LoR for Government Affairs - from a Academic. or a Supervisor?

[chauncybellows]

Hello all,

So I have a dilemma. For a lot of the grad application instructions I see, most recommend one academic reference, one professional reference, and the last either/or. The catch is that this is the "recommended" route, not the "required" route. Now I could go back and did up an academic rec, but it's been five years since I graduated and I doubt they will be able to say something informative/interesting about me. I am debating whether or not just to forgo the one academic route, and go with really good letters from professional colleagues (two of whom happen to have PhD's.)

What you you guys think?

[greendiplomat]

Hello all,

So I have a dilemma. For a lot of the grad application instructions I see, most recommend one academic reference, one professional reference, and the last either/or. The catch is that this is the "recommended" route, not the "required" route. Now I could go back and did up an academic rec, but it's been five years since I graduated and I doubt they will be able to say something informative/interesting about me. I am debating whether or not just to forgo the one academic route, and go with really good letters from professional colleagues (two of whom happen to have PhD's.)

What you you guys think?

I think the question here is who would shed light on something that's not already covered in the rest of the application. In general, I don't think 5 years is enough time out of undergrad to warrant not having a single academic reference (since you could easily provide the professor with a CV and a representative piece of coursework to nudge him/her in the right direction), but, again, you know your own profile better than anyone else. I think the only case where you wouldn't provide an academic reference is if the rest of your application leaves no question that you can handle the coursework through grades in relevant classes, etc. (or maybe some your work involves something relatively "academic", e.g. research, that this third recommendation could touch upon), and, again, if this third referee you have in mind can say something that's not already said in the other two professional references.

Edited November 23, 2011 by greendiplomat

[CalSeeker]

I did go back to a couple of professors after five years to get grad school recommendations. One of them did want to meet with me to catch up and mentioned that it had been a long time, but in the end she wrote me a good letter. I had saved one she wrote in the past, so she just had to update it. My impression is that the schools do place a lot of value on a letter from the academic side, though I do not have much to back that up.

[chauncybellows]

Thanks, good advice