Letters of reccomendation.....How much do they help?

[trudawg]

LSAC states:.............
Law schools consider many factors in the admission process other than UGPA and LSAT score, including letters of recommendation, work experience, personal statements, extracurricular and civic activities, diversity of classes, and many others.


How much of a role do the other factors play in getting in? Granted I'm not done with my BA yet (have two semesters to go), I sometimes worry about maintaing my 3.5, and LSATS worry me.
However I have State senators, current attorney's, city councilman that would all be willing to give me reccomendations. I volunteer alot, am active in politics , am a theurapuetic foster parent, proud dad, and have worked for the past 10 years in the IT field.
I know I'm probably worrying for nothing (pertaining to GPA and LSAT), but I'm still interested to know how important those other factors may be?

[CTL]

LORs should come from professors (for the most part).  An additional LOR from someone with whom you have worked closely in a meaningful endeavor (one of your extracurricular/civic activies) may be solicited as well.

['blueskies]

Also I've heard generally they done mean very much. Most say nice plesant things about the person and thus generally aren't very helpful. I think a rec would have to be amazingly positive and detailed as well as related to why specifically one would excel in law school to help.

[just dot]

Maybe it depends on the school?

They probably don't matter much.  From what I have heard, a lukewarm LOR would hurt more than a glowing LOR would help. 

LORs should come from professors (for the most part).  An additional LOR from someone with whom you have worked closely in a meaningful endeavor (one of your extracurricular/civic activies) may be solicited as well.

I agree with this.  You shouldn't send more than 1 LOR from a non-professor. 

[getfit]

How do you get LOR from professors if you're a non traditional applicant who has been out of college for 10+ years?  People don't generally keep in touch with their professors after graduation, so it seems like that doesn't make much sense to have that be a requirment.
Are you sure of this, or is this just an opinion? 
I'm asking because if I apply, this is one area that I am totally unsure of.  I have no idea of where to get LOR's, certainly not from my job, or at least not my boss.

[CTL]

How do you get LOR from professors if you're a non traditional applicant who has been out of college for 10+ years?  People don't generally keep in touch with their professors after graduation, so it seems like that doesn't make much sense to have that be a requirment.
Are you sure of this, or is this just an opinion? 
I'm asking because if I apply, this is one area that I am totally unsure of.  I have no idea of where to get LOR's, certainly not from my job, or at least not my boss.

1) I don't know how nontrads get LORs.  Contact professors and let them know where you're coming from.
2) This is NOT an opinion.  It is the way it is. 

[1s2io72]

don't waste your time getting an LOR from a prof that doesn't remember your name just to have a prof write an LOR

second, lsat/gpa are way more important than anything else. 

[jollyrog]

FWIW, my UG degree was in 1990, but I just finished a Masters, so that's where my prof pool is.

If I didn't have that to draw on, I'd look to managers or direct supervisors from your job who can attest to my analytical and problem-solving skills, etc. I think that's your best bet. If you actually work with lawyers, they might not be a bad choice if they can honestly address your qualifications to succeed in law school.

I agree w/the statement about GPA/LSAT being far more important. Do everything you can to rock that exam.

Hope that helps, good luck!

[mbw]

I didn't keep in touch with my UG or grad profs, and was still able to obtain two really good LORs (one from each.)  If you had a good relationship with a prof, even 20 years down the line, they probably remember (it was 22 years in my case.)  It doesn't hurt to ask.