Northwestern no longer accepting LORs? Forum

[lawschoolboy]

Anyone looking to apply to Northwestern this year? They have changed up their recommendation requirements. They now do NOT require any letters of rec but if you choose to submit one it must be in the form of a Career Progress Evaluation Form, not a typical rec letter which your recommender sends to LSAC. How important do you guys think this optional Career Progress Evaluation form is? I guess for people applying straight from undergrad it doesn't matter, but I'm wondering how big of a deal it is for those of us with work experience. I called the admission office, and although they said that they may not necessarily look at it if submitted and it won't necessarily hurt your app if not submitted, I'm wondering how much it can help if you submit a good one? The guy on the phone was kinda vague on the importance of it and pretty much just kept saying it is optional. Is it really worth it to go back to one of my recommenders and have them fill this form out when he's already written and sent in a letter to lsac?

Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!

[Marionberry]

uhhh....I just submitted my app with the regular LORs and no CPE. I thought it said the CPE was optional, if you wanted to include that information on the app form. They had better accept it after I just dropp $100 on it. It was ambiguously worded anyway.

[lawschoolboy]

I initially thought what you did too, but the guy at admission office said the CPE is supposed to replace the LOR if you submit anything from a recommender. Also the application does say "Please note that we do NOT require a letter of recommendation as part of the admissions application. However, if you choose to include recommendation information you MUST have your recommender complete our Career Progress Evaluation Form." I'm just wondering how big of a deal this thing is and how optional it really is. The admission guy did say they may not necessarily look at it if submitted but refused to say it wasn't that big a deal. He pretty much just kept saying its optional and also mentioned that it won't necessarily hurt your chances if not submitted.

[Marionberry]

They really should have changed their lsac settings to no accepting LORs, if this is the case.

[RTFM]

Has anyone got a definite answer about how to actually submit the CPE to Northwestern (since LSAC says it can't process them)? Just send it directly to Northwestern?

[glacierfrost]

Bump. I ran into this last night as I was preparing my app and was thoroughly confused. My LOR's are years old now and my professors are likely impossible to reach by now. How are people in this situation supposed to get their old professors to fill out the CPE form? Or, is the CPE form strictly for PROFESSIONAL recommenders?

[im_blue]

Bump. I ran into this last night as I was preparing my app and was thoroughly confused. My LOR's are years old now and my professors are likely impossible to reach by now. How are people in this situation supposed to get their old professors to fill out the CPE form? Or, is the CPE form strictly for PROFESSIONAL recommenders?

Either find a professor to fill out a CPE form, or don't submit any LORs.

[shanemahsa]

This. Is. Lame. I got a waiver and this fact alone has stopped me from applying thus far. *siiiiiigh*

[IAFG]

This. Is. Lame. I got a waiver and this fact alone has stopped me from applying thus far. *siiiiiigh*

oh shaney apply without recs they don't care, NU is a number cruncher + WE requirement

[shanemahsa]

This. Is. Lame. I got a waiver and this fact alone has stopped me from applying thus far. *siiiiiigh*

oh shaney apply without recs they don't care, NU is a number cruncher + WE requirement

Not fair! You know I can't resist when you call me Shaney/Pavey.

[IAFG]

Not fair! You know I can't resist when you call me Shaney/Pavey.

the thing about applying is, you should just apply to the whole T20. always. even if you would never go. when it comes time to negotiate for aid, you want to have every card the dealer would let you draw.

[shanemahsa]

Not fair! You know I can't resist when you call me Shaney/Pavey.

the thing about applying is, you should just apply to the whole T20. always. even if you would never go. when it comes time to negotiate for aid, you want to have every card the dealer would let you draw.

/applied.

[Bumi]

Though please be aware that we will NOT be holding applications as incomplete for either CPEs or LORs, as both are now optional components.

Source. (LinkRemoved)

My take: a CPE is your best bet. LORs are distant second best. If you're feeling lucky, you can go balls out and skip both entirely at your own peril.

With that said, I submitted my Northwestern application today without a CPE but with a letter of recommendation. I do hope very much to get in to Northwestern, but my recommenders are busy professionals and I am not planning to ask them to do any more than they've already done for me. If this means that you folks get in over me, then you're going to an excellent law school and I'm sure you'll enjoy it very much.

My sense is that my resume and LSAT score are much more important to the admissions committee there at Northwestern than anything else I could submit. Yes I wrote optional essays anyway.

[IAFG]

Though please be aware that we will NOT be holding applications as incomplete for either CPEs or LORs, as both are now optional components.

Source. (LinkRemoved)

My take: a CPE is your best bet. LORs are distant second best. If you're feeling lucky, you can go balls out and skip both entirely at your own peril.

With that said, I submitted my Northwestern application today without a CPE but with a letter of recommendation. I do hope very much to get in to Northwestern, but my recommenders are busy professionals and I am not planning to ask them to do any more than they've already done for me. If this means that you folks get in over me, then you're going to an excellent law school and I'm sure you'll enjoy it very much.

My sense is that my resume and LSAT score are much more important to the admissions committee there at Northwestern than anything else I could submit. Yes I wrote optional essays anyway.

NU isn't known for YP or a fragile ego like some peer schools *cough*michigan*cough* i doubt that, with strong numbers and WE, lacking a CPE will hurt you.

[im_blue]

Though please be aware that we will NOT be holding applications as incomplete for either CPEs or LORs, as both are now optional components.

Source. (LinkRemoved)

My take: a CPE is your best bet. LORs are distant second best. If you're feeling lucky, you can go balls out and skip both entirely at your own peril.

With that said, I submitted my Northwestern application today without a CPE but with a letter of recommendation. I do hope very much to get in to Northwestern, but my recommenders are busy professionals and I am not planning to ask them to do any more than they've already done for me. If this means that you folks get in over me, then you're going to an excellent law school and I'm sure you'll enjoy it very much.

My sense is that my resume and LSAT score are much more important to the admissions committee there at Northwestern than anything else I could submit. Yes I wrote optional essays anyway.

NU isn't known for YP or a fragile ego like some peer schools *cough*michigan*cough* i doubt that, with strong numbers and WE, lacking a CPE will hurt you.

That's because Chicago >> AA.

[oxford_don]

[]

[azure55]

Is it really worth it to go back to one of my recommenders and have them fill this form out when he's already written and sent in a letter to lsac?

Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!

I did an on-campus interview and asked my interviewer about the whole LOR/CPE thing. Basically, they accept traditional LORs (as specifically stated on the admissions blog), but if you have WE, they prefer a CPE. If you’re in my situation (you don’t want your employer to know you’re leaving for law school yet), you write an addendum explaining that that’s why you sent a traditional LOR. I used two professors who supervised me in work settings – an internship in Bangkok and a grad school job in DC. I asked them to focus on several of the topics that come up in the CPE. My interviewer said there's seriously nothing wrong with sending an LOR. She even went down the hall and checked.

It would be nice if they explained that better in the application.

[ppch]

Yeah... my boss, who is great, is being really resistant because he says basically all of that stuff is in his LOR anyway. I feel bad nagging him too much; he was thrilled at the possibility that the letter would be enough. I submitted it with the app last weekend, thinking he'd already done the CPE (online?), but it turns out he hadn't. It would be easy enough for him to paste things into the web form, but he's not too tech-savvy (he usually asks me to do stuff like that for him). I'm not sure what to do.