The Student Room Group
Reply 1
Your reference should always be written by someone who knows you well and knows the work you have done. If your proposed supervisor also knows you very well then I guess you could. But not otherwise. Though the supervisor will be asked to review your application and this might mean s/he has to read a reference from her/himself!! In these circumstances the administrators often don't actually ask them to write one, even though his/her name is on the application form.
Reply 2
if you want funding then no - its better to get a reference other than your phd supervisor
Reply 3
The Boosh
if you want funding then no - its better to get a reference other than your phd supervisor

So what gives me a better chance of getting in then - getting my best referee to write the reference or not having him write it and proposing him as supervisor (which he would likely be keen to accept)?
My Masters Supervisor wrote my reference for my PhD, where he was the proposed Supervisor. No problems.
Reply 5
getting on the course you will be fine, but not if you want funding from a research council for it then you need to get an expert in the field to write a ref. based on your proposal
Reply 6
It depends on the route your application is taking. If you're applying for your own D.Phil topic, and then to the AHRC for funding afterwards, then it should be fine to have your proposed supervisor write your reference - as long as he has supervised you during your undergraduate degree and is in a position to write you a good reference. I've definitely known it happen at Cambridge that the same person was referee and proposed supervisor.
On the other hand, if you were applying for a pre-specified doctoral award of some kind, which might require a panel interview and in which you were in direct competition with other applicants for one place, then it would not be possible to use the leader of the project as your referee, even if they'd been your supervisor previously. From the sounds of it that isn't the case with you, however.

This said, I would very strongly advise you to get in touch with your referee/potential supervisor and discuss this with him. You really shouldn't be applying for a D.Phil without having made contact with your preferred supervisor in advance anyway - especially if it's someone you know well enough to want as your referee. If you want that person to referee for you, then I would think the best thing to do would be to email him and (a) run your research proposal by him informally, and (b) ask if he would be happy to referee for you.
Reply 7
zigguratted
It depends on the route your application is taking. If you're applying for your own D.Phil topic, and then to the AHRC for funding afterwards, then it should be fine to have your proposed supervisor write your reference - as long as he has supervised you during your undergraduate degree and is in a position to write you a good reference. I've definitely known it happen at Cambridge that the same person was referee and proposed supervisor.
On the other hand, if you were applying for a pre-specified doctoral award of some kind, which might require a panel interview and in which you were in direct competition with other applicants for one place, then it would not be possible to use the leader of the project as your referee, even if they'd been your supervisor previously. From the sounds of it that isn't the case with you, however.

This said, I would very strongly advise you to get in touch with your referee/potential supervisor and discuss this with him. You really shouldn't be applying for a D.Phil without having made contact with your preferred supervisor in advance anyway - especially if it's someone you know well enough to want as your referee. If you want that person to referee for you, then I would think the best thing to do would be to email him and (a) run your research proposal by him informally, and (b) ask if he would be happy to referee for you.

He has just written me a ton of references for my masters applications - he was my undergrad thesis supervisor and special subject tutor. He is my main refereee and I am certain he will write me PhD references. Whether he will like my thesis proposal is another matter - after he congratulated me on getting into LSE for an MSc I told him I would have a DPhil proposal for him in October-December (in time for the 3rd gathering field at Ox) but said we would have to see then if he liked it. He did give me some pointers for an academic literature review when I told him the area I wanted to do it in, but I really need to be in London near the British Library to write it properly. So I am strongly preparing for my masters this summer, and then hopefully that will mean I have a bit of time to think about the proposal in my 1st term at LSE.

Thanks for all the advice people, it is very helpful :smile:
Reply 8
zigguratted
It depends on the route your application is taking. If you're applying for your own D.Phil topic, and then to the AHRC for funding afterwards, then it should be fine to have your proposed supervisor write your reference - as long as he has supervised you during your undergraduate degree and is in a position to write you a good reference. I've definitely known it happen at Cambridge that the same person was referee and proposed supervisor.
On the other hand, if you were applying for a pre-specified doctoral award of some kind, which might require a panel interview and in which you were in direct competition with other applicants for one place, then it would not be possible to use the leader of the project as your referee, even if they'd been your supervisor previously. From the sounds of it that isn't the case with you, however.

This said, I would very strongly advise you to get in touch with your referee/potential supervisor and discuss this with him. You really shouldn't be applying for a D.Phil without having made contact with your preferred supervisor in advance anyway - especially if it's someone you know well enough to want as your referee. If you want that person to referee for you, then I would think the best thing to do would be to email him and (a) run your research proposal by him informally, and (b) ask if he would be happy to referee for you.


Ive never met a student with open competition funding who has had their references written by their supervisor (i know people who have had cracking references from their supervisors which got rejected, but in the following year when expert strangers commented on the strength of the proposal in a reference the referee marks doubled). The supervisor has a section in open comp. where s/he has to try and sell themself. Im suprised to hear that the AHRB operate differently here, though my phd funding is esrc not ahrb. Did your cambridge friend get funding for his phd after he got on the course, based on his supervisors reference, for an open competition studentship?

Im a bit drunk as usual so i hope this waffle makes sense...