<p>So I'm just starting to put together my applications for September, and I need to figure out if I've got to get another letter of recommendation pretty quickly. Does anyone know if there's a master list somewhere of how many LORs each school requires?? I'm having a hard time finding them on each school's Admissions page, and even if I could it would take hours because the sites are so poorly organized.</p>
<p>quick answer- and I am sure someone more knowledgeable will confirm or give better info-</p>
<p>some schools do require 2 letters of recommendation (columbia -Duke ??) but I believe many only require 1 recommendation. To be on the safe side, you probably should have 2 LOR's lined up. I'm not aware of any school requiring more than 2 recommendations.</p>
<p>The master list is available to those who have applied or are currently applying to law school. Many schools have no requirements whatsoever but "recommend" at least two. Those with requirements generally require two. Most schools will accept up to four.</p>
<p>I asked five professors to write LORs and all were agreeable. I expected that at least one of them would not, in the end, do so. Turns out that two of them fell out of contact with me during the process, so I ended up sending "only" three letters.</p>
<p>Two to four actual letters should cover you. That may mean requesting five, which was what I did.</p>
<p>I realize this is kind of hijacking the thread but BDM, I thought you were in med school?? Or did you apply to MD/JD programs?</p>
<p>bluedevil - where would I find this list? I haven't paid to join LSAC yet...is it available on their website once I subscribe?</p>
<p>Re #5: Yeah, it shows up when you're ready to start submitting them. I know that's too late. Bottom line is that three letters will cover you everywhere; two is almost certainly okay as well. (Very few programs require three, and most of those are relatively obscure ones.)</p>
<p>Excellent, thanks for the input!</p>
<p>when should we sign up for LSDA and ask for recs, if we're applying in the fall? now? soon?</p>
<p>Now .</p>
<p>alright, guess I should get on that.</p>
<p>This might have a fairly obvious answer, but does it matter if one of your recommendations is from a non tenure track lecturer, and not a full tenured professor? Lecturers at my school tend to teach a lot more classes (and be both better at teaching and more accessible) than professors, who need to focus on research... </p>
<p>Does this discount the weight of the recommendation in any way?</p>
<p>One of my LORs was from a lecturer and it didn't seem to hurt me. Your relationship with the people recommending you is almost certain to outweigh any prestige brought by a tenure track position in terms of importance to those evaluating your application.</p>
<p>One of my friends was actually able to obtain a LOR from a U.S. Senator, do you think such a LOR would significantly shift the scales in law school admissions? She received a 3.67/174 and applied to HLS (among others) just for reference.</p>
<p>3.67 / 174 will give you at least a fighting chance to get into any LS in the country, including Harvard. The GPA is a bit low (under the 25th percentile) but certainly such a letter wouldn't hurt. Does the Senator have ties to Harvard? If so that could make a huge difference.</p>
<p>Yeah, he's an HLS alum I believe.</p>
<p>Actually, "letter from senator" is one of the examples that a lot of admissions counselors use of UNhelpful recommendations. The thinking is that the applicant is just leveraging personal connections (usually formed by a family member rather than the applicant herself) and that the senator probably doesn't know the applicant very well. If someone worked in a senator's office, it's generally better to have the chief of staff or legislative aide or someone who had more day-to-day contact with the applicant write the letter.</p>
<p>Yeah, I was going to say. Unless it's says something like, "This student worked closely with me and rarely before have I seen such a promising mind... she helped with x y, and z and is interested in a, b, c..." etc, showing that the Senator actually knows who he is talking about well, it would just appear sycophantic.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if there is a problem with having both recommendations from professors in the same department? I haven't seen any information on that.</p>