I am currently an undergraduate student and I am applying to graduate school.
I have been working for my aunt for 4 years and I was wondering if she could write my letter of recommendation?
How does letter of recommendations work, as I keep seeing online that family and friends should not be allowed to. But in the case they are your boss, can they write one for you? What if she does not address she is my aunt?
What area are you applying for? In most cases for graduate school (unless we’re talking business/professional programs), they’re looking for academic letters of recommendation rather than professional letters.
Generally academic letters are more useful (especially if they involve research experience with that professor), but having a professional letter in there isn’t terrible depending on what they actually say and their circumstances. I’ve seen professional references in my STEM field written by technical fellows at various companies, for example, and I value those about as much as academic references.
An applicant’s aunt, however, would be very… concerning. I would have no reason to believe they could offer an objective assessment of that applicant.
Don’t get a recommendation letter from your aunt. Recommendations should not come from family members. I’ve seen recommendation letters from applicants before that did NOT come from relatives but still indicated a level of familiarity that made me doubt the professor’s objectivity - and by that, I mean that I wasn’t sure whether the professor was highly recommending the student because they were actually a great student. I could only imagine how much worse this would be coming from a relative.
Don’t be dishonest and omit the fact that she is your aunt. The truth has a tendency to come out, and that could derail your application unnecessarily.
If you are well-prepared for graduate school there are likely several people who could recommend you who are also not related to you. Choose one of them instead.