Special Situation letters of rec question Forum

[StephenAndrews]

Hey everyone,

First, a little background. In 2008-10 I took two years of college. My GPA ended at a 2.1. At that time I had a substance abuse problem. I dropped out of school, went to rehab and have been clean since 2011. I am active in the recovery community and sponsor other addicts. I also started a small business, which I still run (it pays most of my bills).

I re-enrolled in college last year. Since then I've been maintaining a 4.0. I've been practicing for the LSAT, timed under realistic conditions. My average has been between a 173 and a 180. Without taking for granted that my practice test scores may not translate to success on the test itself, I nevertheless plan on applying to range of schools, including some of the top 14 schools.

So, on to my question.

As of now, I have one professor I am close with and I can count on to write a letter of rec for me. Since I'm going to be throwing all my chips into my redemption story, I was thinking it may be smart to have at least one letter of rec come from someone in the recovery community. For instances, I could have my first sponsee -- someone who I've helped take from the streets to two and a half years of recovery, friends, community, and a career -- write a letter indicating what a profound impact I've had on his life. Alternatively, I could have my sponsor write a rec letter indicating how far I've come since he first met me: on the streets begging for money to a successful business, school, and sponsoring other addicts.

My thought, frankly, was that any one of the people in recovery could tell the admissions board a whole lot more about me as a person than any professor could.

Thoughts?

[StephenAndrews]

Also, I've been reading these boards a lot the last few months. It's my first post. Thanks in advance guys!

[ihenry]

It's a nice topic for PS, and I think it would be great to have a recommender echo the life story you wrote for yourself. However, the most important things schools look for in the recommendation letters are still critical thinking and writing skills, etc., i. e. your potential to succeed in law school, which is often more loudly spoken by professors. Thus, you could consider submitting two academic letters and one from your recovery community. I don't think three letters are redundant in your case.