Reference Q

My academic reference has requested in his words 'If you could write some supporting material for my use so that I am aware of your intentions.?.
What exactly should i include, the career i am aiming for of just the field of study i am concentrating on?

Also if a course has a set limit of positions if they have filled their 'quota' is that my chances out of the window?. Are most courses filled by now as i sent off my application 5 weeks ago but they still haven't received my academic reference.
Unlike undergrad where everyone send off their application by xmas are you at a disadvantage if you apply later?

Reply 1

rottcodd

Maybe send him your research proposal / personal statement? That would probably have everything he would want. I gave my reference a whole pack of stuff: a print out from the course details, a photocopy of my transcript to date, a copy of some relavent essays I had written and a copy of my personal statement.

I don't know about your second question but I'm sure somebody else on here will know for sure. I suspect if the quota is filled, then it's filled. It depends what discipline you are heading for, but the internal deadlines for funding from the ahrc will have already passed. What course are you applying for and where?

Reply 2

Kitty Pimms

rottcodd

Ditto to this. I did the same, but added a CV (although my referees had marked my essays and taught me, so knew my intellectual standard well and also had a good knowledge of the courses I was applying for, so that was a bit unnecessary in my case). It's a good idea to supply them with more information than they could possibly need, it's then up to them whether they use it.

I should add, to the OP - they don't usually process your application until all your supporting material has been received, so it's unlikely that it will be considered until they get your reference (why wait so long, out of interest?). Depending on how their admissions works, if they're listing the course as full, you may have missed the boat - but if you're unsure I would call their admissions department to ask.

Reply 3

Johnni

I have had trouble getting in touch with my referee and he was the only one that was appropiate and he seems to never be at his phone and replies to email after a week or so lol so it is a long process.
Anyways if i send him a CV, personal statement (stating my field interests and career direction) is that enough seeing as he already knows the marks i got for my coursework, exams.

Also i don't have a generic personal statement. They are either directed at a course i'm applying for and therefore mention the particular course in the statement. Would it be ok to send him the PS for the 1st choice course i applied to?

Reply 4

hobnob

Johnni

Well, he'll know your marks, but he'll hardly know the essays by heart, so if any of them are related to the topic you want to work on, you might want to let him have a copy of those as well.

Also i don't have a generic personal statement. They are either directed at a course i'm applying for and therefore mention the particular course in the statement. Would it be ok to send him the PS for the 1st choice course i applied to?

Aside from mentioning the courses in question, are your personal statements really radically different from each other, though (i.e. do you claim to be interested in different topics etc)?

Reply 5

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

I think what he may be asking for is info for you along the lines of "I hope that after this Masters/PhD I can get a job in the research department of NASA. This is why I took X,Y,Z undergrad courses and attended space camp, also the Supervisor I hope to work under was the recent head of NASA research'. Your referee can then turn that around and say 1Johnni has been preparing long and hard for this specific course, with the clearly defined intention of using it in preparation for a role in NASA's research department. He has taken a number of undergrad courses and made extra curricular efforts to prepare himself for the course. He has prepared in a determined and single minded way and I have every reason to think his long term focus will be successful'.

Make is easy for him, don't make him translate your CV into what he thinks you want/think. He's discretely asking you to offer him some phrases he can use in a reference. You write to him about your 'detailed and diligent preparation for this course' and I bet that same phrase will end up in the reference. The CV etc will of course offer him additional evidence to write about.

Reply 6

Johnni

hobnob

Aside from mentioning the courses in question, are your personal statements really radically different from each other, though (i.e. do you claim to be interested in different topics etc)?

All the PS i have written are always aimed at a specific course/job, aren;t they supposed to be?. Anyways i have tweaked my PS to be more generic stating i intend to do a masters rather than aiming it at a particular course/uni.
But the topic i am interested in and the nature of career are the same btw

Reply 7

hobnob

Johnni

Well, yes, but if "aimed at a specific course" simply means that you mention the title of the course at the beginning and briefly refer to course components once or twice during the rest of the statement (which is what most people do), it's not exactly hard to remove those bits and turn it into a "generic" statement, is it? :wink: