Yeah, but many deans of all sorts of schools encourage you not to get some "celebrity" LoR, even if the person has tremendous cachet. If I were a dean I could see why Sen. Susan Collins' daughter would ask her mother for a letter, but it would probably diminish my opinion of that person, not enhance it, so I think it's consistent with the tweet.rinkrat19 wrote:You're giving the person way too much credit. Johann says the LOR doesn't help: it's probably not from a cabinet member or law school dean or F500 CEO.addy11 wrote:Child of a famous person (politician, academic, CEO, etc.)?UnamSanctam wrote:LOL who would actually do that?
I know a person who had a a sitting presidential cabinet member (and a high profile one... one whose name even the apolitical recognize) write her a LoR to the school the secretary had graduated from. They knew each other in an entirely personal capacity (I don't see this being too different from one's parent), and it seemed to work.
And I totally agree that the person Johann referenced was probably not getting an LoR from such a high profile source, but my response was to Unam's question, not trying to point out the likely nature of the subject of Johann's tweet.
I don't know. I disagree. I think the issue is not bias (strong bias in the candidate's favor is almost expected of a recommender, and this seems to be confirmed from friends' LoRs they've forwarded to me), but rather an inability to comment with authority upon the person's qualities that will make them good candidates for law school. Certainly bosses and professors don't have a monopoly on these things, but there's a reason that they are preferred. If you are going to go with someone you have no history of working with or studying under, you might as well go with the one who knows you better -- the mother (Disclaimer: obviously this is not prescriptive, and I don't think any relative/acquaintence/personal relation should be writing a letter, but what I mean to say is that I don't think the above distinction is meaningful or clearly in favor of the non-mother, especially if the relationship doesn't need to be fully revealed).Samara wrote: Plus, knowing someone in a personal capacity is, even if it's like godmother or something, is still quite different from your actual mother.