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I just got my last grade for the Fall semester: an A+ in Corporations.
This one is actually a huge deal for a couple of reasons. First, it's from the same professor I got my one other A+ in. Next semester, I begin applying for judicial clerkships, and I have to have two reccomendations from professors. Guess who one of them is going to be? This is a big deal, because the trick with reccomendations is to stand out in some way. Getting the only two A+s he's given out in the last two years should do it.
Second, it raises my GPA enough to give me an extremely long, but no longer flat-out impossible, shot at some amazing opportunities. I'll hear about the Law Review editor tryouts tomorrow, and if I get the EIC position, my odds will move improve to it being a very long shot.
Ask him for the letter of rec now! Even if you don't want him to write it yet, you want to be fresh in his memory.
Of course you already know this, but give him a copy of your CV, too. I'd broach the subject of the rec in person, adding that you'll follow up with an email. Then attach the CV to the email and let him know if you want him to write the rec now. Otherwise, just note that "as we discussed yesterday, I would be honored to have a letter of rec ... blah, blah" and then "and so I will write to you again when the letter is due."
Then you can just <reply> to his response when the time comes, and it will jog his memory. Reattach the CV, of course. Meanwhile, though, if job opportunities or networking possibilities come up, he will have your info.
Preaching to the choir, I know. But it's good to keep track of these things, as even the most diligent professor will sometimes lose track. I loved it when my students would do it this way.
And again, Yay for Dag! I am so totally not surprised.
posted
See folks, you too can post constantly on Hatrack while doing extremely well at a prestigious law school! Just call in and ask for Dagonee's Hatrack Law Program today!
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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quote:Ask him for the letter of rec now! Even if you don't want him to write it yet, you want to be fresh in his memory.
The rules specify I can't approach professors with requests for reccomendations until the end of August. Since pretty much all 360+ students will want one, they want to limit the chaos. But I may find a reason to stop by and remind him who I am before then.
quote:See folks, you too can post constantly on Hatrack while doing extremely well at a prestigious law school! Just call in and ask for Dagonee's Hatrack Law Program today!
It's mainly "post while the teacher is trying to extract a legal point from a student who clearly didn't do the reading and just won't admit it, plus use it as a brief study breaks when reading or writing to keep the mind from getting overworked in one direction."
quote:The rules specify I can't approach professors with requests for reccomendations until the end of August. Since pretty much all 360+ students will want one, they want to limit the chaos. But I may find a reason to stop by and remind him who I am before then.
Dang, that's rather well-organized. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.
Well, he'll remember you.
quote:It's mainly "post while the teacher is trying to extract a legal point from a student who clearly didn't do the reading and just won't admit it, plus use it as a brief study breaks when reading or writing to keep the mind from getting overworked in one direction."
CT, please leave the allusions to AP out of Dag's serious school thread. What would his professor say?
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
Is there any way you can stop by and say "Hey -- I'll be back to see you in August for a recommendation" so that if he wants to jot some mental notes to himself to prepare for that, he can?
posted
Speaking of reading assignments - you'll appreciate this, Dags:
I was finishing my BA when Nathan was 5. One of my study tricks was to read him my text books for bedtime stories since time was so limited.
Nathan attended class with me the next day (we were having special visiting "fancydancers" in Ethics and Diversity) but he had to sit through Business Law Overview with me first.
The prof asked a question related to the text, and as I had answered the last few, I kept my mouth shut. Nathan, on the other hand, was bouncing in his seat and waving his hand up and down. To his disgust, the prof would not call on him - but he actually had remembered enough of the text to get the gist of the question. (Don't even ask me what it was - I don't remember - I just remember trying not to spew coffee at the looks on the other students faces when he said, "Mommy, even I know the answer to that one.")
Edit to add: Congratulations by the way! Keep up the good work . . . will it take another 10,000 posts?
quote:I just remember trying not to spew coffee at the looks on the other students faces when he said, "Mommy, even I know the answer to that one."
Priceless. That's just amazing.
FG, I won't mention the recomendation just to avoid technical violations of the policy (this is law school, after all), although I'm sure he'll realize the likelihood of my asking him when I stop by.
I hope you meant the Hatrack part, and not the skipping reading part.
Seriously, I think just doing the reading is 90% of my success. Apparantly people don't do it much after first year. If I could give only one piece of advice, it would be keep up with your reading.
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My mom read me text books as bedtime stories too. It's not my fault I had been "The Life and Times of Mozart" before I was four, and still remember parts of it. Though much of the time it was young adult lit, which messed me up in junior high, saying i'd read the books by the time I was seven.
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*cheers wildly* I'm so impressed!! Not surprised at all, but very, very impressed. Congrats, Dag. I'm so proud. Posts: 1163 | Registered: Jan 2005
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I just found out I didn't make the managing board for Law Review. Reading between the lines from some comments I got from the current EIC, I think I was dismissed from consdiration by about half the current board because I didn't check the "I'm willing to take any position, even ones I didn't apply for" box. The person they picked for EIC is someone I might have voted for over me, but there's pretty much no convincing case to be made for the person selected for Managing Editor over me.
After a brief stab of disappointment - after all, I'd put myself out there to be judged and been rejected - I realized I was relieved. I get to have Spring Break, and at the end of May all my commitments to them except writing my Note are gone. And the Note is something I get 2 credits for, so it's not really "extra" work.
I guess I didn't care about this too much. Sure, if I'd been picked, I'd have done a great job. I'd have worked my ass off for the review, and it would have been better than when I started. But I don't think I actually care about the law review as an organization. It will certainly survive without me, and there's inklings that they might use my stategic planning idea anyway.
So while this is "bad" news, I just can't help feeling good about it.
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I am so totally not surprised.
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