recommendation letter walkthrough Forum

[walterwhite]

The recommendation process seems anything but straight forward . What forms do we need to hand to our professors? Should we be registered with CAS before we ask our professors for letters? Do our professors upload their letters online or do they send a hard copy to CAS?

You don't have to answer these questions specifically those are just examples of the types of things I'm curious about. Also if anybody has a timeline of when we should register with CAS, meet with our professors, etc; that would be helpful. Thanks!

[MyNameIsFlynn!]

... dad?

[StillIll]

I forget if you need CAS to get the recommendations uploaded. I'm pretty sure that you do though.

Nonetheless, ask them as soon as you can. Once you register for CAS you can send them a link to their e-mail where they can upload their LoR. It's very simple and LoRs done that way are uploaded to your CAS almost instantly. If your professor insists on sending in a hard copy (I actually had one who did this... he was very into the traditional way of doing things) then he can do that too, but it takes longer to get uploaded to your CAS and there's all the "mail-uncertainty" anxiety involved (did it get sent out? did I put the right address? what if the mailman loses it? etc).

Your profs. are likely very busy, so ask them tomorrow, if possible, or ASAP. And then give them a few weeks to get it done. I'd also recommend you register for CAS as soon as possible too at this point, if you're planning on applying this cycle. There's zero reason to wait on it unless you're currently short the money that it costs.

[howlery]

I called LSAC directly and was told that LORs and transcripts will be accepted and stored even if you haven't paid the ~$150 fee. LSAC won't share your grades/LORs with schools until you've paid, but at least you can have it all ready to go. There is also a transcript request form that you can give to your university's registrar and mail to LSAC with your official, final transcript attached.

LORs can be completed online or via mail/fax. Do you have an LSAC account? Poke around the applicant portal and check out the FAQs and 'How do I?' pages.

[Cicero76]

... dad?

180.

The recommendation process seems anything but straight forward . What forms do we need to hand to our professors? Should we be registered with CAS before we ask our professors for letters? Do our professors upload their letters online or do they send a hard copy to CAS?

You don't have to answer these questions specifically those are just examples of the types of things I'm curious about. Also if anybody has a timeline of when we should register with CAS, meet with our professors, etc; that would be helpful. Thanks!

Put everything in one folder and hand it to your professor after he/she agrees to write a LOR. This should include a cover letter thanking them for doing it and highlighting some facts about yourself that might be useful to mention, a resume, a pre-stamped and addressed envelope in case they want to snail mail it rather than do it electronically, and any other forms necessary. Some UGs have a form you must sign in order for profs to be allowed to talk about grades/specific performance. Some law schools may have guidelines or something else to go in there.

Put it all in one package and give it to the prof personally if possible. Make the whole process as easy as possible on them and they'll be good to you.

[walterwhite]

i understand it's important to ask professors ASAP, but would it be better to wait until September so I can ask them in person when school starts?

do you think the advantages of waiting until September so that I can ask the professor in person outweigh the advantages of asking right now through email?

maybe i'm overthinking it, but I feel like asking for a recommendation by email is kind of a faux pas

[Cicero76]

i understand it's important to ask professors ASAP, but would it be better to wait until September so I can ask them in person when school starts?

do you think the advantages of waiting until September so that I can ask the professor in person outweigh the advantages of asking right now through email?

maybe i'm overthinking it, but I feel like asking for a recommendation by email is kind of a faux pas

There's no disadvantage to waiting until September (wow your classes start late for UG). Applying in October is fine. Give the profs at least 3 weeks to write though

[NYC2012]

.

[walterwhite]

... dad?

180.

The recommendation process seems anything but straight forward . What forms do we need to hand to our professors? Should we be registered with CAS before we ask our professors for letters? Do our professors upload their letters online or do they send a hard copy to CAS?

You don't have to answer these questions specifically those are just examples of the types of things I'm curious about. Also if anybody has a timeline of when we should register with CAS, meet with our professors, etc; that would be helpful. Thanks!

Put everything in one folder and hand it to your professor after he/she agrees to write a LOR. This should include a cover letter thanking them for doing it and highlighting some facts about yourself that might be useful to mention, a resume, a pre-stamped and addressed envelope in case they want to snail mail it rather than do it electronically, and any other forms necessary. Some UGs have a form you must sign in order for profs to be allowed to talk about grades/specific performance. Some law schools may have guidelines or something else to go in there.

Put it all in one package and give it to the prof personally if possible. Make the whole process as easy as possible on them and they'll be good to you.

if the professor is emailing the letter, what do I do with the LSAC LoR form? is that emailed to him in the automated LSAC recommendation request email? and then he sends the form back to LSAC with his letter?

the LSAC.org FAQ was a little vague in addressing that question

[Rory19]

I asked in June and gave them the summer to write.

I had one reference who was out of town so I sent him an email updating him on my long term plans for law school ( we had talked about it before) and asked if he would be willing to be a reference and could we meet for coffee over the summer to discuss the application process. It worked really well.

I then met individually with each of them with a folder with my résumé, PS, transcript and a note from me with the process. My references customized every letter, e.g. "Dear ___ school admissions committee..." so I had to create separate letters for each school for each prof in LSAT--it came to 33 letters. Then each letter was clearly labelled what school it was a cover sheet for. I also took the time to explain how once it was submitted you could not view it in LSAC to see if the right letter was assigned to the right school so they were very careful.

I then made sure to update them all with every admissions decision along the way.

[bp shinners]

Give the profs at least 3 weeks to write though

3 weeks at least. The more time the better.

[Cicero76]

... dad?

180.

The recommendation process seems anything but straight forward . What forms do we need to hand to our professors? Should we be registered with CAS before we ask our professors for letters? Do our professors upload their letters online or do they send a hard copy to CAS?

You don't have to answer these questions specifically those are just examples of the types of things I'm curious about. Also if anybody has a timeline of when we should register with CAS, meet with our professors, etc; that would be helpful. Thanks!

Put everything in one folder and hand it to your professor after he/she agrees to write a LOR. This should include a cover letter thanking them for doing it and highlighting some facts about yourself that might be useful to mention, a resume, a pre-stamped and addressed envelope in case they want to snail mail it rather than do it electronically, and any other forms necessary. Some UGs have a form you must sign in order for profs to be allowed to talk about grades/specific performance. Some law schools may have guidelines or something else to go in there.

Put it all in one package and give it to the prof personally if possible. Make the whole process as easy as possible on them and they'll be good to you.

if the professor is emailing the letter, what do I do with the LSAC LoR form? is that emailed to him in the automated LSAC recommendation request email? and then he sends the form back to LSAC with his letter?

the LSAC.org FAQ was a little vague in addressing that question

Emailing? I don't think you can email. You can upload them through LSACs recommender site.