Targeted LOR Forum

[sk7415]

Some schools such as SLS state that "Please be aware of the high value Stanford places on school-specific letters of recommendation. If you choose to provide us with a targeted letter, please be sure to assign the appropriate targeted letter to Stanford Law School."

What exactly is a targeted letter? Does that just mean the LOR writes "Stanford law" somewhere in the letter, or does the rec need to actively speak to characteristics of Stanford and relate this to the applicant?

If so, how in the world does someone get a rec like this, do I have to actively convince my professors to research SLS to do this?

Please advise if you have had experiences with this type of rec in the past.

[ikethegremlin]

Some schools such as SLS state that "Please be aware of the high value Stanford places on school-specific letters of recommendation. If you choose to provide us with a targeted letter, please be sure to assign the appropriate targeted letter to Stanford Law School."

What exactly is a targeted letter? Does that just mean the LOR writes "Stanford law" somewhere in the letter, or does the rec need to actively speak to characteristics of Stanford and relate this to the applicant?

If so, how in the world does someone get a rec like this, do I have to actively convince my professors to research SLS to do this?

Please advise if you have had experiences with this type of rec in the past.

I have no idea if my way is the best way, but I just provided my recommenders with a short paragraph about why I Stanford is a top choice for me and let them integrate it however they chose to do so. The one who showed me his recommendation had done so very neatly, I thought.

FWIW, I only did this with the two professors I am very close to. A third one who I felt a little more intimidated by I just had write me a generic letter, as I didn't want to go back to him with more requests once I realized I needed a targeted letter.