Employer LOR vs. Academic LOR Forum

[sarahjane10]

Sorry if this is a repeated topic somewhere else. I searched but couldn't find anything relevant to my issue. Here's the thing. I have two LORs from two of my professors from undergraduate but during and after college I worked for a very prestigous public defender service for about six months. I am applying to schools right now and some have specific public interest scholarships where you can optionally submit a letter of recommendation from someone who knows of your public service experience. I was planning on using a letter from my old boss at the PDS for this but I was wondering if it would be more beneficial for me to replace one of my academic references with a general recommendation from my boss. The schools with scholarships review general applications as well so they would see it and this would ensure that all the other schools I apply to would see this letter as well. I'm asking this question though because I've heard that academic letters outweigh work ones so I am trying to figure out if I should just use my two academic ones or replace one of those with a work one. Sorry so long and thanks for any advice.

[Gail]

If 2 years out, employers are fine. If less, use an employer if you like, but definitely get professors also.

[Magnolia]

I would apply with the 2 academic LoR and save the employer LoR to send if you get waitlisted.

[KRog]

Or just send all three to the schools that accept three.