said:
So I've found myself in a bit of a pickle with regards to letters of rec. One of my own making, but still. I am nearly six years removed from college at this point, so finding professors who remember me is a bit of a stretch. Thankfully I applied to grad school a year after college and had to ask for recommendations. I was able to track down one of the professors who still had a copy. He made slight alterations and submitted. One down. The other two have ignored my emails, so I'm not counting on hearing from them. That leaves me in need of a minimum of one more.

Normally, I could ask a current or former manager / senior co-worker, but my situation makes that difficult. I worked for company A right after school for a few years before leaving for company B. At company B I did not get along with the team lead in my first position and ended up switching teams just before I decided to apply to law school. I left company B to return to company A as my position with company B was all encompassing and would have left less than no time to study for the LSAT or write essays. Needless to say, my second team lead there was not exactly thrilled with me leaving so shortly after switching, despite understanding my reasoning. She might have been willing to write one, but has also ignored my email. That would leave all the managers / leads I've had at company A, all would be more than willing to write me great letters of rec under normal circumstances, but having just returned I cannot tell them I'm going to be leaving just yet. This is due to financial considerations / the very likely scenario of them looking to get rid of me before I hit the one year mark due to provisions in my offer. I've thought this through pretty thoroughly and there is no one I could ask who would be likely to keep it to themselves (at least not a risk I'm willing to take).

So I'm running out of ideas. I don't do things like volunteer work, etc. I've thought to ask a few grad TAs I used to work for in college with no response (seriously, how difficult is it just to send a "no" email, this is worse than online dating*). Worst case I can probably find someone just to fill the quota, but it won't be a good one. Like, I might as well just write one myself and submit it at that point. Any outside the box ideas I might not be thinking of?

* Please note that this is a joke and I understand the impulse in both scenarios to say nothing and am ok with it.

That sucks and it's quite common. Don't sweat it!

Keep emailing. Call the school dept office and find a way to reach one of these old profs. If they agree to meet with you, create a packet with a little blurb about yourself, resume, how you loved his/her class, and why you want to go to law school. Include an old paper and your grade in the class, too.

If this idea can't work, I don't see many other options, unfortunately. Especially when you consider your financial ability and risking that. Definitely not worth it in my opinion.

Is there any time pressure to apply to law school right now? Perhaps get some more work experience and then ask for the letter after you've been there over a year? In the scheme of things, if you can't get a prof to write another one, this might be your best option.

Good luck!

Mitchell-1

The time pressure is, if I have to continue working as a computer engineer for another year, I'm going to go insane. I'm not willing to wait another year. Especially when the only thing stopping me is a letter of rec that's likely not even going to be looked at : p

Mellow_Z

@"Mitchell-1" said:
The time pressure is, if I have to continue working as a computer engineer for another year, I'm going to go insane. I'm not willing to wait another year. Especially when the only thing stopping me is a letter of rec that's likely not even going to be looked at : p

You could try to get a LoR from a peer (instead of direct superior). I know I have many acquaintances from work that I'm much more open with, most of whom wouldn't take offense if I explained I wanted to leave and needed help with a letter of recommendation. Maybe they could write something if you have exhausted all other options. Or you could find a superior from another group that you sometimes work closely with, also whom wouldn't get offended with your plans to potentially leave the company.

Sorry about the unfortunate circumstances, and good luck!

Mitchell-1

Had a fortuitous conversation with a co-worker just now. Apparently he's planning on leaving, and so I felt safe telling him I was leaving. He said if I can't find a better person, he'll write a simple one just to get the checkmark on the application. So that all worked out nicely : )