Employer Letter of Recommendation Forum

[usef007]

Hello all,

I will be asking my boss at work to write a letter of recommendation for me. What should she highlight? What will the board of admission be looking for in that LOR?

I took some time off after high school and worked in a highly competitive sales job for the past 8 years. I decided to go back to school, and am nearing to the end of my bachelors degree. Right now, I am studying for the LSAT and working on my application package, and planning on applying to the top ten law schools including Harvard and Yale.

I understand what Letters of Recommendations from academic sources should aim for, but if you have any other recommendations, please share.

Academic LOR:
“A letter discusses the qualities and characteristics of the applicant's ability, academic and otherwise, to study law. An evaluation rates both cognitive and noncognitive attributes and skills that have been identified as important to successful lawyering, using a scale that represents degrees of a particular characteristic.”

http://www.lsac.org/jd/applying-to-law- ... valuations

“admissions committee is "most interested in letters from people who can realistically assess your academic potential." Such emphasis is reasonable, given that professors reviewing applications may give more weight to the words of other professors, individuals who can speak to an applicant's critical thinking skills, potential to contribute to class discussion, and overall benefit to the academic environment of the school.”

http://www.top-law-schools.com/wiki/Yal ... on_letters

[Adrian Monk]

also interested in this

[hillz]

I'm having my employer write a LOR for me and I asked her to address some of the following:

- Intellectual curiosity and promise
- Analytical skills, particularly ability to read textual material carefully and present reasoned conclusions in writing and orally
- Problem solving and independence of thought
- Motivation, commitment, maturity, professionalism, and self-confidence
- Leadership ability and organizational skills
- Concern for others

A work LOR should be pretty similar to an academic LOR. Schools really just want to know whether or not your recommender thinks you will do well in school and how good your analytical skills are, regardless of whether it is work-related or academic. If your job somehow relates to why you want to go to law school, then you should definitely ask your employer to address that, too.

[usef007]

I'm having my employer write a LOR for me and I asked her to address some of the following:

- Intellectual curiosity and promise
- Analytical skills, particularly ability to read textual material carefully and present reasoned conclusions in writing and orally
- Problem solving and independence of thought
- Motivation, commitment, maturity, professionalism, and self-confidence
- Leadership ability and organizational skills
- Concern for others

A work LOR should be pretty similar to an academic LOR. Schools really just want to know whether or not your recommender thinks you will do well in school and how good your analytical skills are, regardless of whether it is work-related or academic. If your job somehow relates to why you want to go to law school, then you should definitely ask your employer to address that, too.

Thank you