What, Like It’s Hard? // An introverts guide to law school recs that impress

I have never been one to raise my hand in class. I get a terrible stutter, I feel like I sound like an idiot and I rarely, if ever, want the attention of 15 to 30 people on me. I am just a girl and a fairly introverted one at that.

I much prefer small groups and partner discussions. I enjoy sitting in the back of the classroom observing. I like to raise my hand only when I have a question, or if I have something I want to add to the conversation, not when I feel an obligatory pressure weighing down on me to secure an “A” grade. Because of this, there are very few professors I would consider myself to be close with and even fewer I would ever feel comfortable asking letters of recommendation from.
If you are anything like me and have been considering law school or some other kind of graduate program, gathering letters of recommendation has probably been a source of stress for way longer than it should be. I think I started worrying about letters of recommendation my first semester of freshman year — no joke.

You want them to be personal, but that requires a lot of effort on your end. You want them to come from strong names and good positions, but everyone is going after those people. How can you possibly stand out? 

I have about two pieces of advice on this matter, and I will fully admit I didn’t even follow them 99% of the time. But you live and you learn, and eventually law school applications will get sent out even if you feel like you are nowhere near ready. If I can do it, so can you.

The best piece of advice I will give anyone that doesn’t even have to do with securing the actual letter from a recommender is to get this done as early as you can. Once you start taking the LSAT and have officially decided that law school is right for you, purchase the Credential Assembly Service from the LSAC website. It’s expensive, ridiculously so, but you have to have it and it is good for five years. CAS helps manage not just your transcripts, but for the point of this conversation, your letters of recommendation. If you purchase CAS around the time you are taking the LSAT, if not way earlier, this allows you to collect and secure as many recommendations as you can well before you actually start submitting applications. 

I secured three of my four recommendations between March and May of this year, months before I even started preparing my essays and materials and still slumming away at the LSAT exam. I know multiple people who still cannot send out their applications because their recommenders are taking their sweet time sending stuff in. Better to get it done way in advance so you can send applications out on your own timeline rather than on someone else’s.

But for actually securing a letter, the best thing I can tell someone to do is pick a professor and decide, right then and there, that they will be writing a letter for you. Try as hard as you can to get a good grade in their class, push yourself to raise your hand at least once a class or once a week and make it a goal to go to their office hours a few times a semester. Even if it is just to drop in and ask a question you already know the answer to or to chat about their research, going to office hours is honestly the best way to secure a relationship and obtain one of those coveted letters of recommendation. Plus, all the people I have done this to have become some of my best professors and the classes they teach are my favorites. They have good advice, career and interest wise, and you never know if your interactions help your grade a point or two. 

If you are anything like me — you tend to shy away in a classroom setting — getting letters of recommendation feels a lot easier when you just pick one person to put effort into, rather than trying to juggle multiple professors at once. You get the added bonus of having a letter that is personalized for you and your interests, an impressive feat for law school application season. Honestly, these professors will become more than just recommendation letters for you, but actual mentors in the process, which is even more valuable.

It is really important to remember that as a KJD applicant, or someone who is just recently out of undergrad, academic letters of recommendation are more important than professional. It is vital to have at least two professors or professor-akin people in your CAS when it is time to send out applications. And honestly, if you know that law school is right for you but you want to take a gap year or two, go ahead and get the CAS so you can get those professorial letters earlier and don’t have to scramble when your application season rolls around. 

Personally, I have four letters of recommendation. Two from professors, one from a previous boss and another from a fellowship director who saw me both in the classroom and in a professional environment. I send a combination of three letters but sometimes all four. Most schools want two, but will accept up to three or four, so it is totally up to you who you want to prioritize. 

Getting letters of recommendation should be the least of your worries, but can sometimes cause the most stress. I totally get the feeling and was in the same boat only just last semester. If I, a self-proclaimed back-of-the-classroom sitter and occasional office hours crasher, can navigate the recommendation letter maze, you can too. Remember, a little bit of strategy and a lot of persistence can turn even the most timid hand-raiser into a law school contender.