I've done a variety of things - who is best to ask for a LOR?

[meggo]

Disclaimer: I'm not saying I've done it all, I've just done some random things and I'm not quite sure who would best be to ask for a LOR.

I've got a good idea of two prof's I will ask to give 'academic recommendations'. One is from a class last year in my honors specialization that I did really well in and she knows me well since it was a class of 10 people and the other is a class i'm taking this summer and I think I'll ask my prof from that to give me a LOR since he knows who I am, I've interacted with him a decent amount, I estimate a good mark in it, and it's also a course that involves law.

My problem is narrowing down the others. Of course I could just ask all these people and put them all on file as 'targeted' but I wanted some feedback first.

1. Prof I did work study for: I did about 40 - 50 hours of work study for him, but it was all on my own, we were in our own groups and just basically emailed him our finished products. He's really accommodating, I had him as a prof in another class that is directly related to my major, and when we signed up to do work study for him he said he would be happy to write LOR for us. So while I'm pretty sure he'd do it, he doesn't know me really well, so I'm a bit hesitant.

2. Former Employer: I ended my employment with this company about 1.5 years ago, and I worked there for about 1.5 years. When I was 19 I moved to London to live and work abroad for two years, this was the majority of my employment there. It's a small international firm, I did administrative work, they've written me a reference before, they know me really well. Does it matter that I haven't been employed there for over a year?

3. Former owner of a forum I help administer: One of my main EC's, is that I'm a moderator of a well known (in the fashion community) and well respected website/blog/forum called TheFashionSpot. I've been a moderator there for 3 - 4 years, and I am now a Team Leader which means I work in conjunction with the other TL's to help organize the moderators, deal with forum issues, generate ideas, implement ideas, deal on the backend with technical vBulletin issues, etc. etc. I probably spend about 20 hours/week doing this. Our old owner wrote me a wonderful rec last year, but about 3 months ago he sold the company to an up and coming media group. Our old owner was very hand's on, our new owners aren't as much. So our old owner knows me much better and I feel could still write me a strong LOR, but he no longer owns the site. Alternatively, I could probably get one of the other Team Leaders who is now my colleague, but before when I was a moderator was more of an advisor. I can't ask the new owners since I don't know them. What's best to do in a situation like this? I think it would be good to have a LOR from there since they highlight other skills that I have.

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

[Ninja1]

I'd say get LORs from 1 and, if you need four LORs for somewhere, 2.

1 is good because it's an academic LOR and law schools always like that. It sounds like the prof should know you well enough to write a decent enough letter.

Get 2 if needed because it highlights your real world work experience. That being said, I'd only get it if I needed four LORs for somewhere. I don't think the fact you haven't worked there in over a year should matter.

I wouldn't bother with 3 because it seems like stuff you do on the internet is never really taken seriously by anyone unless you made a decent amount of money doing it. I know it's a lot of work, and you know it's a lot of work, but most people either won't know or won't care. I've done similar stuff and, just for kicks, I've put it on a few job applications that I didn't really care about. I never heard back from any of those places.

[meggo]

yeah I understand your hesitancy about #3, and I do appreciate your replying to my topics ninja  , but I'll still include my work with tfs even if I don't make substantial amounts of money from it. I know it's not the same level of creating Facebook or MySpace or anything, but it's still quite well regarded in the fashion industry, has mentions in nataional (NYT) and international press, as well as fashion industry press (WWD), so....it's not some little wee site. But I'll take what you said on board.

[TheMainEvent]

Disclaimer: I'm not saying I've done it all, I've just done some random things and I'm not quite sure who would best be to ask for a LOR.

I've got a good idea of two prof's I will ask to give 'academic recommendations'. One is from a class last year in my honors specialization that I did really well in and she knows me well since it was a class of 10 people and the other is a class i'm taking this summer and I think I'll ask my prof from that to give me a LOR since he knows who I am, I've interacted with him a decent amount, I estimate a good mark in it, and it's also a course that involves law.

My problem is narrowing down the others. Of course I could just ask all these people and put them all on file as 'targeted' but I wanted some feedback first.

1. Prof I did work study for: I did about 40 - 50 hours of work study for him, but it was all on my own, we were in our own groups and just basically emailed him our finished products. He's really accommodating, I had him as a prof in another class that is directly related to my major, and when we signed up to do work study for him he said he would be happy to write LOR for us. So while I'm pretty sure he'd do it, he doesn't know me really well, so I'm a bit hesitant.

2. Former Employer: I ended my employment with this company about 1.5 years ago, and I worked there for about 1.5 years. When I was 19 I moved to London to live and work abroad for two years, this was the majority of my employment there. It's a small international firm, I did administrative work, they've written me a reference before, they know me really well. Does it matter that I haven't been employed there for over a year?

3. Former owner of a forum I help administer: One of my main EC's, is that I'm a moderator of a well known (in the fashion community) and well respected website/blog/forum called TheFashionSpot. I've been a moderator there for 3 - 4 years, and I am now a Team Leader which means I work in conjunction with the other TL's to help organize the moderators, deal with forum issues, generate ideas, implement ideas, deal on the backend with technical vBulletin issues, etc. etc. I probably spend about 20 hours/week doing this. Our old owner wrote me a wonderful rec last year, but about 3 months ago he sold the company to an up and coming media group. Our old owner was very hand's on, our new owners aren't as much. So our old owner knows me much better and I feel could still write me a strong LOR, but he no longer owns the site. Alternatively, I could probably get one of the other Team Leaders who is now my colleague, but before when I was a moderator was more of an advisor. I can't ask the new owners since I don't know them. What's best to do in a situation like this? I think it would be good to have a LOR from there since they highlight other skills that I have.

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

Number one sounds like your best bet.

It sounds like this can have an EXCELLENT spin on it. Have you considered giving 'direction' to the professor? If you could write about discipline and independence with maybe a splash of critical/analytical thinking how would that sing with the rest of your application and the academic ties? If this professor has had you for a class in your major, is your major something you'll be expanding upon in law school (i.e. if you're a nursing major, do you want to pursue health law)?

[meggo]

Thanks for the feedback The Main Event, I'm sure this prof is more than open to some direction since he's quite a cool laid back guy and genuinely wants to help his students out. The independence thing definately feeds into the rest of my application since when I was 19 I moved abroad to live and work for two years (obviously by myself) and with no family where I moved to. The class was American government which is something that has played a part in my life and my choice of major so it definately fits in with everything else.

[TheMainEvent]

Thanks for the feedback The Main Event, I'm sure this prof is more than open to some direction since he's quite a cool laid back guy and genuinely wants to help his students out. The independence thing definately feeds into the rest of my application since when I was 19 I moved abroad to live and work for two years (obviously by myself) and with no family where I moved to. The class was American government which is something that has played a part in my life and my choice of major so it definately fits in with everything else.

The entire process, if your numbers check out (and it seems like they do), is about telling a story. Hell, the practice of law is one big story. Being able to tell your story as strongly as you can and with as much emphasis from those supporting you can be incredibly compelling. If you have ever done Mock Trial, or even seen a few court cases, there are 'themes' that both sides play on. My recommendation, whatever it is worth, is to find your theme and really play it up. Good luck.