Future Letter of Rec Advice Forum

[BigBear]

Hey all,

I'm going to be a Junior this year and am starting to plan out my law school applications. I'm taking the LSAT in February and my GPA is on par with numbers for the top t14s but I'm finding it difficult to pin down who I would ask for letters of recommendations at this point. I already have one solid letter of recommendation from a professor and Mock Trial coach but have no idea who I would ask for a second, and possibly a third, at this point.

I would like to apply in September of 2016 giving me a little oer a year to develop a good enough relationship with someone to write a letter of rec. I go to a large public university so it's relatively difficult to build relationships with professors in large lectures. I also have had a number of internships but none longer than a semester or a summer.

My main questions are how should I go about building relationships with someone that could write me a stellar letter of rec (either a professor or a boss), and how well should a recommender know you (i.e. is it possible to build a strong enough relationship with a recommender in a year to make their letter substantive)?

Any advice on this topic would be a huge help. Thanks!

[shump92]

Honestly you just have to reach out to someone who clearly liked you. Most professors enjoy helping students who did well in their classes and have social skills. The three of the four faculty I had as potential recommenders were all faculty I reached out to in a somewhat random fashion. You only need two recommenders so just reach out to a couple of recent professors or someone from your fall semester courses. Networking is surprisingly easy if you aren't intimidated to go to office hours or email people.

[rnoodles]

You really don't have anything to worry about considering you're only a junior. Each of my recs came from my second semester Junior year and first semester senior year profs. Just show you're genuinely interested in the class, talk to them after classes/in office hours, be yourself, and get to know them. It could be strange, maybe even difficult, at first, but it's definitely worth it. Two of my closest and greatest professors weren't even from my major. They also didn't seem like they were very approachable at first, but after some time I got to know them by talking about local high school sports and the stress of applying to law schools (the professor's spouse is a lawyer and scored 3rd highest on the Texas bar) of all things. Now we just hangout from time to time like any old friends, irrespective of the significant age difference.

So in summary, don't push it and don't stress. It'll all come naturally, you'll be fine (esp. if you have competitive numbers already), and there's always the chance that you'll get to form a great, invaluable, and lasting relationship in the end!

[hearsay77]

I went to a really large public university too. Over the next two years you'll likely be taking upper division classes which are often smaller than the classes you take your first two years. Find a relatively smaller class and just make an effort for that quarter/semester to get to know the professor, speak up in class, go to office hours, etc. Its not that hard.

[john1990]

Just email professors for classes which you received an A in. They will usually write you a letter if you submit your personal statement or resume to them.