PS and LORs Forum

[leslieNOPE]

Hi all! I'm currently an undergrad finishing school in the fall, but not planning on applying to law school until next fall (taking a year and a half off). I've begun asking professors for letters of recommendation in order to get the best ones possible, since they still remember me and my abilities/participation at this point. I understand that it is customary to send a personal statement draft along with other materials such as transcripts and resumes to your recommender and one of mine has already requested a draft. Since I won't be applying to law school for another year and a half, I haven't actually started writing a personal statement yet and therefore don't have anything to send him. Should I write up a brief PS this week even though it likely won't be very good and almost certainly won't be used with my final applications? I imagine that simply telling my professor that I don't have one might leave a bad impression - am I correct in assuming this or is asking for a letter without a personal statement more common than I think it is?

[TheRealSantaClaus]

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[leslieNOPE]

Do professors usually use personal statements to learn more about the student as an applicant/for the content of the statement or do they use them primarily to look for the quality of the writing?

(I understand that you are likely not a professor and probably can't answer with certainty)

[TLSDookie]

My guess is they just want to know what you consider your most noteworthy/formative achievements, so they can reference them in the letter, i.e. "student A would go on to apply the skills demonstrated in my class to XYZ Internship/Publications."

Are you sure they asked for your personal statement and not a cover letter? It's standard practice to include a cover letter with transcript/resume in a LOR request, but I've never heard of a professor wanting to read a load of bs about your formative experiences that led you to the inescapable conclusion practicing law at Akron was your true calling and passion in life.

Regardless, if you ask them to clarify and they really want your PS, who cares, just throw some 600 word essay about developing professional goals together in half an hour and send it to them, it's not like they will compare it to your final PS, nor are they in any position to judge what constitutes a "strong" personal statement for law schools anyway.

[cavalier1138]

Do these professors know you very well?

I only ask because I got a professor from my undergrad (graduated almost a decade ago) to write a LOR for me, and she only asked me for a more current academic writing sample and to tell her in a few words why I wanted to go to law school. I feel like if your professors know you well enough, they aren't going to be asking for your personal statement. As one poster mentioned, they may want to know what you consider important, but that's a recipe for a bad LOR. You don't want the letters to just recap your personal statement.

[Mikey]

Yeah, do these professors actually know you well enough? I just asked a professor for a LOR and she asked me for nothing because I just had her class and she knows my work ethic. Did you just have this professor? I agree with the other posters, if that prof just basically mentions stuff in your PS then it may not do as much good as you think. Did you write a lot of papers in their class so they can speak to your writing abilities and other things?

[leslieNOPE]

I would say this professor knows me pretty well. The class I took with him was a seminar with only about twelve students and we have had a number of conversations outside of class as well. He seems to genuinely want to write me a strong letter, but it's possible that he doesn't have much experience writing LORs for law school - he isn't a political science or legal studies professor, so it isn't as if the majority of his students go on to law school. I will email to clarify that what he's asking for is a personal statement, not a cover letter, and if he really wants a personal statement I can throw something generic together. The letter likely won't end up recapping my personal statement anyways because I won't be writing that for another year and I imagine it will change quite a bit from something I write in an hour. Thanks for your help!

[Mikey]

I would say this professor knows me pretty well. The class I took with him was a seminar with only about twelve students and we have had a number of conversations outside of class as well. He seems to genuinely want to write me a strong letter, but it's possible that he doesn't have much experience writing LORs for law school - he isn't a political science or legal studies professor, so it isn't as if the majority of his students go on to law school. I will email to clarify that what he's asking for is a personal statement, not a cover letter, and if he really wants a personal statement I can throw something generic together. The letter likely won't end up recapping my personal statement anyways because I won't be writing that for another year and I imagine it will change quite a bit from something I write in an hour. Thanks for your help!

Yeah, email him and ask if he wants a PS as well as any other stuff such as your resume, a writing sample, etc.