Letters of Recommendation

[Lina]

Hello, I am applying for Fall 2014 and would appreciate your insight on selecting my recommenders. To give you some background, I graduated from a masters program in May 2012 and have been working since.

I decided to ask my professor who taught my graduate school advocacy course and she also served as my supervisor on a two year project. I figured she could speak to my abilities as a student and a researcher.

For my second letter, I am uncertain if it would be preferred to have a recommendation from an undergrad professor. I would prefer to ask a distinguished faculty member, who guest lectured for two of my grad school classes throughout the semester, and has known me for a couple years before that when I worked for his organization.

I have also asked someone who is like a mentor for me in this process and works for a law firm, and offered to write me a letter. I feel that this would be great as a third, additional letter, because it is not an academic letter nor work-related.

Thanks for your help

[Jason Schultz]

Hi Lina,

All three sound like excellent choices, with one caveat. How long ago were you an undergrad under this professor? You've been working since 2012 and presumably pursuing your Master's for a few years before that. If he last closely worked with you five or more years ago, then I think a more current reference might serve you better. But that's just my opinion.