Occasionally, however, you may want to ask a recommender to write a letter just for a specific school, or to submit both a general letter that will go to most schools and a specific letter targeted to a particular school or group of schools.
One reason you might want to do this is that a particular recommender might have a connection to one school and be able to write a personal letter on that basis. For example, perhaps one of your undergraduate professors worked in a clinical program you’re particularly interested in, and could write a letter directed less toward your general qualification for law school and more toward how you would be an excellent fit for that particular program, based on his experience of both you and the program.
Similarly, if you have experience that is pertinent to a specific emphasis or program offered by a certain school, you might ask the employer or faculty advisor involved to write a letter based on how your experience is a fit for this focus or program offered by the law school.
This might mean adding recommenders in order to cover both the general and targeted letters, or it might mean asking one or more recommenders to write more than one letter—one general and one or more with the appropriate targeting.
When deciding whether or not to use targeted letters and which general letter to drop (if necessary) to make room for the targeted letter, make sure to think about the overall package and the combined message that your new set of letters sends to the school.
When making the determination as to whether or not to use targeted letters, remember that the same basic rules apply as you used to choose your initial recommenders—in most cases, a person’s credentials won’t outweigh other strong factors that will lead to a better, more personal, more relevant letter. And, as with the general letters of recommendation, avoid blatant political plays.
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