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Hi Y'all,

A few questions:

1)Planning on asking my professor who I have very good rapport with (she's spoke very highly of the substance of my work and contributions made in class numerous times) for a letter of rec. I plan on letting her know that law schools look for students who have demonstrated being able to think think critically and analytically. Additionally, I was going to let her know that they appreciate hearing anecdotes about student-professor interactions about topics such as discussion about a student's professional interests as well as his/her academic/analytical abilities.

Is there anything else that I should ask her to consider when writing me a letter? I have a few experiences (such as presentations and discussions we've had) that I plan on bringing to her attention myself, but I just thought about asking experienced applicants on for any suggestions.

2) I've had quite a few chances to get very good letters of rec from professors, but due to specific reasons I blew my chances at making long lasting connections. Since I don't want to over estimate my chances of getting a certain quality of letter from the professor mentioned above, I can guarantee that it will at least be good and much more than generic rather than saying that it will be great. T

Therefore, since I'll already most likely need to include an addenda for my GPA (3.6 plus) due to my academic history, how bad would having not super great letters of rec hurt me when applying to T14 schools if I get a solid LSAT?

Thanks!

nicole1994 wrote:I plan on letting her know that law schools look for students who have demonstrated being able to think think critically and analytically. Additionally, I was going to let her know that they appreciate hearing anecdotes about student-professor interactions about topics such as discussion about a student's professional interests as well as his/her academic/analytical abilities.

I really don't think you need to tell her to include these things in your LOR. I think it would look pretty odd to do so, unless she has specifically said that she's unfamiliar with law school applications, and asked you what she should cover. You should feel free to provide information about yourself that she might not know already - especially about your professional interests; more specifics could be helpful - but I'm quite sure she knows to talk about your critical and analytical thinking abilities and academic performance.

nicole1994 wrote:I'll already most likely need to include an addenda for my GPA (3.6 plus) due to my academic history

You almost certainly do not need to write an addendum for a >3.6 GPA. That's just on the cusp of an A- average. Unless you had a particularly bad semester for reasons outside your control (i.e. not you got lazy or overwhelmed, etc.), an addendum would serve no purpose.

Thanks everyone

#1) Yes I worded it pretty incorrectly but I more so meant to say that I planned on speaking to her more in depth about is how what I've learned in her class has influenced me wanting to practice law,as well as how I feel that it has prepared me for skills useful in law school (analysis, reading, etc) as reasons for wanting to ask her to write my letter

#2) If anyone has an idea of to how having good (much more than generic, but maybe not excellent) letters might impact my admissions at a t-14 given my below median GPA for those schools (and assuming I score above median on the LSAT as a result), feel free to let me know -sorry for highly specific question.

The letters are very unlikely to matter much. If they’re bad they can hurt you, and maybe something really amazing can help a little, but most people’s letters are going to be positive so as long as you tick that box I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s also not like you can do anything about it now, and you shouldn’t let it affect your application strategy. So much of the application is about LSAT/GPA.

(Also you didn’t word that incorrectly, you straight up changed what you said you were going to do, but that’s fine.)

you said: "Also you didn’t word that incorrectly, you straight up changed what you said you were going to do, but that’s fine."

Yeah I did I'm sorry.

You gave great advice in your last comment in regards to how to think about the letters of rec and not think about them too much in comparison to the numbers if the letters are at least positive- Thank you.