I am generally happy to provide references for students I have taught, supervised, or tutored. However, before listing me as a reference, there are a few things you should consider…
Before requesting an academic reference
Always try to get reference letters from faculty who know you well and can readily attest to the quality of your work and professionalism from firsthand experience. For most students, these will typically be class instructors, thesis/dissertation supervisors, and faculty mentors (personal tutors are the UCL equivalent). It is important to think about the impression (or lack thereof) that you have likely made on your potential referee.
For example, while a high distinction (or high A) mark in a class may send a good signal to that particular instructor, it may not be sufficient to distinguish yourself from the rest of your classmates on its own, especially if the class is very large. Frequent seminar participation may help (although face masks and UCL’s shift to electronic attendance make it very difficult for instructors to learn names in this environment), but regular and meaningful office-hour discussions will probably be more beneficial.(1)
A thesis/dissertation supervisor will be more familiar with you and your interests, but this also puts you and your work habits under the spotlight. Make sure you are prepared for your supervision meetings. Aim high with the finished project to ensure it fully reflects the quality of work that you can produce. Along these lines, missing appointments, not responding to emails, and showing up unprepared are not likely to reflect well on you.(2) If you have done any of these things, your supervisor is unlikely to be able to laud your organizational skills in their reference.
A faculty mentor/personal tutor may be uniquely positioned to provide a reference as they may have more insight into your ability to confront and overcome the challenges that arise as you pursue your degree. The extent to which they can do this will depend on how much you engage with them. For example, personal tutors in my department are assigned to about 20 students, with time allocated for regular appointments. The vast majority of students do not even respond to email invitations, so while UCL personal tutors have a ‘duty of care’ to provide a reference letter to their tutees, but in these cases where nothing is known about the tutee, this reference is likely to say little more than, ‘this student is or has been enrolled at UCL’.
The effectiveness of references for employment or non-research degrees tends to depend more on the content of the reference than the identity of the referee. If you are applying for a PhD, your referees’ identities will also matter. Their reputations and professional networks may open doors, but you also want to make sure that at least one or two of them are known for contributions that align with your own research interests (both substantively and methodologically), as this can
When applying for a PhD, you should consider the reputation and the professional networks of your potential referee(s), in addition to the extent to which these overlap with your own research interests. This is worth discussing with your current mentor(s) and/or supervisor(s).
What do references typically contain?
The reference forms for academic applications (as well as the employment applications that require an academic reference) typically request a frank appraisal of your skills and abilities relative to your peers. The requested appraisal itself is broken down into different categories, which often include: intellectual potential, critical thinking and analytical talents, organizational and time management skills, teamwork and leadership capabilities, language fluency, and motivation and (program/position) suitability.
The last two points are very difficult to address if you are completing a taught masters and are seeking to apply to another, particularly in the UK context, where MSc programs tend to be advertised in an over-specialized manner as a result of marketing aims.
When requesting a reference from me
I will need at least two or three weeks of time before your submission deadline; longer lead times are generally beneficial to you.
Be sure to send me the following:
- Your current CV/resumé.
- A list of the classes you are taking and your UCL student number. Or, if you have already graduated, your unofficial UCL transcript.
- If marks have been returned, any written work you’ve submitted for my class(es). If I supervised your dissertation, you do not need to send a copy of that, as that will be easy to track down.
- A statement of your aims behind applying for the job(s)/program(s) of study. The more information you provide here, the more I can say about how your strengths will fit to the specific position and your longer-term goals.
- If the reference is to be physically mailed, you will need to provide a stamped and addressed envelope. If the reference is to be submitted online, I will need the link or submission email address. If you are applying to US academic programs, it is typically a good idea to waive your right to view references at a future date in your application form.(3)
If you do not contact me prior to listing me as a reference, or do not follow the guidelines above, I may not be able to provide a particularly helpful reference letter (or any at all). It is becoming increasingly common for application portals to explicitly include a button to ‘decline to provide a reference’, which is a very welcome development.
Finally, if I do provide you with a reference for one round of applications, this does not necessarily mean I will provide references for future rounds of applications. Information and its availability change over time (as do people).
(1) On this last point, I refer to actual substantive discussions, not things like, ‘What is on the midterm?’. Essentially, you want to be able to demonstrate your intellectual curiosity, interest in the class material or its implications, etc.
(2) Obviously, extenuating circumstances may come into play here; if this is the case for you, let your supervisor know. From a supervisor/referee’s perspective, being aware that there may be some legitimate need for adjustments is important, and in the case of a reference, may provide a useful narrative frame.
(3) Your selection is visible to all parties involved and consequently disallowing blinded references may weaken the referee’s signal: a referee may divulge less information and is less likely to provide a frank performance assessment, while the admission committee may also place a less weight on the reference’s contents.