LOR from exployer?

[dman12]

Hi, I am planning getting two recs from professors that I am doing research under. However, for my third rec I think I am going to

ask my boss at an internship I did last summer. Would getting a rec from an employer be looking down upon?

[TheDude]

I was thinking of planning for grad school for a couple years now. So what's the point? I asked this same kind of thing in the past.

I was basically told that unless your job was related to the kind of research you'd be doing and your particular field than this was pointless: When I say related I don't mean distant either. Academia is a closed feudal system and I guess that is just how it is. But look...if you don't have a third person add it. I should mention some programs allow letters from employers above the 3 minimum.

[aginath]

My application packet included two academic letters and one non. I had been out of school for almost 10 years. The non-academic letter was from the associate director of the state agency I worked at when I applied. I had worked directly with him for three years prior to applying. In all honesty, he was the highest-ranking official who could honestly speak to my abilities and most recent accomplishments. I never received any negative feedback about including it and here I am, two years later, having completed almost half of my doctoral classwork.

[Grad Hopeful]

I had two recommendations from two professors I worked under in the lab (one a tenure track, the other an adjunct (both PhD's)) and one from an employer and I got accepted and am attending UM this fall. Of course the employer I got the letter from worked at a university (not as a professor, although she did teach classes from time to time, and only had a master's degree) and I worked at the job for over two years. This job was not related to my field either (it was an office job, I applied for biomedical/biological orientated programs) and I never received a negative word about it. Looking back only one of the three letters were what most consider appropriate letter writers (tenure track professor), so I think it is most important to get a letter from someone that knows you well enough to vouch for you.

I don't think a letter necessarily precludes you from admission, however it is best to have a letter from someone who has enough experience with graduate programs and with your level of work to say with confidence that you would be successful in a graduate program.

[dman12]

Well I am applying to EECS grad programs, and my internship was at a CS company. I would probably get a rec from the CEO or the VP of Engineering (small 20 person company). So it seems like LOR from employers is so-so?

[matcha]

Depends.

How long have you been out? If you have been out for a while, letters from people who recently have seen your work is valuable.

What kind of work did you do? Is it related to your field?

Does the grad school value work experience, or is indifferent?

How well does your boss know you?

[dman12]

I am a rising senior applying to grad school in the fall. I did my internship last summer. I did mostly web programming for my internship (so like CS related),

but I am planning to study some sort of EE/CS field such as embedded systems or architecture.

Also, I am only applying to MS programs (and probably wont be doing research-based work), will this affect whether a LOR from an employer is useful?