First, hello all. First time poster here and I hate to jump in with tons of questions without first saying hello!
I'm in an unusual situation with my LORs and would like some feedback. I have submitted everything since I had to meet a deadline, but if the decision doesn't go my way (still waiting...sigh) some suggestions wouldn't hurt if I decide to reapply or apply elsewhere.
Here's my situation.... I've been out of undergraduate school for many, many years (going on 25 years!). I've decided to seek my master's in hospitality management, which was not my undergraduate study program. I hold a B.S. of Ed. in Elementary Education, but found myself working this past 20 plus years in hotels, resorts, golf & country clubs, and theme parks in a variety of roles (both hourly and salaried - both entry level and management). I really enjoy my chosen career, but feel I'd greatly benefit from the education, as this industry tends to treat even higher level employees as seasonal, no matter how long they've worked in the field. Upper level management positions are typically filled with degree-holding outside applicants rather than those working their way up from within.
On the topic of LORs ... I'm in a quandry. None of my undergraduate professors or advisors are locatable. I've contacted the University, and the only one I know is now head of his department and has declined to write LORs for anyone who is not currently enrolled or recently graduated (can't say I blame him as he wouldn't necessarily remember me academically anyway). The hospitality industry is also extremely transcient, and past managers and supervisors are long gone and out of contact as well. Current management are discouraged from writing LORs for job placement by the company's HR department, and every one of them that I asked admitted they'd love to do one for me but are afraid of reprecussions from the company for breaking the rule (It's intended to keep them from writing job letters, not school letters, but it's very poorly written in our policy manual and they're all afraid of it. One of my past managers is actually a guest speaker at the school and he went so far as to speak to HR to see about their interpretation of the rule and was told not to do it.).
As a result, my three choices are rather weak. One, a past manager at a Golf Club where I worked as Executive Assistant and Front Desk Manager was perfect. The other two were a stretch. I participated in an unpaid leadership program for a year, and one of the staff members was able to write a pretty good LOR for me, but for the other I went with a teacher from prior to my undergraduate days. She has been a friend and academic advisor for a long time, and wrote a very nice letter about how dedicated I was and am to learning, etc. but I'm afraid the letter lacks punch since it's neither job related nor continued education related. She had great things to say (she let me see a preview of the letter) but she falls more into a friend category than either job or college related.
Do you think this will hurt my chances of acceptance? I have 20+ years of experience in my chosen field, a 3.4 GPA from unrelated undergrad study (but as a teacher, the undergrad was very liberal arts related), and scored really high in the verbal and written parts of the GRE (not so great on the math, but above the school's posted average for the program). Any advice on someone else I could have asked?
Thanks for the feedback!
