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I graduated Dec'12 and have been working as a personal assistant to somebody very high profile since January. I've read on here a number of times that schools don't want LORs that just serve to add to their "autograph collections" and that academic LORs are really the best way to go. I also know that the second I ask my boss for a LOR she's going to be pretty upset that I want to move on (though I'm confident she'd still write a very strong letter). Given that, I had planned on applying with my 3 academic LORs.

However, somebody mentioned to me the other day that it could be damaging to NOT have a letter from her - in their words, it would make admissions officers think that she doesn't like the job I'm doing here. Because, again in their words, if I have somebody of her stature who could write me a strong and non-generic LOR, why wouldn't I ask her to do it?

Do you think it's damaging for me not to have a letter from my boss in this situation?

FYI: GPA 4.0 LSAT 170. Dream school is Stanford.

You haven't been out of school long enough to justify a professional letter of rec from any of the schools that actually care about letters of rec.

Quality over quantity here. Do you even need 3 academic LORs?

Thanks to you both!

Midwest17- yes, that was my initial thought as well. And knowing that my personal statement/resume speak to my experiences I thought that would suffice. Just wanted to be sure that wasn't an erroneous assumption.

Thewaves- I am planning on using 2 to most schools. The third is from someone who taught me in an unconventional course (where we basically did field work) so more just keeping that in my pocket in case I get waitlisted. But considering sending it to Stanford as well...

I think the two now, one if you get wait listed strategy is best.

By the way, I might go in the other direction if you're applying to Northwestern, since they specifically ask for a professional letter. But I don't think it would need to be that specific supervisor, if you've had any other positions with people who could write for you.

honeycomb wrote:Do you think it's damaging for me not to have a letter from my boss in this situation?

Definitely not damaging.

ImNoScar wrote:I think the two now, one if you get wait listed strategy is best.

Agreed.

Good luck, OP.

Thank you all!