. Forum

[tedler]

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[seancris]

LORs from grad-student professors are perfectly acceptable.

[Geetar Man]

LORs from grad-student professors are perfectly acceptable.

lol, most grad students are not professors.

However, I think that a letter from your instructor is perfectly fine.

[mcdeeremitch]

i agree I had one of my instructors who was a phd student write one for me and I think it only helped me

[seancris]

LORs from grad-student professors are perfectly acceptable.

lol, most grad students are not professors.

At a large university, most instructors are grad-students. I didn't know there was a distinction to draw between and instructor and a professor. This dude appears to be an instructor who is a grad student, thus a grad student/professor.

[Br3v]

LORs from grad-student professors are perfectly acceptable.

lol, most grad students are not professors.

However, I think that a letter from your instructor is perfectly fine.

Wait, really? Because I have an instructor who is a PhD student who I think could write me a great LoR

[20130312]

I didn't know there was a distinction to draw between and instructor and a professor.

A pretty big one, actually. It's this cool new thing called a Ph.D.

[Geetar Man]

LORs from grad-student professors are perfectly acceptable.

lol, most grad students are not professors.

At a large university, most instructors are grad-students. I didn't know there was a distinction to draw between and instructor and a professor. This dude appears to be an instructor who is a grad student, thus a grad student/professor.

I think once they have earned their PhD, then they can be referred to as a professor; its really a part of the politics and naming/titles in the academic world.

I remember a lot of my "teachers" were grad students and always told me that they were not professors. The reason they are not referred to as professors is because professors are generally known to be experts in their area of study, whereas a graduate student is not yet an expert on paper, which is what matters (same thing for a J.D., you cant be a lawyer until you have that piece of paper/degree). If anything, they are prospective professors. Professors generally have a Phd.

Wait, really? Because I have an instructor who is a PhD student who I think could write me a great LoR

I think so dude! I dont remember seeing anywhere that it necessarily had to be someone who was a professor, but it had to be someone who could illustrate your abilities in an academic/work environment. Of course, a letter of rec from a professor will be viewed as most credible (compared to a grad student), so I would say that you should focus on getting those before you decide to use a letter from a grad student. That is not to say that a letter from a grad student is inadmissable to law schools (and LSAC), because I really didnt find any information to believe that it was/wasn't.

Things to consider:
1) You can have a recommender and an evaluator, give you recommendation. Look up the difference between them on LSAC.
2) Get your letters as soon as possible! They're good for a few years, so you might as well get them while you're fresh in the recommender's mind.

[seancris]

There's no question about it, your instuctor doesn't have to have a PhD. It's really irrelevant. Your LORs should just be people who are in a good position to gauge your academic qualifications. A doctoral candidate who has instructed you for the past three semesters will be in a much better position to do that than a PhD that you took a few semesters ago or in a larger, less personal class.

And most community college instructors don't even have PhD's, and you should definitely use one of them if you went to community college.

Thanks to GeetarMan for the clarification, I've always called everyone professor and never been corrected. In fact, both my local state rep and state senator are community college civics professors/instructors with only masters degrees and they go around calling themselves professors. No question about it though, they at least think they are professors whether they technically are or not.

[20130312]

Thanks for the clarification, I've always called everyone professor and never been corrected.

No problem.

[seancris]

I didn't know there was a distinction to draw between and instructor and a professor.

A pretty big one, actually. It's this cool new thing called a Ph.D.

IGF, didn't see you there. Bringing asshattery and sacrasm very consistently to situations that don't call for it. How TLS of you.

[banjo]

Instructor is fine. My biggest worry here would be English skills, to be honest. Grad students in foreign language depts can be a mixed bag.

[tedler]

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[Br3v]

When you submit LoR's can you clarify which are your main two (for schools asking for 2) and which are 3rd/4th etc (for schools that accept them)?

[seancris]

When you submit LoR's can you clarify which are your main two (for schools asking for 2) and which are 3rd/4th etc (for schools that accept them)?

All of your LORs are listen on your LSAC account. From there, you have to pick which one to include in your app from a checklist with each individual app.

[Geetar Man]

When you submit LoR's can you clarify which are your main two (for schools asking for 2) and which are 3rd/4th etc (for schools that accept them)?

All of your LORs are listen on your LSAC account. From there, you have to pick which one to include in your app from a checklist with each individual app.

This is credited. Therefore, you won't be able to list the letters by importance, which is why it's important to include only the letters that you know will benefit you (even the slightest). You don't want to include a letter that you have at the bottom of your list (of recommender strength) if you don't have to.

[soitgoes9]

If the person knows you well then I would see no problem.

[ajr]

You can of course turn it in. The persuasiveness of an LoR depends on whether the recommendor was forced to compare you to your peers for grades/ awards/ salary raises etc. Anyone can say good things about others - that reflects more on the recommendor than on the recomendee.

[Br3v]

When you submit LoR's can you clarify which are your main two (for schools asking for 2) and which are 3rd/4th etc (for schools that accept them)?

All of your LORs are listen on your LSAC account. From there, you have to pick which one to include in your app from a checklist with each individual app.

This is credited. Therefore, you won't be able to list the letters by importance, which is why it's important to include only the letters that you know will benefit you (even the slightest). You don't want to include a letter that you have at the bottom of your list (of recommender strength) if you don't have to.

How do you guys know this? lol Have you applied places before?

[Geetar Man]

When you submit LoR's can you clarify which are your main two (for schools asking for 2) and which are 3rd/4th etc (for schools that accept them)?

All of your LORs are listen on your LSAC account. From there, you have to pick which one to include in your app from a checklist with each individual app.

This is credited. Therefore, you won't be able to list the letters by importance, which is why it's important to include only the letters that you know will benefit you (even the slightest). You don't want to include a letter that you have at the bottom of your list (of recommender strength) if you don't have to.

How do you guys know this? lol Have you applied places before?

I've been on TLS for almost 2 years (officially)/almost 3 years (unofficially), in and out of a lot of threads. Thats how! lol

[seancris]

When you submit LoR's can you clarify which are your main two (for schools asking for 2) and which are 3rd/4th etc (for schools that accept them)?

All of your LORs are listen on your LSAC account. From there, you have to pick which one to include in your app from a checklist with each individual app.

This is credited. Therefore, you won't be able to list the letters by importance, which is why it's important to include only the letters that you know will benefit you (even the slightest). You don't want to include a letter that you have at the bottom of your list (of recommender strength) if you don't have to.

How do you guys know this? lol Have you applied places before?

Yup. I applied to law schools this year, decided to retake the LSAT apply again next year instead of going straight into the schools I got into. I'll be a pro after this lol.