Professional LOR, Non-Traditional (15+ years @ career) Forum

[Wrong Marx]

I've been out of school for more than 15 years, and I am going to be asking my former manager (whom I've known for 15 years, and who was my manager at three different companies during that time) to write a recommendation letter for me. I know that academic LORs are preferred, and I already have one LOR from my undergrad thesis advisor, which was written recently. But since I've been out of school for so long, I figure a recommendation from someone who is familiar with my character and abilities would be helpful to my application; plus, I am unable to connect with other professors from the university I attended (the ones most familiar with my work, other than my thesis advisor, are either retired or passed away, from what I can tell.)

Anyway, I'd like to provide my former boss with some guidelines as to how the letter should be written and what should be in it. Any advice you can offer will certainly be appreciated.

Also, are 1 academic and 1 professional reference likely to be sufficient for my applications to T14 and Regional schools? Would it be advisable to get a second professional reference?

Thanks.

[Ramius]

1 academic and 1 professional LOR should be fine.

As for content, it really depends how you want to highlight yourself. What strengths are you trying to portray in your app? Leadership? Intelligence? Work ethic? Creativity? Whatever it is you're hoping to show ADCOMs, point them in that direction. The question is, what are your strengths?

[cron1834]

2 professional and 1 academic should be fine. It's one more academic than I had, and I got into the T14s for which I had the numbers.