A student asked what is the best way to approach a professor for a letter of recommendation. He asked whether he should simply send an e-mail or meet the professor in person.
If at all possible, it is best to approach a recommender in person to request that he/she write a letter of recommendation for you. Since law schools ask for academic recommendations to garner how you might fare in law school, there are certain items you should give to the recommender to help him/her write a truly great letter of recommendation. You want to give him/her a copy of the work that you submitted in his/her class to jog his/her memory as to your reading, research, reasoning and writing skills. It is helpful to also give him/her a list of the schools you are applying to and a brief explanation as to why you want to go to law school. If you have a copy of your personal statement or an outline, that would also be of great benefit to him/her. You also want to give him/her a copy of your resume and your transcript. Lastly, you want to give him/her a stamped and addressed envelope for mailing the letters to the Law School Data Assembly Service. With all these items at his/her fingertips, you are ensuring that you have done everything in your power to submit a truly memorable letter of recommendation.
This blog post is authored by jdMission co-founder, Sunitha Ramaiah. After graduating Princeton University, Sunitha attended Columbia University Law School. She practiced corporate law for eight years, before she met Jeremy Shinewald, the Founder of mbaMission, the world leader in MBA admissions consulting. Together they started jdMission to provide the same stellar service to JD candidates.
Do you have a question about applying to law school? Submit your inquiries to [email protected], and we might choose your question to answer in an upcoming blog post here at Law School Podcaster.
You can also sign up for a free one-on-one consultation with jdMission by submitting the form found at http://jdmission.com/consult.php.
And be sure to check back here every other Tuesday for tons of great law school admissions tips and application advice. We look forward to hearing from you and wish you luck on your road to law school!