Letter of Recommendation Time Forum

[glcoupe]

I have finished up an internship this summer and am going into my junior year of college. I am planning on applying to law school in about a year from now. I am taking the LSAT in June of 2011. Can I use a letter of rec. from the internship I did this summer, even though the internship would have been done for about a year? Would it look bad?

[gdane]

Why would it look bad? Just because you completed it a year prior to you applying to schools doesnt mean its worth less or not applicable. By your logic, your freshman, sophmore, and junior year undergraduate grades would "look bad". Don't worry about when you completed it. You have something cool to put on your resume and thats all that counts.

Good luck!

[TCScrutinizer]

I have finished up an internship this summer and am going into my junior year of college. I am planning on applying to law school in about a year from now. I am taking the LSAT in June of 2011. Can I use a letter of rec. from the internship I did this summer, even though the internship would have been done for about a year? Would it look bad?

Yes, you can.

No, it wouldn't look bad. As long as the letter itself is positive.

Any other answer is wrong and should be ignored.

[blackwater88]

I have finished up an internship this summer and am going into my junior year of college. I am planning on applying to law school in about a year from now. I am taking the LSAT in June of 2011. Can I use a letter of rec. from the internship I did this summer, even though the internship would have been done for about a year? Would it look bad?

Yes, you can.

No, it wouldn't look bad. As long as the letter itself is positive.

Any other answer is wrong and should be ignored.

The thing is, don't law schools encourage you to have academic LOR when possible, especially if you're still in undergrad. I think it could backfire on them, the adcomms might wonder why he chose to use an internship that might not be representative of his academic achievement over a professor.

[kalvano]

The thing is, don't law schools encourage you to have academic LOR when possible, especially if you're still in undergrad. I think it could backfire on them, the adcomms might wonder why he chose to use an internship that might not be representative of his academic achievement over a professor.

You can submit more than one, and yes, one needs to be academic.

Stop worrying about LOR's, they are about the least important part of the application.

[MiamiUG]

Some schools require 2 letters but allow you to send in a third. This would be a good letter to send in as an optional third, but your first two should definitely be from professors if you're going to apply straight from undergrad.

[TCScrutinizer]

Just putting myself in an adcomm's shoes... I don't think a LOR from an employer would do anything but help an applicant. Of course you'd want to see something from professors coming straight from UG, but showing positive experience in a non-academic setting is never bad when applying to a professional school.

[glcoupe]

So, if you had just finished an internship this summer, would you get the LOR written right now and then save it until application next fall or would you ask next fall for them to write it. Meaning should I have the write the letter now, because I just finished my internship, or should I wait so that the letter is more current, albeit the internship would still be a year ago.

[nihilism is key]

First of all, get 2 academic LORs. As a rising junior, you have plenty of time to find professors. In speaking with admissions officers, they encourage people even 10 years out of school to at least try to find a professor from back in the day that they were close with/stayed in touch with. The reasoning behind this is simple, they want to know how you will perform in an academic setting.

I was in the exact same situation as you (internship summer after my freshman year). What my employer did in situations like this was, complete a comprehensive evaluation of my work performance at the end of the summer and then keep that on file until I called them and asked for a LOR. This might be something you want to consider suggesting to your employer if you want the date on the LOR to be more in line with when it will be sent. NOTE: I sent the professional recommendation in addition to my 2 academic LOR.