Grrrr… So okay, I’m trying to get into law school. I graduated from a certain university in August and I have been applying like mad to law schools. The law school associated with the certain university has requested that I furnish them with an academic letter of recommendation even though two congressmen from the state that law school is in wrote letters already. So I ask my former advisor to put together a recommendation for me. He comes back with “he’s not comfortable with putting his name on a recommendation because my grades weren’t high enough”. Well fuck you. Yes, fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you. I attended all your boring fucking classes. I got an A in your shitty class. I bought the fucking books you wrote that were “required” reading for your crappy class and then kept them when they couldn’t be sold back at the end of the semester. I graduated with a B average, got a 171 on my fucking LSATS. This is on top of the fact that I graduated in only 3 years while holding down a part time job. You dirty mother fucker. What the fuck else was I supposed to do? You asshole, I hope someday you need a favor from someone and they shit on you the same way you shit on me.
:wally
I wouldn’t write a letter of recommendation for anyone who had a B average.
I wouldn’t write a letter of recommendation for anyone who had a B average. You may be in the 99th (or maybe 98th) percentile for the LSAT, but you’re only in what, the 60th? 70th percentile for your classes?
1000 apologies.
well, so far, there appears to be TWO assholes in this thread (hint: they ain’t me or the original poster)
solution: ask a* human being *to write you a recommendation.
On the plus side, at least he didn’t write you an anti-recommendation. :eek:
A professor I know told me that when he applied to graduate school, one of his recommenders slammed him in a letter after agreeing to write it. The secretary in the department to which he was applying read it when she opened the envelope to put it in his file–being a human being, she called him and told him to send in another letter from somebody else instead.
Good luck with the law school applications!
Jezus, I thought a B average was pretty fucking good. I guess I’m just a dumb piece of shit.
Wow. That’s really evil. Why write an anti-reccomendation? I mean, if you’re a mean person, but still…going out of the way to write something cruel, and send it off and everything, when you could just as easily say no? Or are people just that cruel?
Anyways, I would think a B average is pretty good, but then what do I know? Sorry, tramp.
I actually have no idea what law schools think of a B average.* Given what you said about finishing in 3 years while working part-time, it sounds pretty good to me. Your LSATs are excellent, and I would think that the letters of recommendation from your congressement are a Good Thing. How do they know you?
I’ve never considered applying to law school, so I don’t know to what degree the process is driven by numbers, and to what degree by the whole package–statement of purpose, work experience, etc.
(On the other hand, maybe your was directed at KarmaComa, who seems to have been having, um, issues.)
- Wait a sec–I have a friend at George Washington who had a B or B+ average in college. She worked for 4 years after college, teaching high school and as a litigation assistant, so that may have helped. Like I said, dunno, but sounds good to me.
I know the Congressmen because I have worked here in Washington D.C. on Capitol Hill since my graduation. The academic letter of recommendation is a “formality” according to the admissions department according to this university’s admissions department. But it is still a necessary formality and this asshole’s refusal to write me one is really, really pissing me off.
:mad:
I could’ve sworn I saw a posting with the expression “1000 apologies” in it.
Is there another former professor you can ask, then? (Preferably somebody who knows you as a person and isn’t a complete dickwad.)
Well being out of the area, I am having trouble contacting some of them and the only one I could get in touch was that dickwad.
Just because someone working in the admissions office said the letter is a “formality” doesn’t mean that’s always going to be the case. If the admissions committee has questions about your ability to perform as a student (and with your “B” average, they might), that letter of recommendation might carry significantly more weight than it would for students with a higher GPA. I definitely would not dismiss it as just a formality.
In a way, your advisor was probably doing you a favor by telling you that he’d rather not write a letter for you. If he honestly didn’t think that you were one of his top students, then how strong of a letter could you have received from him anyway? There’s a huge difference between a moderately positive letter of recommendation and one that’s gushing with enthusiasm about your academic talents and potential. A weak, wish-washy letter of recommendation (even if it doesn’t “slam” you) isn’t much of a recommendation at all.
So, even though you’re out of the area and it’s a royal pain in the ass, I’d do whatever it takes to contact some other professor who better recognizes and appreciates your academic abilities. I’d ask a professor whose classes you didn’t think were boring, and whose books you’ve hung onto not simply because you couldn’t sell them at the end of the semester.
Something like this happened to a friend of mine and it’s really stupid. The school you’re applying to already knows your GPA. The point of the letter of recommendation is to tell them something your transcripts don’t tell them. You could try explaining this to him, though I doubt it’ll work.
1001 back at ya, karma!
i swear i only saw your first post before typing my little blurb. afterwords, it became apparant your sarcasm was as thick as the mush between my ears!
looks like im the second asshole now! i’ll try not to let that happen in the future!
“what? me preview? as if!”–new sig
Actually the apologies were for duplicating my posting accidentally. But I will explain myself:
First of all, I neglected the fact that the sticky dude was your advisor. If you had a decent relationship with him, he should write you at least a good letter (anyone who writes a letter that isn’t at least ‘good’ is a total tosser). However, with a B average you may not be really qualified. This depends entirely on the school to which you’re applying, particularly since they disregard LSAT scores to varying degrees (though 171 is a pretty good score). I wish I could find that site where you could enter your GPA and LSAT and get a matrix of acceptance probability… couldn’t find it on lsac.org.
Anyway, my point is that a B average (with no regard to your personal situation) would not be enough to make me gush. Particularly if you sat through his ‘boring’ lectures for his ‘shitty’ class. He probably thinks you’re a total asshole, just like you think he’s a total asshole.
Now everyone can go back to thinking that I’m a total asshole. 
I know something about law schools. Not even the tops ones are going to throw out the application of someone with a B average without looking at the whole application. In fact, I know a student at a top-five law school who had a B average. You class rank matters more anyway. It sounds like you have plenty going for you and shouldn’t have any problems getting into a good school. But my advice: don’t go to law school. It’s not fun. Take more time off.
Certain people in this thread are completely full of poop. While a B average may not get you into Harvard, two Congressmen writing rec letters should.
FWIW, I had a 3.25 average in political science from UCLA and somewhere above 80th percentile on the LSAT (it’s been so long I don’t remember). I got into the University of San Francisco, which is a very respectible school, I think third tier as US News and World Distort ranks it. When I litigate, I do fine against top grads from Harvard, Stanford et al. I also had what I felt was an extreme privilege of having a highly respected professor write a letter of recommendation that I have never seen (nor care to).
Here’s the law. A letter of recommendation that slams you is potentially libelous. Anyone with half a brain that writes a letter of recommendation will write a good one. I have never heard of a case where someone is sued by the school or employer for writing too nice a letter. Anyone that agrees to write a letter of recommendation that slams someone is bizarrely wicked and deeply in need of counseling.
As for your particular professor/former advisor, refusing when you got an A in his class and a B average, which despite what certain people (and I use the term loosely) on this board think, a B average is perfectly respectable (its more than enough to be President, Vice President or Supreme Court Justice) in any walk of life. I roomed with a fellow in college with (UCLA remember) with a 3.97 and 99.9 th percentile on the LSAT, went to Harvard at the top of his class, etc, etc. He’s very, very quick, but give everyone else a breath, and they get there too. And he’s no deeper a thinker than anyone else. He’s quick, tests well and is a great guy. He’s a fine lawyer. But I know lots of lawyers who got Cs who are as good as anyone else. (And some in a fight might be a bit better.)
There are academics who insist on As and publishing and crap like that, but don’t let anyone tell you that they are smarter or more capable than you are: they aren’t, they test better, that’s all.
Let me rant on…
I know lots of people who had B averages in various colleges who went to law schools of various reputations.
I knew a lot of people who in law school got fine grades (mostly As and such) and were on law review. Invariably they had deep problems passing the California bar exam. Some of these folks make good lawyers, some don’t, if you catch my understatment.
As for the posts that discourage you from going to law school, my unsolicted advice is that law school is only good for one thing: learning the law if you want to be a lawyer.
If and when you get into law school, do the reading, and think about it. Buy the prepared outlines so you see how it fits together. Get good reading glasses, you will read several yards of case books. Know how to type. Type your exams.