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Help me pick my LORs?

Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 1:08 pm
by nothingspecialhere
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Re: Help me pick my LORs?

Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 1:22 pm
by lastsamurai
It will depend which schools you are applying to after you receive your score. I think 1 and 2 sound pretty similar, so probably go with 2 if it reads better. I wouldn't submit 3 unless a school requires at least 2 academic letters. Obviously submit 4 to everywhere and probably 5 as well

Re: Help me pick my LORs?

Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 5:18 pm
by Iroh
You don't say where you are applying, but as far as I know all schools in the T-14 except for Northwestern, NYU, and Berkeley want at least 2 academic LORs. If anyone has more knowledge, feel free to correct me, but as far as I know the fact that some of these internships were taken for class credit does not qualify them as academic LORs, and does not substantially alter their importance. So it sounds like you are going to have to send in #3 and #4 regardless if that's where you are aiming. If they allow up to 3, I would definitely send in #5, and if they allow up to 4, I would send in #2 as well.

EDIT: Some schools will allow you more leeway with professional LORs if you've been out of school for a long time(and Columbia actually requires a letter from your employer if you're working full time), but since all you've mentioned are internships you're going to be stuck with #3.

Re: Help me pick my LORs?

Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 12:13 pm
by bp shinners
Iroh wrote:You don't say where you are applying, but as far as I know all schools in the T-14 except for Northwestern, NYU, and Berkeley want at least 2 academic LORs.
This. Schools, for the most part, want academic letters. Right now, you only have 2 letters that would qualify as academic letters. If 3 is bad, I'd start asking around for another one.

Re: Help me pick my LORs?

Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 1:12 pm
by Power_of_Facing
Iroh wrote:You don't say where you are applying, but as far as I know all schools in the T-14 except for Northwestern, NYU, and Berkeley want at least 2 academic LORs. If anyone has more knowledge, feel free to correct me, but as far as I know the fact that some of these internships were taken for class credit does not qualify them as academic LORs, and does not substantially alter their importance. So it sounds like you are going to have to send in #3 and #4 regardless if that's where you are aiming. If they allow up to 3, I would definitely send in #5, and if they allow up to 4, I would send in #2 as well.

EDIT: Some schools will allow you more leeway with professional LORs if you've been out of school for a long time(and Columbia actually requires a letter from your employer if you're working full time), but since all you've mentioned are internships you're going to be stuck with #3.
I don't see it stated anywhere in Columbia's LSAC application sequence that they require a LOR from your employer if you're working full-time. On what are you basing your assertion of that requirement?

Re: Help me pick my LORs?

Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 1:17 pm
by redsox
Power_of_Facing wrote:I don't see it stated anywhere in Columbia's LSAC application sequence that they require a LOR from your employer if you're working full-time. On what are you basing your assertion of that requirement?
It's in the instructions.

Re: Help me pick my LORs?

Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 3:38 pm
by Power_of_Facing
Well I feel sheepish. I completely glossed over the "is required" part of the sentence and read it solely as "may replace one of the two faculty letters."