Co-signed LOR

[weanprednisone]

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I have worked for student government on campus since Freshmen yr. I've worked a lot throughout my undergrad career, and think they can write a LOR that represents me well. And now that the department has grown, my boss now hired a new supervisor to take some projects off of his plate. So the chain of command changed to My original boss (M.ed.)>new boss (M.ed.)>me+coworkers. The new boss has been hired for 6 months, and I work very well with him. I think both have good but different things to talk about. I have created some manuals and training for future student workers and other things under the new boss. I helped the original boss to form a committee in hiring & training the new boss, other things, and seen more than the new boss obvi.
How do co-signing LORs work? Does one person write it and the other one sign off? (usually the higher position one signs off)
I don't want to pass my new boss and go straight to my original boss. (rude?)
I would want them to write about work ethics, problem-solving, customer service, teamwork, leadership...
How do adcoms see non-academic related LORs? Is this a good idea?
Let's say if a particular med school limits 3 LORs, would the following LORs be sufficient?
1. professor that I took classes with + TA for now
2. This work
3. clinical volunteering
I always think letter content>writer degree, is M.ed. ok?

Thanks in advance!

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

Since the writer in question is your (new) boss, I don't think you necessarily need your old boss to cosign. The cosigner arrangement, at least as far as I understand, is usually reserved for situations where the person you want to write a letter may not be considered fully qualified (i.e., they're a graduate student instead of a professor) or isn't above you in the chain of command at your job. With that said, you might choose to get your old boss involved if he/she has known you longer. I don't think it's rude to go straight to your old boss and ask them for a letter but that's up to you.

It's absolutely fine to have non-academic LORs. If it's a strong letter, it'll likely be viewed positively. (Keep in mind, though, that you'll probably need at least 2 letters from science professors in addition whichever other letters you choose.)