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I keep hearing that the LORs do not matter. I work for people who are very conservative with praise. They think words like good, competent, articulate, clear, etc., are high praise. I do not have much choice as far as my work LOR is concerned, so I wonder what impact such 'praise' would have? I would appreciate your input. Thanks.

Honestly you don't even need work LORs. Just get 2 from your old professors and thats all you need. Schools prefer academic letters more so than work letters.

goldoldman wrote:I keep hearing that the LORs do not matter. I work for people who are very conservative with praise. They think words like good, competent, articulate, clear, etc., are high praise. I do not have much choice as far as my work LOR is concerned, so I wonder what impact such 'praise' would have? I would appreciate your input. Thanks.

LOR matter in two circumstances.
1. it says something bad about you. in this circumstance you will perfrom below your numbers in an application cycle.
2. they are absolutely glowing. In this instance you might slightly outperform you numbers.

all other instances you will perform how your numbers dictate.

You are fine. LORs won't matter in admission decisions. You shouldn't be worrying about this.

I would try to get letters from professors before asking your supervisors/bosses but if you have to, it wont make a difference whether they describe you as "good" or "the best person ive ever met in my life" as long as they dont say you're terrible

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fredfred wrote:Honestly you don't even need work LORs. Just get 2 from your old professors and thats all you need. Schools prefer academic letters more so than work letters.

Depends on how long he's been out of school. If he's been working for five years, it's going to look very weird if he doesn't have a professional recommendation. I think a few schools even explicitly say that applicants with substantial work experience should submit a professional recommendation.