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LOR from U.S. Senator or more direct supervisor?

Kyle....Kyle.... Alum Member
in Law School Admissions 134 karma

Hi all --

So I'm in a position where, if I choose, I can have a U.S. Senator (that I work for) write me a letter of recommendation. I was this Senator's driver for a couple years, and after leaving that role I took on a junior policy role (where I am today).

That said, a letter from the Senator will likely be pretty formal / somewhat perfunctory, because that's just how the Senator tends to do these types of things even though we have a great personal relationship. An alternative would be to have a more direct supervisory of my policy work write me a letter, which would likely be written much more enthusiastically.

SO! The question is -- What is more attractive to law schools? A good letter from a prestigious individual, or a super enthusiastic letter from someone else?

Thanks for any thoughts/insight ya'll might have.

Kyle

Prestige or Substance in a Letter of Recommendation?
  1. Which is more important?33 votes
    1. A "good" letter written by a prestigious individual
      15.15%
    2. A letter written by an "ordinary" individual that is super enthusiastic
      84.85%
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Comments

  • akistotleakistotle Member ⭐ 🍌🍌
    9372 karma

    I recommend reading this lesson! :smile:

    How to Pick Your Recommenders
    https://7sage.com/admissions/lesson/how-to-pick-your-recommenders/

  • Kyle....Kyle.... Alum Member
    134 karma

    Thanks akistotle!

  • 25Seamus25Seamus Member
    93 karma

    I also worked on Capitol Hill for a couple years and had my direct supervisor rather than Member write the letter. I'd recommend that! It was more detailed, littered with actual examples to back up statements, etc.

  • 1000001910000019 Alum Member
    3279 karma

    I would ask both for a LoR. They might let you read the LoR. Then you can decide which LoR you want to submit. You can always choose to go with the supervisor. Why limit yourself so quickly?

    PS
    If take my suggestion don't tell either what your intention is. Thank both of them. When you get into LS thank both of them again.

  • DanielB84DanielB84 Alum Member
    95 karma

    @akistotle said it right review that first. How to Pick Your Recommenders
    https://7sage.com/admissions/lesson/how-to-pick-your-recommenders/

    If I had to give my two cents I would recommend the Senator. However, this is with the assumption that you don't have academic letters of recommendation stemming from your college.I have heard from multiple sources that getting letters of recommendation is best coming from a professor that knows you well. My opinion anyway. Hope it helps.

  • MissChanandlerMissChanandler Alum Member Sage ⭐
    3256 karma

    @10000019 said:
    I would ask both for a LoR. They might let you read the LoR. Then you can decide which LoR you want to submit. You can always choose to go with the supervisor. Why limit yourself so quickly?

    PS
    If take my suggestion don't tell either what your intention is. Thank both of them. When you get into LS thank both of them again.

    When you request the letter through LSAC, you should most definitely waive your right to read the letters. If you don't do this, then admission committees will wonder why you didn't trust your letter writers to write good letters. You can get around this by also asking them to send it to you personally I suppose, but a lot of people will feel like that's in bad taste. Plus why waste someone's time by having them write a letter that you're not even sure you want to use?

  • Tom_TangoTom_Tango Alum Member
    902 karma

    Get both. I actually had a US senator recommendation in the past too and it is likely that the person issuing the recommendation for him/her will just use the same template. In reality both will not really matter but just get both.

  • 1000001910000019 Alum Member
    3279 karma

    @MissChanandler said:

    @10000019 said:
    I would ask both for a LoR. They might let you read the LoR. Then you can decide which LoR you want to submit. You can always choose to go with the supervisor. Why limit yourself so quickly?

    PS
    If take my suggestion don't tell either what your intention is. Thank both of them. When you get into LS thank both of them again.

    When you request the letter through LSAC, you should most definitely waive your right to read the letters.

    I agree with that. I did't say anything that contradicts that. Some people will let you see a copy of the LoR before they submit it. I had one professor who showed me and asked if I was happy with it. I had another who didn't offer to show me so I didn't ask.

    but a lot of people will feel like that's in bad taste.

    Who cares what those people think? Your goal should be to ethically prepare the strongest application you have. Unless you're doing something the school says not to then you'll be fine. For that same reason, I think it's fair to have someone else edit your PS.

    Plus why waste someone's time by having them write a letter that you're not even sure you want to use?

    Because your goal is to have the strongest application you can put together. If that involves being a bit selfish so be it.

    I had someone offer to write me a LoR. I didn't think I'd use it but I didn't want to offend them by declining. It turned out to be a solid LoR so I ended up using it.

  • MissChanandlerMissChanandler Alum Member Sage ⭐
    3256 karma

    @10000019 I wasn't saying you contradicted it; in fact that's specifically why I said that there's a way around it. When I said "people will feel like it's in bad taste" I meant the people writing the letters. I'd care what those people thought of me. As far as being selfish goes, I guess if you're okay wasting people's time, then so be it.

  • BinghamtonDaveBinghamtonDave Alum Member ⭐ 🍌🍌
    8689 karma

    I mean this post with the utmost respect. I'm not an expert on these matters.

    One thing I wanted to ask was what people's general feelings surrounding a political official being a recommender were. A few years ago I had a friend who had a local politician that was willing to write him a letter of recommendation. That politician (I'm being vague on purpose here) ended up having his home raided by the FBI. This is an extreme case, I know and probably not applicable to OP's situation, but politics in America is at a really odd stage at the present moment, ie hyper-partisanship, maybe thats one of the reasons why we see the poll skewed towards the "ordinary" recommender above.

    There is something about a LOR from a politician that I personally would avoid that I can't quite put my finger on. I mean this with the utmost respect. I voted for the "ordinary" letter on the poll. Maybe an admissions person could jump in? From what you've heard, how are letters from politicians perceived? I'm just starting to navigate the application process with a pending retake, so I'm not an expert.

    Best of luck on your cycle
    David

  • Leah M BLeah M B Alum Member ⭐
    8392 karma

    Your goal is to always put forth the strongest application possible. Adcoms will not necessarily be that impressed by having a big name politician. What they want to know is the quality of work that you do, and why they should choose you over another candidate. That means you need the strongest LOR possible. If it was the senator that could speak best about your skills, work ethic, why you are the best employee he/she has ever had, then I'd get that letter. But if it's going to sound generic and not all that enthusiastic, then go with the supervisor that is going to rave about you and your qualities. Prestige doesn't take precedent over quality of letter. And as @akistotle said, this lesson from the 7sage admissions course lays it out clearly: https://7sage.com/admissions/lesson/how-to-pick-your-recommenders/

    Side note, if anyone doesn't have the admissions course, I hiiiiiighly recommend it! It's only a $10 add on, or is included with Ultimate+. Make use of it! It lays out pretty much everything you need to know to make your application as strong as possible.

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