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Does a LOR from an alumnus mean much at a public law school?
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:36 am
by swittig
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Re: Does a LOR from an alumnus mean much at a public law school?
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:39 am
by John_rizzy_rawls
Not unless the alumnus has their name on a hall or they write you a glowing rec. Either the content has to be amazing or the quality of the alumnus has to be extraordinary.
Otherwise no it doesn't.
Re: Does a LOR from an alumnus mean much at a public law school?
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:49 am
by Tom Joad
Tina Fey = UVA lock.
Re: Does a LOR from an alumnus mean much at a public law school?
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 12:23 pm
by Ti Malice
Unless the alum is a major donor, it wouldn't give you an edge anywhere. And if the alum is not a professor whose class(es) you've taken, then you likely should not submit the letter at all.
Re: Does a LOR from an alumnus mean much at a public law school?
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:43 pm
by Dr. Dre
neither of those schools are worth going to
Re: Does a LOR from an alumnus mean much at a public law school?
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 5:02 pm
by ms9
John_rizzy_rawls wrote:Not unless the alumnus has their name on a hall or they write you a glowing rec. Either the content has to be amazing or the quality of the alumnus has to be extraordinary.
Otherwise no it doesn't.
I somewhat disagree with this and the notion below "unless the alumnus is a major donor"
If the alumnus has what slaw schools A&D offices refer to as "giving potential" it may be a significant fact even if they have not given a dime. Also, 95% of LOR are glowing so along the lines of such letters, they often can only hurt you (the 5% that are not utterly glowing) than help you (hard to differentiate because they are all so fawning) unless the recommender is of special interest to the law school, e.g. has donated, can donate, etc.)
Re: Does a LOR from an alumnus mean much at a public law school?
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 5:10 pm
by cinnamonchurros
MikeSpivey wrote:If the alumnus has what slaw schools A&D offices refer to as "giving potential" it may be a significant fact even if they have not given a dime.
Did you make up "slaw schools" or was that a typo? Either way, I love it.
EDIT: Quote function fail on my part.
Re: Does a LOR from an alumnus mean much at a public law school?
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 5:23 pm
by ms9
cinnamonchurros wrote:MikeSpivey wrote:If the alumnus has what slaw schools A&D offices refer to as "giving potential" it may be a significant fact even if they have not given a dime.
Did you make up "slaw schools" or was that a typo? Either way, I love it.
EDIT: Quote function fail on my part.
Totally by accident but think I like it too and think I may just use it again. We need to come up with a definition so to know when it is appropriate and for what schools.
I did used to call one of the former law schools I worked at "Shangri Law" but that was really stupid and I only called it that to myself and really quirky faculty who seemed to get a kick out of it.
Re: Does a LOR from an alumnus mean much at a public law school?
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 5:27 pm
by cinnamonchurros
MikeSpivey wrote: Total by accident but think I like it too and think I may just use it again. We need to come up with a definition so to know when it is appropriate and for what schools.
I did used to call one of the former law schools I worked at "Shangri Law" but that was really stupid and I only called it that to myself and really quirky faculty who seemed to get a kick out of it.
Please use it again. I would personally use it to describe TTT/T schools in the south. But, as the creator, the final decision of course rests with you.
Re: Does a LOR from an alumnus mean much at a public law school?
Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:39 am
by bp shinners
The only time something like this will help is if the person who is writing the letter knows who to call to make something like this happen (which implies a large donor or famous alumni), is willing to do so for you, and then does it. If the person can't make the call to get some movement on your app, then it's very, very unlikely a letter from them will weigh any more than the average LoR.