LOR thoughts and advice

LSAT_Wrecker

Hi all, I'm applying to school in the fall and am going to start requesting my LOR's now (1. to get it out of the way and 2. to give some of my writers time to do it without feeling rushed on their end as I know they have busy schedules). Here are the people I'm going to ask to write LORs for me:

1. Graduate school professor that was also on my thesis committee. I did well in her classes, I feel confident that she "liked" me, and would write me a good LOR. I also volunteered to do my thesis on a project she was working on so I'm hoping there is some vested interest there. I was in grad school 2009-2011 so this is my most recent college experience (obtained my UG degree in 1998 and I couldn't pick out 95% of my UG professors out of a line up at this point).

2. Former boss (military) that is my mentor and who I have had an over 15 year professional and personal relationship with.

3. Former military work colleague that was a military lawyer and is now a successful lawyer in civilian practice.

4. The principal at my daughter's elementary school who can speak to my volunteer work within the school. For the last two years, I have performed significant volunteer service for my daughter's school. I am the coach of her basketball team, assistant coach of the school's track team, I am the "Wednesday lunch parent" (translation - provide adult supervision for a 2 hour lunch / recess period for the school every Wednesday, year round), class librarian (work the library for the class every other Thursday), and Girls on The Run practice parent (bring snacks twice a week for the school's GOTR program).

QUESTION (s): I believe that admissions committees would prioritize the LORs in the order above (as far as relevance / usefulness in the decision process. Agree / disagree? Any issues with any of the potential LOR writers or are there any other "type" of person I should be looking for? Note: Finding someone to write a quality LOR from my UG days is going to be extremely tough since, you know, Bill Clinton was president, Seinfeld was still airing new episodes, and mp3s were invented that year...

studyingandrestudying

Maybe skip the school principal one for now. However, good for you for being so involved in your daughter's school; you're doing a great service to your community. Don't worry that it's a grad professor rather than UG; an academic letter is an academic letter. Is there one more grad professor you'd feel comfortable asking?

LSAT_Wrecker

Thanks for the response @lsatplaylist. I hear you on the 4th LOR. The only reason / school I would use that one for is my 'safety school', which is a small, private Jesuit school. As my daughter's school is a Catholic school, I wanted to specifically demonstrate volunteerism with a letter from there. However, your point is taken and I am giving thought to other potential GS profs that I could potentially ask.

studyingandrestudying

Hopefully the application questions will give you opportunities to discuss your volunteer service, and/or a special essay for that school.

Leah M B

Agreed with above, #4 won't be that helpful. While schools do want to see volunteer experience, the LORs are really just for people who can speak to your abilities as a student and/or in a professional work setting. The volunteering can just be added in either on your resume or in the application directly.

The best recommenders are academic ones, which your grad school professor is perfect for. The next best is a work supervisor, and I do think a work colleague could be ok in a pinch.

I hear you though, I graduated undergrad in 2006. I do luckily have 1 professor that I've stayed in touch with. It's a very small school and an even smaller program, so it's pretty tight knit. I have heard that for non-traditional applicants like us though, academic LORs are not expected. But I think I would definitely still get that grad school one. It sounds great!