LOR: purely professional or 'extracurricular'?

[awvish]

I'm currently serving in the Peace Corps, and am also applying for grad school programs in Behavioral Ecology (totally unrelated to what my Peace Corps job is). I could easily get a really great recommendation from my Country Director, but I know I can also get good letters from:

--A friend (a professor) who is also my undergraduate advisor from a fairly prestigious university

--A different friend (also a professor) in whose lab I did minor research assistant work for a few semesters, from the same university

--Two professors I worked for in an REU one summer, from two other universities

I'm not sure where to pull from--since the REU professors are actually related to my field, I will probably ask them, but as for the third letter, is it better to go with another professor who has known me for longer, or pull the Peace Corps card?

Thanks for your input!

[Eigen]

I would say that since your Peace Corps job is totally unrelated to your chosen field, you should stick with other references.

That said, I've never seen a school that wouldn't let you submit extra LoRs. So perhaps submit the three from professors, and then get one from your country director as an extra.

It can't hurt, imo, and that way you don't cut out one of the LoRs related to your field.