Questions about Teacher Recommendations..Urgent.. Forum

[February1088]

So I really need you guys' help . It is already almost Oct and I haven't taken the LSAT yet. I do not want to rush myself when I take this test so I am giving myself ample time as much as possible. At this point, realistically, the earliest option to take the LSAT for me would be December (however this seems unlikely). If I DID take the LSAT during December, when I would be the earliest I would be able to apply for law school? When do law schools usually start acception applications?

Ok. So I haven't gotten 2 teacher recommendations yet. What if I can't find 2 teachers that are willing to give me recommendations? Do I need to go to a person that specializes in writing stuff like this on my campus? What if I found a lawyer that was close to my family that wrote a recommendation instead?

Anyway the problem is this. I am graduating this December from my university and I need to find these recommendations. However, I am probably applying to law school after I graduated in order to give myself time for LSAT. Does that mean that recommendations that I received now become useless if I wait after I graduate to use them? How do teacher recommendations work exactly? Can I hold on to them or something? Do they need to be sent around the same date as when the teacher writes them? Or do I have to wait until I actually apply and then e-mail the professor who I haven't seen for over a semester to write it for me suddenly?

One last important question is, I don't know which schools I am going for. But I do know that I want to apply to a bunch of them and hope I get into one of them. When a teacher writes my recommendation, do they need to know which school I am going to, in order to direct their letter toward that specific school? My friend roughly told me about some 'forms' i need to get for each school, but that would mean I would have to ask my teacher to write 10 different recommendations if I was applying to 10 different schools? o.o

I know that there are lotta questions up there...but please try to answer them all because seriously my life depends on this one thread....and my teacher that I'm close to is going to have his last class on Thursday so that is my last chance to ask him before he leaves for Europe

[094320]

..

[lzyovrachievr]

This FAQ thread answers most of these questions:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=127189

Blatant self-promotion.

[094320]

..

[lzyovrachievr]

I didn't actually create that thread for you guys to chill out in. That was a side-purpose that eventually overtook the original one. Just trying to stay true to the original lost cause.

...Relax, love. I'm just playing with you. I love both the side and the original purposes, as well as a home for this cycle. (The cause isn't lost! We still respond!)

[094320]

..

[2014]

Get the recommendations now, get them submitted to LSAC and let them sit there till you apply. If that happens to be years down the road, you can always get new ones or have the professors update them.

The only two schools where special care should be taken with LORs are Stanford, who appreciates a directed LOR, and Northwestern, who has some performance review bs that you have to have the writer fill out. Given that you are not going to have work experience though, save your app fee and time.

So a generic letter should work fine, unless your teachers have a connection to a given school or can do a good job targeting it and are willing. For example if you have a teacher who is a Vanderbilt alum and you are applying to Vandy, you should nicely ask him to write two letters, one that targets Vandy and a generic one.

HTH