Letter of Recommendation dilemma, advise please.

[eli88]

I did fairly well in my English course for the previous, Fall semester (6 Papers, all A's) and received an A in the course. Early last month, I emailed the professor, requesting a LoR. He responded he'd be glad to write one and asked where it should be sent, etc. The problem starts here: he hasn't responded to any emails since.

A week into the Spring semester, I decided to stop by one of his classes. I spoke with him for a min or two before his class and gave him instructions on submitting the LoR along with addressed, stamped envelope to LSAC etc. I requested a copy of the Letter to be sent to my email. A few weeks passed, LSAC has indeed received and processed the LoR and I still havent heard from the prof.

To summarize, I have no clue what the content of the letter looks like. Should I still use it in my law school applications? Is it unusual to ask your recommender for a copy of the Letter?

[OGR3]

You're not supposed to see what the recommender wrote.

I sent my professors their requested info and then never heard from them again, a couple weeks later, I saw their letters were in LSAC. I would imagine they were fine, since I got into all the schools I was supposed to.

[justadude55]

I did fairly well in my English course for the previous, Fall semester (6 Papers, all A's) and received an A in the course. Early last month, I emailed the professor, requesting a LoR. He responded he'd be glad to write one and asked where it should be sent, etc. The problem starts here: he hasn't responded to any emails since.

A week into the Spring semester, I decided to stop by one of his classes. I spoke with him for a min or two before his class and gave him instructions on submitting the LoR along with addressed, stamped envelope to LSAC etc. I requested a copy of the Letter to be sent to my email. A few weeks passed, LSAC has indeed received and processed the LoR and I still havent heard from the prof.

To summarize, I have no clue what the content of the letter looks like. Should I still use it in my law school applications? Is it unusual to ask your recommender for a copy of the Letter?

It's actually against policy for you to read it, and it says that on the form. Everyone I got mine from, particularly from lawyers/legal-course professors with JD's insisted on reading me part of it to make sure there was nothing inaccurate (a lot of times people assume things about their students based on their papers, opinions, etc.), but technically it is against policy. i made sure they only read me the stuff that was not necessarily fact (i grew up in this sort of household, etc.) and told them "It's cool. I trust our relationship" when they tried to read the rest.

I'd say it seems like he's really lazy, but I don't think your fear should be he didn't send it to you. I think that's a dangerous/disrespectful question to ask personally. It basically means you don't trust them, which can be kind of disrespectful. If you don't have any others, I'd say send it.

[applepiecrust]

Why did you ask for a copy of the letter? If they offer to let you look at it, that's one thing; but why would YOU ask they send a copy to you?

[eli88]

Why did you ask for a copy of the letter? If they offer to let you look at it, that's one thing; but why would YOU ask they send a copy to you?

I guess my question was answered in a more indirect way. It is indeed unusual to request copies? I do recall seeing some instances where applicants were able to obtain copies from their recommender though (on this forum). Please pardon me. Perhaps, I shouldn't have asked the prof.

[justadude55]

Why did you ask for a copy of the letter? If they offer to let you look at it, that's one thing; but why would YOU ask they send a copy to you?

I guess my question was answered in a more indirect way. It is indeed unusual to request copies? I do recall seeing some instances where applicants were able to obtain copies from their recommender though (on this forum). Please pardon me. Perhaps, I shouldn't have asked the prof.

Well, asking for something someone is not allowed to do is generally dumb especially if you don't preface it with "You're not supposed to do it, but...." because then you're straining the relationship if they read the fine print. I mean you should pick people you trust. Personally, my problem with this was I had an atypical major so I did not have very many academic professors so some of my letters were written by people who never went to college or who spoke English as a 4th language and were brilliant, but did not understand grammar. I would say it hurt me that I did not have any "law school type professors" as none existed in what I studied, but I fully trusted their content.

[flcath]

Synopsis:

This shouldn't keep you from using the letter.

[justadude55]

IDK dude. it is kind of weird the prof. is ignoring him now. i purposefully made sure to e-mail all my professors after a thank you e-mail just to make sure i can trust them based off the reply.

[eli88]

IDK dude. it is kind of weird the prof. is ignoring him now. i purposefully made sure to e-mail all my professors after a thank you e-mail just to make sure i can trust them based off the reply.

To clarify, the prof stopped responding after the first email. My email requesting the copy was probably the 4th or 5th email I sent him. Hence, I don't think he just flat-out ignored my request for the copy.

[flcath]

IDK dude. it is kind of weird the prof. is ignoring him now. i purposefully made sure to e-mail all my professors after a thank you e-mail just to make sure i can trust them based off the reply.

Did you go to a good school? Because at my TTT undergrad this kinda shit happened all the time. I knew a girl applying to MS who said that the 2 months she'd allocated to garnering LoRs was insufficient for 2 of her 3 writers, and with one guy she finally just showed up with a pre-written letter and asked him if he could sign it.

[dddhhh]

Why did you ask for a copy of the letter? If they offer to let you look at it, that's one thing; but why would YOU ask they send a copy to you?

I guess my question was answered in a more indirect way. It is indeed unusual to request copies? I do recall seeing some instances where applicants were able to obtain copies from their recommender though (on this forum). Please pardon me. Perhaps, I shouldn't have asked the prof.

Yes...