Letter writers outside the specific area of interest

[epicfail1]

Hello everyone,

Last year I applied and got placed in a mid-to-low-range PhD program, but eventually turned it down because I thought I could place higher. Professor A had unofficially supervised the project I used as a sample, but I had not asked them for a letter because they told me that they thought the three senior-level professors I asked for letters would write good ones. This year, I asked Prof A for a letter; they first agreed, and a month later, they informed me that they would not write me a "strong enough" letter, although they said it would still be a "good" one. Their reasons included 1) my turning down the mid-to-low range program without consulting them (they are a fan of that program) and 2) submitting a revised and resubmitted draft of the project I used as a sample (to a journal that asked for a revised draft based on the first submission) without having them read the final revised version first. My reasons for submitting the R&R without having them read it first were that they always give hugely inconsistent feedback and that I had to meet the deadline and could not make it on time for them to read it first. Therefore, I cannot ask Prof A to write a letter. 

The three senior-level professors have agreed to update their letters. They all encouraged me to apply again and agreed to incorporate whatever I felt needed mentioning to make the application stronger. But none of the areas of interest of these three professors directly parallel my proposed first two areas of research. For instance, I will say that I am interested in 1) metaphysics, 2) epistemology, and 3) social and political philosophy. My writing sample, which will be a shorter version of the article that is currently being reviewed by the referees for a second time, is at the intersections of metaphysics and epistemology. My letter writers mainly work in areas other than these two fields.

I was wondering if this would be problematic for my application. None of the letter writers can vouch for the skills I should have demonstrated while writing the paper under unofficial supervision. If I say that I am interested in metaphysics and epistemology, and if the letter writers can only merely mention the project on which my sample is based, and cannot talk about the project as a supervisor would talk about it, what does this show to the admissions committee? Would it raise red flags if none of the letter writers talked about the sample in detail?

Many thanks for the time you devoted to reading this. Cheers!

[Dreams]

Why did you apply to a university you had no intention on attending upon being accepted?  That's why it's important to research universities for fit before wasting your, your references', and the university's time and money on these things.  Have you reached out to potential faculty mentors at prospective universities?  

You will want whoever is going to write the strongest references possible, and they should each touch on skills and requirements sought by the program you are looking to attend.  If there is an area in your background you feel won't be adequately covered, be sure your SOP and CV highlight it.

[StringOfSymbols]

At several schools you can add a 4th letter writer, so if you think that this difficult professor's letter won't make you worse off you can always pop them on for those schools only.
Congrats on an R&R! That should speak really well for your sample.
 

Like Dreams said, you should probably reconsider the schools you're applying to if you don't think you'll accept an offer from them if you had no other. But I don't think you should spend a lot of time researching them if you're applying to 10+ - it's a good way to piss away a lot of time, better to look more seriously at them when you do have an offer. It's not much work for a prof to upload their letter to one more school, but it does cost you a fair chunk of change.

[maxhgns]

It's fine. Don't worry about it.

Don't ask this other guy for a letter. He sounds vindictive, controlling, and petty, and I would worry about any letter he wrote, including one he characterized as 'strong'.