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I'm a no-offered SA that wasn't originally super interested in clerking, but now it seems like if I can manage to land one it would be a good way to hit the reset button. This leads me to throwing together a clerkship application as fast as possible.

I remember, at least in undergrad, my profs all asked when I needed it by, so I assume they will ask me that now.

So, is there any time frame that is reasonable to ask of a prof to provide one by? Or how long do they usually take? Basically, I want them ASAP, but don't want to put them off or something that would make them weaken their recommendation. I won't have strong recommendations unfortunately, since I didn't really care to get to know profs or anything. Basically just showed up, got good ish grades, peaced out.


Or anyone mind just saying how long it took for profs to write your letters?

The time it takes a prof to write a LOR varies tremendously. I had one send me one the day after I asked, a couple other took weeks. It took one of my friends almost an entire academic year to get a scholar to write him a LOR. There's no harm in starting now.

Thanks

Refer to the deadlines for specific judges.

I'd go to the professors in person and frame the requestion something like this (part 3 especially):
1. Explain that another opportunity fell through so the professor understands that the last-minute request arises from something other than pure laziness or poor planning.

2. Acknowledge that the professor may have a lot going on and that you understand if a highly expedited turnaround is not possible.

3. Highlight the opportunities that the professor would be making available to you by accommodating a quick turnaround. ("I would really like to apply to judges X, Y, and Z because the judges appeal to me for [these reasons], but I just now decided to apply to clerkships and these judges have applications on [specify exact dates]. If it is not possible to turn a letter around that quickly, the next batch of deadlines after that falls on [specify date] and other deadlines are approaching after that. Is there is any chance of turning around a letter in time for the earlier of those deadlines?")


I decided to apply to clerkships about two weeks before an application deadline for one judge who I was particularly interested in, and all my recommenders turned around their letters far enough ahead of the deadline that I never got to the point of freaking out about whether the letters would come through.

Anonymous User wrote:Refer to the deadlines for specific judges.

I'd go to the professors in person and frame the requestion something like this (part 3 especially):
1. Explain that another opportunity fell through so the professor understands that the last-minute request arises from something other than pure laziness or poor planning.

2. Acknowledge that the professor may have a lot going on and that you understand if a highly expedited turnaround is not possible.

3. Highlight the opportunities that the professor would be making available to you by accommodating a quick turnaround. ("I would really like to apply to judges X, Y, and Z because the judges appeal to me for [these reasons], but I just now decided to apply to clerkships and these judges have applications on [specify exact dates]. If it is not possible to turn a letter around that quickly, the next batch of deadlines after that falls on [specify date] and other deadlines are approaching after that. Is there is any chance of turning around a letter in time for the earlier of those deadlines?")


I decided to apply to clerkships about two weeks before an application deadline for one judge who I was particularly interested in, and all my recommenders turned around their letters far enough ahead of the deadline that I never got to the point of freaking out about whether the letters would come through.

This is great thanks