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I was in a conversation yesterday with someone who was including their school logo on their cover letter for the December 1 mailings. She said it was very low-key and tastefully done. Someone else disagreed. Not sure if this is a good idea or not.

Addy wrote:I was in a conversation yesterday with someone who was including their school logo on their cover letter for the December 1 mailings. She said it was very low-key and tastefully done. Someone else disagreed. Not sure if this is a good idea or not.

I would definitely not do this. It's tacky simply to include it and may be a copyright/trademark violation. Firms at least want to pretend they are hiring based upon you and not your school.

Only if you put a picture of yourself below the logo.

Probably need to get permission from the school to use the logo.

Mce252 wrote:Only if you put a picture of yourself below the logo.

And fill the envelope with glitter

It's a trademark infringement and there's no way the school is gonna give permission. Whoever does this will def stand out in a negative way to firms.

Or be remarkably amazing...

Mce252 wrote:Only if you put a picture of yourself below the logo.

Interesting idea. I wonder if many people include a small embedded photo in their cover letter.

chem wrote:

Mce252 wrote:Only if you put a picture of yourself below the logo.

And fill the envelope with glitter

Hard to email glitter (messed up my puter when I tried). But, a 20% off Big Mac coupon in an envelope. . . how could you go wrong?

Also, I've heard 4-5 inter-envelope perfume/cologne spritzes is always a solid move.

Yup get permission from your school... just like how I got permission to where my school sweater around.

They used the logo as part of their letterhead? When someone sees it the first thing they are going to think is that this person works for the school. Then when they realize the person is only a student they are going to think he/she doesn't know proper business etiquette.

I think it would be a better idea to put a thumbnail picture of yourself at the top of your resume with your school's logo painted on your forehead.

Terrible idea.

If you want a workaround, send an unofficial transcript showing the classes you're in that has the logo on it. Get those goofy law student business cards if you must (the school has no problem with these - because you paid them). But correspondence coming from a student should never have the logo on it.

The sweater analogy is pretty awful since the person you paid for the sweater paid the school to use the logo.

Whereas kids say the darndest things, law students do the dumbest things

pillowpet wrote:Yup get permission from your school... just like how I got permission to where my school sweater around.

Yeah, but they granted the makers of the sweater a trademark license to do this. Not you. Good luck getting your school to agree to this asinine idea.

Addy wrote:I was in a conversation yesterday with someone who was including their school logo on their cover letter for the December 1 mailings. She said it was very low-key and tastefully done. Someone else disagreed. Not sure if this is a good idea or not.

Doesn't every cover letter start with line similar to the following:
Dear XXX, I am a XL at XXX school and writing to apply for a postion . . .

What's the point to include a school logo? Surely that does not make your cover letter an official school letter or one authored by a school employee.

I mentioned this logo “idea” to a few folks . . . and, the answer was. . .hell no (plus a few, “you’re kidding, right?”). Ditto picture on the resume. The wildest thing anyone would [reluctantly] agree to was a [Word] border on the cover letter. If plain is good, I am hanging with the right crowd!

kaiser wrote:Whereas kids say the darndest things, law students do the dumbest things

In all seriousness law schools should really copy b-schools and have a required communications class that teaches proper etiquette for all this stuff. Law school career centers are such a joke when it comes to telling kids how it should be done.

Use paper with the school logo as a watermark. I don't know if that actually exists but I feel like it's an excellent idea. The most subtle bragging possible; so subtle almost nobody would notice.

quiver wrote:Use paper with the school logo as a watermark. I don't know if that actually exists but I feel like it's an excellent idea. The most subtle bragging possible; so subtle almost nobody would notice.

Once again, do you really think it's a great idea to commit a trademark violation while applying for a legal job?

blowhard wrote:

quiver wrote:Use paper with the school logo as a watermark. I don't know if that actually exists but I feel like it's an excellent idea. The most subtle bragging possible; so subtle almost nobody would notice.

Once again, do you really think it's a great idea to commit a trademark violation while applying for a legal job?

Well it depends. If I got the job, do you think the firm might represent me?

blowhard wrote:

quiver wrote:Use paper with the school logo as a watermark. I don't know if that actually exists but I feel like it's an excellent idea. The most subtle bragging possible; so subtle almost nobody would notice.

Once again, do you really think it's a great idea to commit a trademark violation while applying for a legal job?

I was being sarcastic. But if this really does exist (say if you bought it from your bookstore), I doubt it would be a trademark violation; just like the sweatshirt example.

quiver wrote:

blowhard wrote:

quiver wrote:Use paper with the school logo as a watermark. I don't know if that actually exists but I feel like it's an excellent idea. The most subtle bragging possible; so subtle almost nobody would notice.

Once again, do you really think it's a great idea to commit a trademark violation while applying for a legal job?

I was being sarcastic. But if this really does exist (say if you bought it from your bookstore), I doubt it would be a trademark violation; just like the sweatshirt example.

Clearly, but they are printing it on themselves. Not buying some licensed product.

If you place the school logo in your letter, employers might think that you're engaging in misrepresentation... that your school is recommending you for the position, when it is not. Probably not a wise decision when applying to law firms.

Not sure if it is a copyright violation, because you're not engaging in a commercial act by sending out the cover letter. Nevertheless, why risk it?

Besides, generally, your school name will appear in multiple places throughout the letter (your e-mail address in the letter head, "I'm a first year attending ______ law school," etc).

Might be better to wear a lapel pin with your school's logo to the interview instead.

although the school logo and picture things are dumb ideas, I just want to add that I found it beneficial not to listen to career services and their advice on stuff like resume formatting and to not use anything but plain white paper for resume/cover letter.. obviously theres no saying whether me changing this stuff up was what did the trick, but if I was an employer on symplicity and about to receive hundreds of applications from students at the same school I wouldn't want to look at hundreds of identical resumes and cover letters

basic point.. you can change other things up that make you stand out in a good way.. adding a school logo does nothing but say "just in case you didnt notice my resume says Harvard on it, here's a stamped envelope that shows I'm a special snowflake"