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RoboKaren
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In the USA, you normally only need to send 3 letters of recommendation:

  1. One of them should be your dissertation supervisor (if diss < 5 years old)
  2. One should be a current supervisor (such as your new postdoc advisor)
  3. One should be from a committee member or someone else who knows your work well

As long as you have three, I think you're fine in not including a letter from the postdoc advisor that you're having problems with.

tl;dr: Letters of recommendation are used to indicate that some (at least three) faculty think highly of you, not necessarily that all do.

RoboKaren
  • 40.6k
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  • 108
  • 180