Once you are ready to work on your law school applications, the first step is to register for the Law School Admission Council’s Credential Assembly Service. Doing so will significantly streamline your application process — plus American Bar Association-approved schools require this.
Through CAS, the LSAC combines all of your important documents — including your transcripts, LSAT scores and letters of recommendation — to create a law school report to go with your law school applications.
[Get more tips on applying to law school.]
Letters of recommendation play a critical role in admission to law school, so it’s important that you understand how to manage these through your LSAC account. Here are three steps to follow to successfully manage your recommendation letters.
1. Adding recommendations and school-specific letters: Once a recommender has agreed to draft a letter on your behalf, your first step is to add his or her name and contact information to your LSAC account. You will also need to identify how many letters each recommender will submit and assign the letters to each law school you are applying to.
For example, if your recommender is an alumn a of Georgetown University Law School, you might ask her to draft two letters, one you designate for “All Law Schools” and one for “Georgetown Law.” Note that admissions committees will see your letters’ descriptions, so avoid descriptions like “Safety” or “Backup.”
Once you have assigned the letters, click “Submit Request,” which will trigger LSAC to email your recommender instructions for uploading the letters.
For recommenders who prefer to submit paper letters of recommendation, you will need to print out and provide the individual with the required LSAC recommendation form, which must accompany the mailed letter. LSAC will not process mailed recommendations without this form, which could cause delays with the submission process.
2. Recommender instructions: In terms of content, ask recommenders to include concrete examples of your skills and achievements. A single paragraph of general praise is not going to be helpful to admissions committees in assessing your candidacy.
I recently advised an applicant to send her professors follow-up guidance once they agreed to draft her letters. I advised her to highlight three skills or qualities she demonstrated in the course and then back up each with evidence, such as paper topics, books read, points she made during course discussion or office hours conversations.
I advised her to write the examples as if she were explaining to an outsider what she hopes her recommender will include in the draft. Her specificity will provide a model of the level of detail she wants in the letter.
Remember, admissions committees are outsiders to your life. They need context to understand your accomplishments.
[Learn about the anatomy of a law school recommendation letter.]
The purpose of the follow-up letter is to provide helpful reminders and information to your recommenders so that your recommendation is as strong as possible. Do not inundate recommenders with guidance. Aim for a reasonable one- to one-and-a-half-page correspondence.
In addition to achievement reminders, inform your recommenders about the submission process so they know what to expect.
For those submitting online, tell them to watch for an email from LSAC with further instructions on the upload process. For those mailing the letter, be sure to provide the follow-up guidance and recommendation form and include a self-addressed stamped envelope as a courtesy.
Be sure to offer a target submission deadline for every recommender, including at least three weeks to draft.
Although electronically submitted recommendations are added to your LSAC account immediately, LSAC can take up to two weeks to process mailed letters of recommendation. As such, don’t make your recommenders’ target submission deadline the same day that applications are due. And when possible, build in extra time to account for any delays they may encounter.
In situations where you are ready to apply and do not want to wait for a forthcoming recommendation letter, submit your application for review. LSAC will send an updated law school report to programs receiving that letter.
[Discover law school recommendation letters that matter.]
3. Four letters on file: I advise applicants to secure four strong recommendation letters. Most law schools will accept two or three letters.
As noted above, when you input your recommenders’ information into your LSAC account, you will need to designate where your letters will go. If a school does not have a limit on the number of letters you can submit, send all four.
Even if all the programs to which you are applying have recommendation limits, the fourth letter is a good backup in case one of your other recommendations falls through. You can also save this letter in case you are wait-listed to provide additional support of your qualifications.
If you have school-specific versions of your letters, you may end up with more than four letters in your LSAC account. There is no formal limit to the number of recommendations you can have on file, and if you encounter technical difficulty, contact LSAC technical support to override any recommendation cap you may encounter.
If you cannot secure four strong recommendation letters, then submit only two or three. It is much better to have two strong recommendations than weak recommendation that will dilute enthusiastic praise.
Having questions about submitting recommendations? You can reach me at lawadmissionslowdown@usnews.com.
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3 Tips for Managing Law School Recommendations originally appeared on usnews.com
