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Stanford Targeted LORs

180degrees180degrees Alum Member
in Law School Admissions 121 karma

I have heard and read conflicting things about SLS preferring a targeted LOR. Some people swear that if you don't have them, you're not going to get in, but others have reported not having them and still having been admitted.

I just checked Stanford's admissions website and they state, "Stanford requires that at least two and no more than four letters of recommendation be sent directly through the LSAC Letter of Recommendation Service. Letters sent directly to the Office of Admissions will not be accepted. Please be aware of the high value Stanford places on school-specific letters of recommendation. If you choose to provide us with a targeted letter, please be sure to assign the appropriate targeted letter to Stanford Law School. Recommenders should be instructors who have personal knowledge of your academic work, preferably those who have known you in a seminar, small class, tutorial program or the like. If you have been out of school for a significant period you may substitute one letter from an employer or business associate. Sometimes these applicants find it difficult to obtain even one academic recommendation; in that case, you may submit two nonacademic letters. Please advise recommenders that should you choose to apply for a joint degree and/or other programs at Stanford University, the letters of recommendation may be forwarded to that program for review."

I have not yet made requests to my recommenders to create targeted letters for Stanford, but I already have two recommendation letters on file. My concern is that if neither of my recommenders has a strong connection to SLS, then their targeted letters may sound insincere. However, I don't want to hurt my chances simply because I didn't request these professors make a targeted letter for Stanford. Making the additional requests to my recommenders would likely delay my SLS app by several weeks. One of my recommenders received her PhD from Stanford, but she has no ties to the law school.

Any input is welcome. I'm curious to hear how others are handling this, as Stanford seems to be the only top school that explicitly states a preference for targeted letters.

Also, for context, my GPA is between their 50th and 75th percentiles, and my LSAT is above their 75th percentile.

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Comments

  • BamboosproutBamboosprout Alum Member
    edited September 2018 1694 karma

    Hey, if Stanford is your dream school, and you're close to your recommenders, I would just recommend having a chat with your recommenders about this. Honestly, they know themselves best, and only they really know if they can or want to write a Stanford specific letter. They may even have some experience dealing with these matters already, hopefully, and can help you resolve it, but if not, the worst case scenario is that you tried.
    In my mind, a likely outcome will be that they agree to help you write a targeted letter, and will either do some research themselves on what Stanford wants, or ask you to do a bit a research for them, and will simply alter a few things in the letter.
    Congrats on your great stats btw. Sure makes a fellow envious. I wish you the best of luck~

  • 180degrees180degrees Alum Member
    121 karma

    @Bamboosprout Thanks for the input! Do you know much about how much of an advantage it is to apply very early to Stanford (end of September/beginning of October) vs. just slightly early (end of October)? 7Sage's admissions predictor has October as the earliest month in its settings, but I'm wondering how much of a benefit would be derived from applying weeks earlier in September vs. waiting (perhaps several weeks) for my recommenders to complete their targeted letters for Stanford.

  • BamboosproutBamboosprout Alum Member
    1694 karma

    I think that predictor starting in October has a very good reason, which is anything before October doesn't offer a big difference. Disclaimer though, I'm not too familiar with the subject and math behind it, but I think the correlation is not a strong indicator of causal difference.
    Looking at it from the perspective of the admissions team, I don't think it makes any difference for them whether you apply in september or october. They typically don't start reviewing the application until it is complete anyway.

  • SLP_futureJDSLP_futureJD Alum Member
    464 karma

    I've been wondering about this too. One of the people giving me LOR is very unsure about it, and I'm not quite sure what to tell her. Thoughts on what to say? I was thinking of prepping a quick paragraph about "Why Stanford" to give her a better idea, but I'm not really sure what to do other than that.

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