Academic references

[applicant88]

Hi everyone,

 

I am seeking more information about academic references and what is appropriate. I am a distance education student at Athabasca University and completing my undergraduate degree. In my opinion, I don't feel like I can have strong references from here as I never really interact with my professors outside of a few emails and my profs are most often different. I know that they can speak to my grades and academic performance, however they don't know me personally. Is this just the norm in undergraduate studies?

 

I did complete a 2 year college level diploma and had a mentor all throughout that program. Would law schools consider that an academic reference and would that be more favorable as the mentor can provide a thorough reflection about me as a student and provide more of a rounded reference?

 

Any other suggestions would help. Thanks!

[nitzy]

I don't have an alternative suggestion per se, but I did my undergrad at AU as well. I explained to the prof of one of my courses, whom I had not interacted with in person, only via email, that I was planning to apply to law school and asked if she would be willing to be an academic reference. She requested a copy of my personal statement to get a better idea of my past experience and interests. Despite the barrier of not being able to interact in person, the reference letter she provided was great - at least as good as I would have expected to get from a brick & mortar university, if not better. Bottom line, I would encourage you to check in with your prof(s) anyway and see if they would be willing. 

[applicant88]

43 minutes ago, nitzy said:

I don't have an alternative suggestion per se, but I did my undergrad at AU as well. I explained to the prof of one of my courses, whom I had not interacted with in person, only via email, that I was planning to apply to law school and asked if she would be willing to be an academic reference. She requested a copy of my personal statement to get a better idea of my past experience and interests. Despite the barrier of not being able to interact in person, the reference letter she provided was great - at least as good as I would have expected to get from a brick & mortar university, if not better. Bottom line, I would encourage you to check in with your prof(s) anyway and see if they would be willing. 

That is so helpful. Thank you for that!

I have had 2 profs from there say they would be a reference for me in the future but at the time I didn't specify it would be law school I was applying to. Excellent, thanks again.

[cjs]

I wasn't sure who to select as my references so I called the schools I was applying to and asked their opinion.  I actually received quite different advice from each school (that wasn't posted online) and made decisions accordingly.  For example, one school suggested prioritizing a reference who is a lawyer over someone who I worked with in an unrelated field and another school recommended the opposite.  They also told me what they were not looking for.  Also, one school said I could submit more reference letters than what was set out as the requirements (so I submitted an additional one) whereas another school said they would not consider more reference letters than what was set out in the application instructions. 

I would suggest calling and speaking to an advisor or someone in admissions to see if you can get some more information about what they are looking for.  You could even run your options by them and see what advice they can offer.

Good luck!

Edited April 12, 2022 by cjs