Hi bd,
We do not have a list of schools that "strongly recommend" evaluations, but LSAC has a list that notes which schools require, recommend, accept, or do not need/accept LORs and/or Evaluations. You can see that list here:
http://www.lsac.org/jd/apply/services-r ... -by-ls.asp. I would suggest that you check the website and application requirements for each school in order to determine which schools require or strongly recommend evaluations. Schools are very clear in what they need from students, so you'll be able to quickly determine what the require, recommend, or suggest students submit.
Regarding your second post ("
How optional is "optional" and to what extent is it important to include an eval if it is designated as "encouraged"?"): "Optional," unless it is in the case of supplemental essays, can be considered to be just that, optional. (When it comes to optional supplemental essays, however, I typically tell students to consider them mandatory unless the topic doesn't apply to them in any way.) If you are already submitting LORs, you do not also need to also submit evaluations, particularly if they are from the same people. If a school says that they are "highly encouraged," however, I would definitely submit evals. Schools choose their words carefully--if they didn't care about evals, they wouldn't highly encourage them.
Word to the wise: Evaluations are only as effective and useful as the way in which they are completed. If you have someone complete an eval (you can see the content of one here:
http://www.lsac.org/jd/apply/evaluations.asp) make sure they, in addition to checking off the required boxes, also enter lengthy, supporting, anecdotal evidence in the comments field immediately following each category. Otherwise, the evaluation is fairly useless, consisting merely of check boxes with percentile assignments. Just like with LORs, if the person completing the evaluation isn’t thorough or doesn’t really provide any information other than the numerical ratings for each category, then it would likely be detrimental or simply useless.
At the end of the day, both evals and LORs cover (or should cover) the same things. And they should be treated the same way--establishing how the candidate ranks in comparison to others, and then providing lengthy, detailed, personal, anecdotal evidence to back up their statements.
Hope that helps. Best of luck!
