Hi SaveTheClockTower,
I hope the following is of help.
In general, your recommenders should be individuals who know you well from a work setting. Your primary recommender should be your supervisor. Almost all schools will want to hear from this individual with whom you interact frequently and who is responsible for managing you directly and can speak to your development, strengths, and weaknesses.
Beyond the supervisor, you can select one to two additional recommenders, again from a work setting or potentially from another setting in which you have demonstrated leadership. If you are not sure whether a recommender is appropriate, think about the types of questions they will have to answer. These questions are often frequently linked to your leadership skills, your performance on teams, communication skills, ethics, and more. I often have clients who want to use a professor for a recommendation. A professor is usually not in a position to comment on these thingstraits. If the recommender you are considering cannot say much more than “you are highly intelligent” or “you are a hard worker,” then he or she is probably not the right choice. However, you may decide to ask someone who has supervised you to some extent in an extracurricular setting. For example, if you have served on a board or done volunteer work for this individual’s organization, he or she might be a perfect choice of someone who can comment on important skills from a different perspective, in a different setting.
Hope this was of help.
Cheers,
Conrad and the
Stacy Blackman Team