Top Law Schools

Absolutely, thats the way I did it. In all actuality, it may look better to the admissions committee because it shows that you haven't tampered with your letter in any way. My only piece of advice would be to call the adcomms at your school and tell them to keep an eye out for the LOR and call again a week or so after your recommender has sent his letter to confirm it has arrived and has been applied to your file.

bump for all newly waitlisted ppl

Here's the LOCI that I submitted to Columbia.

Some background info for context about my situation: I was deferred back on 2/14; admitted by e-mail on 3/27. I chose to speak directly to a specific curricular opportunity at CLS rather than general traits of a school (location, LRAP, whatever) because I wanted to prove I was seriously considering their school and had done my research about why it would be a good fit for me/why I was unique. However, CLS was the only school to which I applied that deferred me, so I felt okay being a bit direct in the final paragraph - I would want the same kind of transparency.
(More details here, if you care: --LinkRemoved--)

Dear Dean Iwerebon and Members of the Admissions Committee,

Good morning! I am writing to express my strong continued interest in being granted admission to Columbia University School of Law.

Columbia Law, with its opportunity to cross register at Teachers College, is uniquely attractive as an institution because it would allow me to mix two of my passions, law and education policy, in a single cross-disciplinary atmosphere. I am deeply intrigued by opportunities to take courses in the Law and Educational Institutions or the Education Policy Studies program. I would also be interested in a concurrent degree in Higher and Postsecondary Education. Dr. XYZ, my undergraduate research adviser who wrote one of my letters of recommendation, served previously as an assistant professor at Teachers College and has nothing but fantastic things to say about the opportunities there with regard to my own areas of interest.

Columbia's unique programmatic strengths are intriguing to me because for the past four years, I have worked in various capacities in a number of education-related institutions. From a privileged private university and intensive special needs birth-to-three programs to dangerous inner-city schools, I have seen students progress through many different facets of America’s education system. Educational institutions are of great interest to me because they are always changing. The influx of new students, their needs, and the ideas they carry with them often creates challenging situations for instructors and administrators. Lawyers working within or advising schools have insight into a number of society’s most contentious issues and are responsible, in part, for the fate of millions of children. Only by truly immersing oneself in the educational side of the equation can those lawyers understand the unique demands of such organizations. I cannot think of a more encouraging setting to gain such a perspective than at Columbia.

Thank you very much for your continued consideration. To be frank, although I have presently been admitted to a number of other fantastic law schools, Columbia’s School of Law/Teachers College combination is truly unique; an offer of admission (and certainly, an offer of financial aid or a scholarship) would make enrolling at Columbia extremely attractive. I look forward to hearing from you soon; I would be happy to answer any question you have about my application.

Kind regards,
rabbit

If someone would be willing to send me a sample personal statement. I would really appreciate it.

Thank you.

there is also a thread about this.
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... +statement

...

I'm out of school and working, should I put the LOCI on company letterhead?

Hi Ken,
Thank you so much for this thread... I had no idea how to structure a LOCI, and your example served as my basis. I think it helped me get into CLS

kad3285 wrote:I'm out of school and working, should I put the LOCI on company letterhead?

IMO you should only send out letters on company letterhead when you're acting in your professional capacity. Unless LS applications fall under this umbrella (and I can't imagine they would), you should refrain from sending out LOCIs on company letterhead.

Does anyone think it would hurt an applicant to send a LOCI before being formally waitlisted? For example, in Edgar's predicament with Cornell?

I wonder if it might be a bit late to be useful. I did this in mid-Feb for UVA (my 1st choice) ahead of the expected mass WLs to begin March and got in a few weeks later. So it could work, assuming it's not too late.

SgtBilko wrote:I wonder if it might be a bit late to be useful. I did this in mid-Feb for UVA (my 1st choice) ahead of the expected mass WLs to begin March and got in a few weeks later. So it could work, assuming it's not too late.

It seems like it could also be a faux pas. But if a person is effectively just being wait listed without formally receiving the WL word, indicating further interest couldn't hurt. Or could it?

I guess it's just the thinking of suppose it's late enough that they've effectively WL'd him. If you knew that right now, would you still send the letter or wait to treat as a true WL LOCI? That's all I was getting at, that some might say you're jumping the gun sending it when it may have no real effect. And then what do you write when you actually get the real WL?

SgtBilko wrote:I guess it's just the thinking of suppose it's late enough that they've effectively WL'd him. If you knew that right now, would you still send the letter or wait to treat as a true WL LOCI? That's all I was getting at, that some might say you're jumping the gun sending it when it may have no real effect. And then what do you write when you actually get the real WL?

Um..another LOCI. They don't need to be comprehensive monologues.

I wrote considerably more in mine. It was basically an update on my application since as a non-student, I disn't have grades to talk about. I gave a solid paragraph to some significant work experience in the 4 months since submitting.

See, I'm on a WL too and I'm out of school. I have no idea what to write on mine because I haven't been promoted or have another transcript to send. I am researching the school and finding programs I like. Is it so bad if it's only 2-3 paragraphs long? One of the places I'm WL at is my 1st choice. The lady at the admissions office said to include that bit of info, but it doesn't seem enough. Should i have paragraph one say: I love you and your school, please admit me; and paragraph two say: I still love you, and will give you my first born child, please admit me?

No, you should be specific. What is something you really love about the school? Is it a program or a professor? Also, you don't have to be promoted to have something to write about. What have you been doing at work with a large amount of responsibility or success? Have you taken on any new projects? You want it to be short but persuasive. Keep it to around a page, but you do not want it to be 3 lines.

tobiathon wrote:What have you been doing at work with a large amount of responsibility or success? Have you taken on any new projects?

surfing TLS threads...

haha... I am not sure you can use that as a sign of commitment!

Maybe this is a stupid question, but should I be sending my LOCI in just a standard letter-size envelope? Or should I send it in a larger one so that I don't fold it?

What can I say...I'm a bit neurotic about it.

Bump. I found this useful as I'm waitlisted at UVA and others might find it useful too.

.

I did them separately. Mostly because I wanted something to be sent in around december and then send something around march to keep my file fresh!

I haven't been waitlisted yet, but this has been on my mind. Very helpful - any way to make this a sticky?

Bumping because this is a great OP and a useful thread this time of year. I just finished writing my NU LOCI and will post it itt after this cycle along with whether or not it did any good getting my in off hold.