Work LOR Forum

[middlebear]

Howdy all,

I have a question regarding who to ask for recs. I have two professors I'm planning on asking--academic letters, then, (hopefully) taken care of.

I'm mainly wondering if I should ask for a third from work. By matriculation, I will have worked two years in DC BigLaw. I'm fairly certain that there are at least a couple people here who would agree to write one, though the only ones that would have anything substantive to say would probably not be the higher-ups (my first choice would be an associate, actually, who is the main person I do work for on a daily basis). One of my coworkers, in applying to business school, asked one of the partners to write for him, but they don't deign to speak to us, definitely don't know me at all, and I just refuse to stoop to that.

I'm feeling like it would look strange to NOT ask for a letter, frankly, so I'm guess I'm here for hand-holding and reassurance: I should ask the associate, right? It'd be between him and a slightly more senior attorney, for whom I also technically work for and see daily, but I just interact far less with.

Thanks mucho.

[oxie]

I'm kinda confused about what the issue is here -- is there a reason why you don't want to ask this person for a LOR?

Assuming it's not going to be a huge surprise that you're applying to law school and you think the associate would write you a good letter, I think it would be a marginally positive thing to have to round out your recommendations, highlight your WE, etc (although TLS conventional wisdom is that LORs generally don't really matter that much). Also if you're planning on applying to Northwestern, you'll need a professional LOR.

In terms of picking between the associate versus the more senior attorney, I'd say go with the one you've worked with more closely and who you think will write a stronger letter rather than worrying about seniority or title.

[middlebear]

Thanks--I think part of this is just me talking it out. I also had been thinking along the lines that I had my two academic recs, I didn't need a professional one, but I should just nut up and ask. (Though atm not planning on applying to Northwestern.) And getting a second opinion on the seniority issue, I suppose.

Thanks very much for dealing with my run on.

[oxie]

No prob -- just wasn't sure if there was some sort of complication I wasn't catching in the OP!

I think it could provide an additional positive aspect of your application, so I'd say go for it. I've been working for a few years and I sent 2 academic LORs and 1 professional LOR to most of the schools I applied to and that worked out pretty well for me. But at the same time I think this is a good explanation of how adcoms view LORs -- basically the takeaway is that you shouldn't expect LORs to be a game-changer for you.

Good luck with your applications!

[bombaysippin]

No prob -- just wasn't sure if there was some sort of complication I wasn't catching in the OP!

I think it could provide an additional positive aspect of your application, so I'd say go for it. I've been working for a few years and I sent 2 academic LORs and 1 professional LOR to most of the schools I applied to and that worked out pretty well for me. But at the same time I think this is a good explanation of how adcoms view LORs -- basically the takeaway is that you shouldn't expect LORs to be a game-changer for you.

Good luck with your applications!

Everything this person said. Can't hurt to have a third rec on standby if you need it eventually (unless the rec is a seething letter of disdain about you).