LOR advice

jhanco10

Good evening,

My English 1101 teacher from 2015 made a big impact on my academic career. In the past, he was written the strongest letters of recommendation for me among my professors. My only concern about getting him to write my Law School LOR is the class level he taught me. Would admissions prefer to see a letter from a more recent class you took and higher course than Eng 1101? I know he will write the best letter, but is he the right fit? He received his Ph.D. from Emory in English.

Thank you in advance!

xtinextine

I'd be interested to see what everyone else thinks! Maybe someone else knows something I don't.

Just my two cents -- (from my understanding) the letter is more about attesting to your abilities in the classroom and through coursework rather than the difficulty of the specific course. Is this the only class you took with this specific professor?

Regardless, I'd say that it's probably in your best interest to have a strong letter from a professor from a lower course than a weak letter from a professor in a higher course.

OverRatedUnderAchiever

@benhancock68 said:
Good evening,

My English 1101 teacher from 2015 made a big impact on my academic career. In the past, he was written the strongest letters of recommendation for me among my professors. My only concern about getting him to write my Law School LOR is the class level he taught me. Would admissions prefer to see a letter from a more recent class you took and higher course than Eng 1101? I know he will write the best letter, but is he the right fit? He received his Ph.D. from Emory in English.

Thank you in advance!

Unfortunately, this won't be sufficient for law school. Usually you're going to want to acquire a connection with those professors, who are not on your list for letters. Usually professors that you have had for more than one class, showing persistence is very important. Writing skills? Beyond important, so schools want to see that the teachers you had for undergrad can justify your wanting to attend law school.
It doesn't even need to be a core writing class at a very hard level, but it should be past your into class. If you want to have professors that you have known throughout your undergraduate career, that are in other fields with less required writing... you should. Schools want to hear how you've worked in your past, alone, with others, etc. They look for as many sources as possible to compare your strengths & weaknesses. Also KEEP IN MIND that strong LORS by a few and stable relationships is favored over 6 smaller, less significant letters. Being close is key for LORS. Trust me, as an undergrad out of the Arts and not STEM, the LORS are a sort of bandaid.

Kermit750

Unfortunately, his letter of recommendation won't be of much benefit to your application.Admissions officers seek a recommendation that highlights your ability to handle rigorous work and shows potential of your success in law school. Since this seems like an intro class I would advice against using him unless you've taken more advanced classes with him.

Seeking Perfection

I don't think the class level is that important.

Sure if you are confident that you can get a great letter of rec from a prof you have had multiple times for advanced courses, you should do that.

However, any letter of rec from a professor in undergrad will work. The most important thing is always that you trust them to write an excellent letter and that they know and care about you on a personal and professional level. It sounds like that is what you have here.