Asking for a LOR to a professor that you took only one course from

hl_alarak

Hi all. I'm an international student so please excuse me for my poor writing.

So I plan on applying this cycle, having taken the June LSAT and waiting till the results come out next week. In the meantime I intend to proceed with my application including the personal statement and LORs, but I am having some difficulty deciding whom to ask for a Letter of Recommendation.

I'm in my senior year at college at the moment and I'm pretty confident that I've done a fair job in getting good grades. But when it comes to my relationship with professors, I'm not as confident that most professors I have taken courses from know me well enough to write a convincing LOR.

True, I have had some meaningful interaction with a few of them and I know for sure that they would not hesitate to recommend me, but I'm not so certain as to whether I should ask them; I've only taken a single course from each of them, which I would say is not a very convincing indicator that the recommender is well aware of my qualities.

In short, is it a bad idea to ask a professor for LOR even though I took only one course from them? I would appreciate your advice.

samantha.ashley92

I think it's fine, as long as they can speak to your work ethic and work quality. I finished up my last two years of college online, so I had a similar issue. What I've read online pretty much says that for schools that aren't T14, it's almost like a pass/fail situation... like do you have them from two professors or not? A woman who was on the law school admissions committee at Yale wrote about this. She said it's important to get both letters from professors. To paraphrase her, if can't get two letters, they fear you might be hard to teach or you might be hiding a social anxiety problem.

FixedDice

It is not a bad idea at all. It's the nature of relationship you have had with a professor that matters, not the number of courses you took with him or her. A professor with whom an applicant took one class and received an A+ would have better things to say about him or her than a professor with whom he or she took 5 courses and either (1) received C+ or below in all classes or (2) is in a rather shaky relationship with would. (Granted, the latter professor may "know" the applicant better - just not in the direction the applicant would want, other circumstances notwithstanding.)

FixedDice

@"samantha.ashley92" said:
A woman who was on the law school admissions committee at Yale wrote about this. She said it's important to get both letters from professors. To paraphrase her, if can't get two letters, they fear you might be hard to teach or you might be hiding a social anxiety problem.

She was talking about Yale Law specifically though. I'm sure other T13 schools would love to see two academic LORs, but just saying...

https://law.yale.edu/admissions/jd-admissions/ask-asha/bad-idea-jeans-biggest-mistake-you-can-make-your-yale-law-school-application

samantha.ashley92

@FixedDice that's what I said lol. But yeah, that's the article!

Ok editing this because I think I understand what you're saying better. I'm sure Yale's admission ideals mirror other T14 schools-- at least for the majority.

hl_alarak

Thank you @"samantha.ashley92" and @FixedDice for your advice!

I feel more comfortable now knowing that it's the nature of the relationship that matters more than the number of courses taken. I think I will send them an email next week to see if they're available for a meeting at the office.

samantha.ashley92

Exactly! Good luck!

cvaldez74

I have a similar concern - I hope it's ok to piggy back on your thread @hl_alarak I've taken two (three after this coming semester) classes in undergrad that are taught by our county's Public Defender (not an assistant PD, THE public defender). she's - at least I don't think - technically a professor in the truest sense of the word but I think a LOR from her would really help me. I'm not sure if I should ask her. I have two professors that I'm torn between for the second LOR - one I've had three classes with and who knows me and my work ethic really well; or one I've only had one class with but who's been published hundreds (maybe thousands) of times and is widely respected and considered an authority in his field. Which one would you ask?

Padawan

I was lucky to have three professors who were lawyers and one was a state court judge. I got LOR's from all three though I just took one course by the judge. You don't want to regret not asking. I did well with all three and honestly, if I had to choose just one, the judge would be it, especially if he knew you had strong aptitude. Just ask and they should be honest about if they are comfortable with endorsing you for law school. Hope this helps!

Kermit750

@cvaldez74 If you think the PD can speak to your academic abilities I think it's okay for her to write a recommendation. Regarding your second question, I would pick the professor who you've had more classes with. I believe the professor would have more to say about you since you've spent more time together than the other. This isn't to say the one that's widely respected can't write a good letter, but it really comes down to who knows you well enough to write you a strong recommendation.