Applications
Letter of Recommendation
Also called LOR, reference letter, recommendation letter
What is a letter of recommendation?
A letter of recommendation is a signed assessment of an applicant written by someone who has taught, supervised or managed them. Most graduate applications ask for two or three, and committees expect each to come from a different vantage point: a thesis supervisor speaks to research capacity, a course instructor to performance against a cohort, a manager to how you work when the task is not graded.
Reviewed
Who needs a letter of recommendation?
Nearly every master's and PhD applicant. Some taught programmes accept two; US PhD programmes usually want three.
How do I get a letter of recommendation?
- Ask at least six weeks before the deadline, in person or on a call rather than by email
- Give the referee your CV, transcript, the programme page and the deadline in one message
- If they ask you to draft it, write it from evidence they can verify and let them edit and sign
- Confirm they will submit through the portal, which usually emails them a link directly
Common mistakes
- Three letters that praise the same three qualities in the same order
- Letters claiming knowledge the referee could not plausibly have
- Submitting a letter the named referee has never read