Advice for low-GPA students on getting Letters from Profs? Forum

[Cicero, Fin. III 16]

I'm sure I can't be the only one who has been in this situation. I'm wondering how I should go about getting LORs with a GPA in the mid-2s (a lot is riding on how I do this spring). Besides completely bombing several classes freshman year, I'm not the most social guy; neither are many of my professors. Because of this, even if there were two professors I'm sure would recommend me, I wouldn't feel comfortable asking in person.

I'll be applying next fall.

Is it acceptable to email professors over the summer and request a LOR be submitted by Sept. 1 - because of wanting to submit my applications ASAP in order to have a better chance at admissions? This idea just came to mind.

Here are two professors I'd consider asking (without yet knowing the majority of my spring professors, so another one or two might be added).

1) A professor who I've taken 3 times, receiving two A-'s and a 'W' - for withdrawn. He's quite odd (read: eccentric) and is the one I'd feel least comfortable asking in person. For what it's worth, he's an alumni (PhD) from one of the schools I might be targeting come summer.

2) A professor I only had once but who raved about my writing (despite this, I only got a B+ in the class), calling one of my papers the best he has seen from an undergraduate. I'd feel OK asking him one on one in his office but, alas, he has taken an extended LOA and won't be around for the foreseeable future. On the plus side, he agreed just a few months ago to be a reference on a job application; however, by next summer it will have been almost a year since any contact and more than that since taking his class.

Are either of these good options?

I'm sorry, this post went on for longer than I had hoped. There are a lot of questions and worries being generated in this anxious pre-0L's head.

Thanks!

~ Cicero

[oaken]

If you're feeling uncomfortable asking a professor for a letter because he's eccentric, I think you're going to have a lot more issues ahead than finding a LoR for law school. Professors get asked to write them all the time, it's not like you're asking him to be your best man or something.

If you think both would write positive LoRs, then ask both, though I think the first sounds like a better option because of the amount of time that's passed since any contact with the second. If not, then try really hard to get to know one of your professors this semester and ask them at the beginning of the summer.

And bring that GPA up, too!

[Cicero, Fin. III 16]

*"BUMP"*

[Bildungsroman]

Why the bump? There's no super-secret method that the high lords of top-law-schools.com are holding in reserve. Just ask professors whose class you did well in or who you had a good relationship with. If you're not comfortable asking in person, ask via email or try being less socially awkward. Some might not remember you well enough or might say no, so make sure to think of more than 2 professors you can ask.