Stanford C/O 2020 Applicants (2016-2017 Cycle) Forum

[SilverSurfer2020]

Checking in! Dream school for me because of my California obsession.

[20170322]

Checking in.

[ayylmao]

How are you guys approaching the SLS-specific recommendation?

[ChodeAnalBead]

How are you guys approaching the SLS-specific recommendation?

I asked professors that had already written me generics recs if they wouldn't mind writing me an SLS specific one. They were more than willing. I also mentioned that the letter had to be excellent, and was only interested in their writing one if it was so. They were happy to confirm.

But realize that some professors will not mind writing a generic rec, because they are confident in you at that level, but they might not be willing to recommend you at the level of SLS, if that makes sense.

[pipipipi]

Checking in!

[smartmoon]

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[warmcherrysoda]

Has anyone received the status checker email?

Yes. Submitted 9/1, received status checker email 9/7.

[smartmoon]

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[smartmoon]

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[ChodeAnalBead]

Should I be worried if I don't have SLS-specific LORs? How important is it to get school specific recommendation letters?

I'm sure you've already seen this, but this is the mention from the SLS application website:


"Please be aware of the high value Stanford places on school-specific letters of recommendation. If you choose to provide us with a targeted letter, please be sure to assign the appropriate targeted letter to Stanford Law School."

https://law.stanford.edu/apply/how-to-a ... n-process/

[proteinshake]

How are you guys approaching the SLS-specific recommendation?

I'm asking a professor who encouraged me to pursue academia and was a big intellectual influence on me.

[smartmoon]

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[pretzeltime]

I don't think anyone can really say how much it will hurt your app. Maybe it's the difference between a waitlist or admit for two candidates with equal numbers? Who knows.

Given that the vast majority of applicants will not be able to get a letter of rec that is truly geared to SLS (as versus just a hat tip to SLS), I think this is mostly a hoop to jump through to show that you're really interested in SLS, and might attend over other peer options.

It seems like a lot of people get their recommenders to just tack the word 'Stanford' onto their generic letter of rec a few times.

It's a little frustrating, because this places the burden (or at least, minor inconvenience) of the hoop onto the recommender, rather than the applicant.

I"m not going to bother my academic LOR writers with this, but I am getting a third letter and I will ask that person to do a Stanford-specific version.

[ChodeAnalBead]

Should I be worried if I don't have SLS-specific LORs? How important is it to get school specific recommendation letters?

I'm sure you've already seen this, but this is the mention from the SLS application website:


"Please be aware of the high value Stanford places on school-specific letters of recommendation. If you choose to provide us with a targeted letter, please be sure to assign the appropriate targeted letter to Stanford Law School."

https://law.stanford.edu/apply/how-to-a ... n-process/

That is my question... I don't think I will be able to get SLS-specific LORs... How much would it hurt my app?

I'm purely speculating, so hopefully someone can hop in here and override the following, but I imagine it's a situation in which having generic recs does not hurt you but having specific recs definitely helps you. If you have generic recs you can still tailor the app to SLS with the PS and DS.

But imagine a situation in which there are two applicants with rather similar files, one of whom has specific recs and the other without... it seems that the one with specific recs would be much more attractive to admit... but of course this hypothetical is flawed because who is to say that both applicants won't be admitted?

[LikelyThrowaway]

Does anyone know what Stanford is looking for with the targeted LoR? I want to know what advice to give my recommender. Also, do multiple targeted LoRs help more than just one?

And why does Stanford even do this? It's a pretty big hoop for its applicants to jump through.

[ChodeAnalBead]

Does anyone know what Stanford is looking for with the targeted LoR? I want to know what advice to give my recommender. Also, do multiple targeted LoRs help more than just one?

And why does Stanford even do this? It's a pretty big hoop for its applicants to jump through.

I'm sure some of the reason why Stanford does it is that indicates to them that a student is willing to do things that they might not have clear direction on and might be uncomfortable doing...

BTW if you want your recommender to really help you out, you could mention the themes in the rest of your application. also tell them why you want to go to stanford. e.g. you have a passion for innovation, and SLS is innovative apparently, and then you can remind your professor of all those times you were innovative... idk how tf you would do this, but theres an idea here at least

[call-me-bubbles]

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[shoparoundthecorner]

I had decided against SLS-specific recommendations, but this thread is making me nervous. I'm confident that my recs will be strong, but I decided not to ask for SLS-specific ones since I didn't know how any of my recommenders would be able to offer more than vague platitudes/generalizations about Stanford. I figured that when Stanford said SLS-specific ones could add value to an application they meant more substantive recs (from profs with Stanford ties, for instance).

[R. Jeeves]

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[ChodeAnalBead]

I had decided against SLS-specific recommendations, but this thread is making me nervous. I'm confident that my recs will be strong, but I decided not to ask for SLS-specific ones since I didn't know how any of my recommenders would be able to offer more than vague platitudes/generalizations about Stanford. I figured that when Stanford said SLS-specific ones could add value to an application they meant more substantive recs (from profs with Stanford ties, for instance).

Now i'm nervous for my likely platitudinal submission

maybe our doubts will cancel each other and the universe will even out and we'll both get admitted with full rides

[shoparoundthecorner]

I had decided against SLS-specific recommendations, but this thread is making me nervous. I'm confident that my recs will be strong, but I decided not to ask for SLS-specific ones since I didn't know how any of my recommenders would be able to offer more than vague platitudes/generalizations about Stanford. I figured that when Stanford said SLS-specific ones could add value to an application they meant more substantive recs (from profs with Stanford ties, for instance).

Now i'm nervous for my likely platitudinal submission

maybe our doubts will cancel each other and the universe will even out and we'll both get admitted with full rides

Sounds good to me!

(I didn't mean to imply that that kind of rec would ever hurt, just that I didn't think it would be enough benefit for me to ask my recommenders to write SLS-specific letters!)

My guess is that these details will be minor factors in our applications, but these boards always make me second guess myself.

[ArtistOfManliness]

I had decided against SLS-specific recommendations, but this thread is making me nervous. I'm confident that my recs will be strong, but I decided not to ask for SLS-specific ones since I didn't know how any of my recommenders would be able to offer more than vague platitudes/generalizations about Stanford. I figured that when Stanford said SLS-specific ones could add value to an application they meant more substantive recs (from profs with Stanford ties, for instance).

Class of 2016: Sample size of about ten. No one I know did SLS-specific recommendations, so I wouldn't fret.

[acz26]

Do you guys know for KJDs whether Stanford requires our final grades if we are still being evaluated after our Fall semester? Do they factor in considerably?

[ChodeAnalBead]

Do you guys know for KJDs whether Stanford requires our final grades if we are still being evaluated after our Fall semester? Do they factor in considerably?

Stanford will definitely admit a student without knowing their final, spring semester transcripts, if that student is in their final year of undergrad.

The student has to have completed undergrad by Aug before the start of the fall semester at SLS.

It is common practice though to send your transcripts to LSAC as soon as they are available though (i.e. in the Spring), even after admission.

But to answer your second question, I don't know whether or not it will be factored in considerably.

[acz26]

Do you guys know for KJDs whether Stanford requires our final grades if we are still being evaluated after our Fall semester? Do they factor in considerably?

Stanford will definitely admit a student without knowing their final, spring semester transcripts, if that student is in their final year of undergrad.

The student has to have completed undergrad by Aug before the start of the fall semester at SLS.

It is common practice though to send your transcripts to LSAC as soon as they are available though (i.e. in the Spring), even after admission.

But to answer your second question, I don't know whether or not it will be factored in considerably.

Ah I phrased my question poorly...I meant will they look at our Fall senior year grades if we've already completed our application as a Senior in the middle of fall semester.