LOR question

doyera

So, here goes:

I graduated a little over 6 years ago and when I think about professors I could get strong LORs from, only one really comes to mind, the professor whom I did my senior thesis under. I had a good working relationship with this professor and ended up producing a pretty good thesis, however I did complete the work late and thus was marked down a grade.

As for professional references, I volunteered at a district court clerk's office and I've been working in the field of legal advocacy assisting victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, etc for the last 3 years, which included working at a city prosecutor's office for a year and a community based agency for the last 2 years doing more civil work. During that time through the work I've done on various task forces, community groups, and just generally collaborating and networking with our community partners, I've gained a lot of potential professional LOR possibilities from attorneys, prosecutors, agency directors, clerks, a chief of police, etc.

So I guess my point is, I've seen a lot of people saying education LORs are everything and professional LORs barely count for anything. My problem is that I have a lot more opportunity on the professional side.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Am I totally screwed if I can't pad my application with outstanding undergrad LORs?

Alex

@doyera said:
So, here goes:

I graduated a little over 6 years ago and when I think about professors I could get strong LORs from, only one really comes to mind, the professor whom I did my senior thesis under. I had a good working relationship with this professor and ended up producing a pretty good thesis, however I did complete the work late and thus was marked down a grade.

As for professional references, I volunteered at a district court clerk's office and I've been working in the field of legal advocacy assisting victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, etc for the last 3 years, which included working at a city prosecutor's office for a year and a community based agency for the last 2 years doing more civil work. During that time through the work I've done on various task forces, community groups, and just generally collaborating and networking with our community partners, I've gained a lot of potential professional LOR possibilities from attorneys, prosecutors, agency directors, clerks, a chief of police, etc.

So I guess my point is, I've seen a lot of people saying education LORs are everything and professional LORs barely count for anything. My problem is that I have a lot more opportunity on the professional side.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Am I totally screwed if I can't pad my application with outstanding undergrad LORs?

Hey!

You won't be totally screwed if you cannot secure an academic LOR. It's not that professional LORs barely count for anything, it's just that academic LORs are often seen as preferable in most cases due to them speaking of your academic abilities.

Being that you are 6 years removed from UG, I don't think it would be unreasonable at all for you to have a professional LOR. I would still do my best to try to get your senior thesis advisor to write that LOR. If you can get an academic LOR and a professional one, I think you'll be good.

Worst case if you try your hardest and still cannot get an academic LOR, it won't mean your screwed at all. Admissions is always going to be a numbers game and LSAT/GPA will always count for me. Relatively speaking LORs don't count for that much so just do your best to get 2 strong letters.

Good luck!

doyera

@"Alex Divine" Thank you very much, that makes me feel a lot better. I'll see if I can get that professor to write the LOR but otherwise I will just roll with the professional ones. Here's to hoping I hit my LSAT target!

Alex

@doyera said:
@"Alex Divine" Thank you very much, that makes me feel a lot better. I'll see if I can get that professor to write the LOR but otherwise I will just roll with the professional ones. Here's to hoping I hit my LSAT target!

No problem-o!

I think ultimately you will end up with very strong letters regardless. Having several years of work experience will also definitely help you stand out as a candidate. Not to mention be great for when you are going into OCI during your 2L year.

I wish you the best of luck with the LSAT!