Letters of Recommendation Forum

[aegor]

Thank you in advance for any help.

I graduated from undergrad in 2013, and am struggling with my letters of recommendation. I have one solid one from a professor from whom I took several classes and did some independent work, but I have essentially been delaying the entire application process because I am struggling to find a second good one. One option is my thesis advisor, whom I liked but who was and presumably still is a bit unpredictable. I also had a couple of seminars that I did quite well in, but no other professor from whom I took more than one class.

Since I have had two jobs:

1) As a professional standardized-test tutor (SAT, ACT) working for a couple that runs the hottest business in my city. I did very good work for them and interacted with them nonstop for ~20 hours a week. They could write me an excellent and concrete recommendation, which they often do for their employees, of which they have only one or two at a time.

2) As a Latin teacher at an elite high school; half-time last year and full-time this year (I have quite the tutoring job amicably and still help out with them sometimes). My colleague, who actually taught me Latin in high school, writes college recommendations all the time. With the proper guidance, he could undoubtedly write a college one as well that could feature my academic and research capabilities prominently, given that the nature of our school requires perpetual professional development via research into our individual fields.


I honestly think either employment recommendation would be better than a second academic reference because I do not feel close to any other professors, but perhaps I am still young enough that two letters from professors are better. I may also be biased against the professors because I went to such a small high school that I do not feel close to any professors in comparison to my high school teachers.


Stats, if they matter in some way:

GPA: ~3.8 from HYP; magna cum laude; PBK
LSAT: 174 entirely self-prepped. I would rather retake because I am a perfectionist but I think it is good enough.

[cbbinnyc]

First of all, given your stats, I wouldn't stress too much about recommendations.

Sounds like your best bet might be to submit 3 letters. Use one of the professional references and find one more academic reference. Given your academic record, you should be able to find somebody, even if it's a professor you only took one class with. By doing this, you will satisfy the "preference" for 2 academic letters, but also get the benefit of a strong professional reference.

[cub1014]

First of all, given your stats, I wouldn't stress too much about recommendations.

Sounds like your best bet might be to submit 3 letters. Use one of the professional references and find one more academic reference. Given your academic record, you should be able to find somebody, even if it's a professor you only took one class with. By doing this, you will satisfy the "preference" for 2 academic letters, but also get the benefit of a strong professional reference.

Honestly, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Any of the above sound more than adequate and given your stats, you are in a better spot than the vast majority of people, even on these forums.

[aegor]

Does the advice change based on the competitiveness of the law schools (e.g. for the top ones)?

[aegor]

Any more thoughts? Does anyone see an advantage to one of the professional references over the other? Should I even send one of them? I really do think they would be good recommendations.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Unless you have concrete, confirmed evidence that your thesis advisor believes it's important to write a "balanced" recommendation (i.e. that adding in criticism will make the praise stronger - there are a few profs out there who think this, especially if they were educated outside the US), I would go with your thesis advisor. They will clearly know your work, and it's part of a prof's job to write recommendations for their students. You can ask them if they believe they can write you a strong recommendation, and if they're not going to, they should tell you and decline to write for you.

I think students (especially high-achieving ones) tend to overestimate the impact that any past criticism from a prof has on the prof's overall opinion and worry needlessly about getting a bad letter. Unless there really is something truly bizarre about your prof (which may be what you meant), they should be able to write you a good letter.

WRT to the professional ones - I guess I'd say that if you have 2 other academic letters, the test-tutoring company would provide a different perspective that might add to your application. If you don't add another academic letter, then maybe the high school rec. Either one would be fine, though.