How to Get the Perfect Postgraduate Reference for Your Masters Application
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Posted on 7 Apr '21

How to Get the Perfect Postgraduate Reference for Your Masters Application

Postgraduate references are one of the most common elements of a Masters application, giving you the chance to provide the admissions office with a (hopefully glowing!) statement from an academic (or employer) that knows you well.

But it’s not always clear what the etiquette is around asking someone to be a referee. If you’re anything like me, you might be anxious about getting in touch with a tutor, particularly if you haven’t spoken to them in a while. This blog is meant to give you some reassurance that, as long as you do it in the right way, you don’t have anything to be worried about when it comes to sorting out your postgrad references.

Who to choose for your reference

When choosing your referee, you should aim for someone with extensive experience of your academic ability. This will usually be someone who works at the university you attended for your Bachelors degree.

It might be tempting to go for the senior professor whose lectures you attended a few times, but unless they actually taught you at some point it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to provide the detail needed for a reference. Of course, if you know a senior academic who also happens to have been your seminar tutor, then great!

Finding a referee who is an expert in the subject you’ll be studying at Masters level is excellent, but you shouldn’t worry too much if that isn’t an option for you (perhaps because you’re applying for a postgraduate conversion course in a new discipline).

The main factor is that they should know you well – and be able to communicate to the admissions office that you’ve got what it takes to succeed at a Masters.

Although most references will come from university academics, there are circumstances in which it may be more appropriate for a referee to be a current or former employer. If your career experience is highly relevant to the Masters you’re applying for, then it’s definitely worth including a professional reference.

How to approach a postgraduate referee

The first thing to bear in mind when contacting a referee is that writing a reference takes time (and academics are notoriously busy people). It’s a very bad idea to leave getting in touch with your preferred referee until the last minute. Ideally, you should approach them at least a month before you submit your application.

You should send them a politely-worded email asking for permission to include their contact details in your Masters application. In order to help them write a compelling, relevant reference, explain what kind of course you’re applying to, why you’re interested in it and how you intend to use your qualification once you’ve finished.

When I began my Masters application, I was in a slightly awkward position in that I’d been working for a few years after graduating, which meant I had to get back in touch with a professor I hadn’t spoken to in a fairly long time. This is the kind of situation that usually makes me quite anxious – I was worried that he might not remember me well enough, or that I would seem rude for emailing him out of the blue.

Of course, it turned out that I was wrong to feel any nerves – we ended up having a nice catch up and chat about my plans, and he wrote me an excellent reference. The moral of the story is that writing references is very much part of an academic’s job and they will be more than happy to help you out, even if it’s been a while since you spoke to them.

What happens next?

Once you’ve contacted your referee and they’ve agreed to be a part of your application, you can provide the admissions department with their contact details. This should be the referee’s academic email address and office phone number.

In some cases, your referee may also send the reference they’ve written to you (my own referees did pass on their references on to me). However, this is entirely down to their discretion – it’s not always the case and you shouldn’t assume or expect that you’ll see your reference (as interested as you might be in it!).

For a little more detail, check out our guide to postgraduate references.




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Last updated: 07 April 2021