Grad Student Mentor or Manager for final Rec Letter?

Engineering

I’ve got two rec letters from very accomplished faculty from my school whose labs I worked in. For school’s that have a limit at 3 recommendations, I’m stuck between two options:

My graduate mentor(now an Assistant Prof. at a top school in my field) who I worked with as an undergrad for 2-3ish years and can speak to the work I did in school.

My former manager from a year-long internship. He also did a PhD at top school for my field, and is in FAANG.

I’m leaning toward my grad mentor because we spent more time together, but my time with my former manager is more recent and provides some contrast from the other two rec letters.

Thanks for your insight and best of luck to all applying!

Posted Dec 1, 2025, 6:55 PM UTC

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