When you’re in class with a potential letter writer, what are you doing to be one of the best students they have ever had?
I spoke to an admissions official for a Top 3 law school and I asked what they wanted to see in a letter. I wanted to know how I could write a good letter for a student I was excited to recommend. She said “Put a number on it. Is this person a top 1% student? Top 5%?” and so on. She said this was the most helpful thing a letter writer could include.
As a professor, I might encounter 200 students per semester. Some professors have that many students in a single class. In just a few years of teaching, many professors have encountered thousands of students. So you have to work extra hard to stand out.
So when you’re thinking about building relationships with professors and trying to boost your admissions chances, ask your self: what am I doing to be one of the best students this professor has ever had?
The basics
Most law schools ask for 3 letters of recommendation from professors, supervisors, or others who know you in an academic or professional context.
Many students don’t think much about letters of recommendation until the end of their time in college, and therefore end up neglecting the work they need to put in to get good letters. Letters of recommendation also pose several challenges and opportunities that are unique among the components of the application:
- A good letter of recommendation is unlikely to boost you into a much better school, but a single bad letter of recommendation can really hurt you
- Many students don’t know what makes a good letter of recommendation, or how to get one. (A letter that says “this student got an A in my class” is a bad letter of recommendation).
- Unlike the LSAT which is administered on a single day that students know to prepare for, getting good letters of recommendation is a process that takes place every day of a student’s college career. For some students, they might be damaging their law school chances without even realizing it!
- Building relationships with letter writers takes time and effort, and students may not know that they things they’re doing are helping or hurting their standing in the eyes of letter writers.
- Finally, the relationships that students build (or damage) with potential letter writers can also go a long way towards helping them secure internships, jobs, and other opportunities that can have a huge impact on life trajectory.
This section and the associated pages are designed to help students understand how to build relationships to get solid letters of recommendation and to improve their networks overall. Some of these suggestions have very little to do with the letters themselves, but have everything to do with making a good impression on people who can really help or hurt your career!
Next Steps
Check out our pages on:
Things to Do To Earn A Great Letter of Recommendation
What NOT to Do – Things That Damage Your Relationship With Professors – Coming soon!
Our FAQ Page on the Application has questions about when to ask for letters, among other things.