Requesting a Reference Letter

Do you want a reference letter from a Vancouver School of Economics professor or faculty member?  Wondering what you need to consider before asking?  This article will explain the process of requesting a reference letter, and the most important steps you need to take before requesting one.

What is a reference letter?

A reference letter is a letter of recommendation for a student from a faculty member to a graduate program, employer, or awards committee.  Most recommendations will consist of two parts:

• The letter itself, which is a 1-3 page assessment of the student’s performance by the faculty member.
• An evaluation, usually through a online form, which asks questions about specific aspects of a student’s performance.

These evaluations are used by hiring, admissions, or awards committees to make selection decisions.  The length of the letter, the depth of the analysis, and the time it takes to prepare a recommendation depend on many factors.  These include your relationship with the faculty member, the type of program you are applying for, and the complexity of the evaluation.

For example, a recommendation to typical master’s school for a student with a good, but not particularly close, relationship with their instructor might take 30-45 mins to prepare.  A recommendation for a top PhD program for a top-performing student who a faculty member has mentoring extensively could take several hours.

What goes into a reference letter?

The content of a reference letter will depend on the purpose of the letter.  There are generally two major categories: (i) academic and (ii) business.

Academic letters, such as those to graduate programs or for awards, focus on three main things:

1. Your ability to succeed in a graduate program.  This usually means your academic achievement, including your grades, your course of study, and other factors – such as overcoming difficulties, or showing perseverance, maturity, or professionalism.
2. Your potential for future impact.  This means your research potential for research potential, or professional potential for career-oriented programs.  This includes factors such as your career goals, academic interests, research experience, professional experience, and more.
3. Your ability to be a good colleague and member of the program.  This includes factors such as your ability to work in a team, how you respond to criticism, your collegiality, how you work with a supervisor, and more.

Programs will weight these factors differently, depending on their focus.  For instance, an elite economics masters program focused on research might place more emphasis on research and technical skills.  A career-oriented program in policy might place a higher emphasis on team-work and professional experience.

Business letters, such as those for employment or admission to a business program (esp. MBA) are a little different.  They will also assess things like your managerial potential, experience, impact on an organization, and future career trajectory.  These can be difficult for a faculty member to write unless you have a professional relationship (e.g., RA/TA) with them.

Finally, reference letters also provide context for a student’s achievement.  Faculty members will often write about where a student ranks in a class.  They also may explain how difficult a student’s program of study was, or the types of courses the student took.  They also might write about obstacles a student faced, or explain irregularities in a transcript such as a withdrawal of failed semester.

The final assessment

The last part of a letter is the final assessment.  Typical final assessment are:

• Strongest possible recommendation: the best possible, typically top 1 or 2 students in a cohort.  Exceptional and very rare.
• Strongly recommended: an excellent or outstanding student, top 5-10%.  Uncommon or rare.
• Recommended: a good student, typically top 25-35%.  A typical recommendation for a student.
• Recommended with reservations: a good student, but with some concerns about the program or suitably.  Uncommon.
• Not recommended: a student who is not suitable for a program.  You should never receive this. Faculty members will simply decline to write you a letter in this case.

What should you consider before requesting a letter?

In general, you need to understand that faculty members will only be able to write about their experience with you, as a student.  While they can provide context for your other academic achievements or experiences, they will only be able to write about what they are familiar with.  For instance, even if you have lots of volunteer work, a faculty member will not be able to write in detail about except to point out that how it connects to other parts of their experience with you (e.g., teamwork, good citizenship, etc.).

When you are considering whether to request a letter, consider the following points:

• Am I in the top 35-45% of a class (e.g., a B+ or higher)?
  • If you are not, a faculty member will find it hard to write you a letter of recommendation.
• Can the faculty member write about the skills this program is asking for concretely?
  • Remember, faculty can only write about skills you demonstrated or showed.
  • Lower-level classes (e.g., ECON 101/102) are generally not informative about graduate school or professional skills.
• Is this person familiar enough with me for their opinion of my skills or abilities to be taken seriously?
  • Does this person recognize me?  For how long have they known me?  A longer relationship is better.
• Is there enough time before my deadline for this person to write me a letter?
  • A reference letter is a major commitment of time and energy.  Give your references enough time to do a good job.

If you can answer affirmatively to all of these questions, you should feel confident in approaching your instructor for a reference letter.

Tip: you should never request a reference letter for a course in which you were found guilty of academic misconduct.

Selecting schools for recommendations

It is important to mention that most faculty members will write you a single letter, which they will tailor for either your (i) top or (ii) a typical school.  You should discuss with your letter writers which schools you are applying for if there is a wide range in the quality or types of the programs.  It is difficult for faculty members to write an effective letter when the schools you are applying for are very different.  For instance, a student might be easily succeed at law school, but would struggle in a highly quantitative master’s program.  Consider tailoring your schools appropriately, and realize that different programs may need different letters.

Tip: this is especially true of professional business programs and elite institutions.  Look at what the application is asking of your letter writers: do you think they can credibly address your managerial potential from a 200-level elective course?

How do I request a letter?

The first step towards requesting a reference letter is to do your homework.  Look at your course syllabus or the faculty member’s web page.  Do they have instructions about reference letters?  If so, follow them!  Make a note of things like their:

• Full name and the correct spelling.
• UBC email address.
• Job title (e.g., Professor, Assistant Professor, Dr.).
• UBC phone number and mailing address.

You will need these for your application later.  Next, prepare the information your reference will need for your letter.  Most faculty will need, at minimum:

• A copy of your UBC (unofficial) transcripts.
• A reminder about which courses you took with them, your grade, and when you took the courses.
• Your deadlines and a list of the schools you plan to apply to.
• A recent CV or resume.
• Your statement of purpose, if applicable.

Finally, send your referee a short email requesting a letter of reference.  Attach the items listed above.

• Your email should be short, polite, and to-the-point: you are asking for a favour, but you do not need to overly flatter or fawn in your request.  Be professional.
• Never use tools like ChatGPT to write your request email.  They are wordy, obsequious, stilted, and alienating.  Worse: we can tell you used them. This says to your reference that you don’t respect them enough to even bother writing an email.

You can see an example email request below, but a real email would include more specific personal details and context.

Example Letter

Frequently asked questions?

• How early should I ask for a letter?
  • As early as possible!  It’s reasonable to ask for a letter even a year in advance, as long as you follow up in a timely fashion to remind your instruction.  Keep in mind that their time commitments may have changed, or they may not be willing to commit that far in advance.  However, a “head’s up” still helps.
• It’s been a while since I took a particular class – can I still ask for a letter?
  • It depends?  Have you stayed in touch with the professor?  Did you have a close relationship?  Would they still remember you?
  • If you know it might be a while before you’ll use a letter, make an effort to keep in touch with your professor.  An email every so often helps!
• How do I get to know a professor more so I can build a closer relationship?
  • Talk to them!  Show up to office hours.  Ask questions.  Demonstrate an interest in economics and the course.  Professors love to chat about their own research.  Just make sure you’re authentic – do it because you really care, not because you want a letter.