generic rec letter vs. school-specific rec Forum

[in_to_win]

is there any sort of advantage in opting for the recommender to fill out a school-specific rec instead of a generic rec letter? If so, how would one resolve the conflict between his uncertainty of which schools to apply to (at the time of request for rec letter), and attaining a rec letter in a timely fasion (right after the end of a course)--in other words, if it's in the interest of applicants to request a rec letter from a prof right after the end of a course, which in many circumstances, is well before the law school application process, would an unavoidable 'opportunity cost' of using a school-specific recommendation form be that you deprive yourself of the chance to apply to other schools (for which you did not request a school-specific recommendation)? And given this cost, is it better to just go with a generic letter?


sorry for the verbosity.

[sarahlawg]

is there any sort of advantage in opting for the recommender to fill out a school-specific rec instead of a generic rec letter? If so, how would one resolve the conflict between his uncertainty of which schools to apply to (at the time of request for rec letter), and attaining a rec letter in a timely fasion (right after the end of a course)--in other words, if it's in the interest of applicants to request a rec letter from a prof right after the end of a course, which in many circumstances, is well before the law school application process, would an unavoidable 'opportunity cost' of using a school-specific recommendation form be that you deprive yourself of the chance to apply to other schools (for which you did not request a school-specific recommendation)? And given this cost, is it better to just go with a generic letter?


sorry for the verbosity.

it is better to have one that is fully and beautifully about you than school-specific. That seems like a lot of extra work for your recommenders. Unless it's Stanford (they want school-specific), let them spend their time writing awesome things about you and not worrying about exactly how you fit in with the school. It should be implied throughout the letter, anyway.