Start earlier than feels necessary
The single most useful thing is to be memorable before you need anything. That means contributing substantively in the courses you care about, sending the occasional genuine question, and being someone whose name attaches to a specific piece of work rather than to a general impression of competence.
Instructors write far better letters about students who did something they can describe. If you are a year out from needing letters, the useful work is happening now, in the courses you are currently in.
Ask the person who can be specific, not the most senior
A detailed letter from an adjunct who supervised your project beats a generic one from a department chair who taught you once. Committees read a great many letters and can tell instantly which writer knew the candidate.
So the criterion is evidence rather than title. Who has seen you do something difficult, and could describe it? For online students that is usually whoever taught the course where you did your best work, or supervised a project, or gave you detailed feedback you acted on.
Send a package, not a request
Make it easy to say yes and easy to write well. Ask first whether they can write a strong letter — that wording matters, because it offers a graceful decline and a lukewarm letter is worse than none.
Then send everything they would otherwise have to find: the deadline and submission method, what you are applying for, your transcript or relevant grades, the work you did in their course, and a short note on what you are hoping the letter emphasises. Not a draft of the letter unless they ask, which some will.
- Ask whether they can write a strong letter, in those words
- Give at least three or four weeks, more in busy periods
- Send the deadline, the method, and what you are applying for
- Remind them of the specific work you did in their course
- Say what you hope it emphasises, without writing it for them
Then manage it without nagging
Send one reminder about a week before the deadline, brief and appreciative. If the deadline passes with nothing, contact the institution you are applying to before assuming disaster — many will accept a letter slightly late if they know it is coming.
And have one more potential referee in reserve than you need. Letters fall through for entirely innocent reasons, and discovering that on the deadline with no alternative is a bad position that a single extra conversation prevents.
Questions this raises.
What if no instructor really knows me?
Common in online programs and not fatal. Approach whoever taught the course where you produced your strongest work, remind them concretely of what you did, and send the work itself. Many instructors are entirely willing to write from a documented record even without a personal relationship, provided you make that record easy to see.
Can I use a work supervisor instead?
Often yes, and for professional programs sometimes preferably. Check what the application specifies — some require an academic referee, many accept or expect professional ones for applicants with career experience. A supervisor who can describe your judgment under pressure is a strong referee for most applied programs.
How much notice should I give?
Three to four weeks as a minimum and more around the end of a term, when instructors are marking. Asking with a week's notice frequently produces either a decline or a hurried letter, and a hurried letter is visible to the people reading it.
Declan Moore
EdD · education bench. Writes for The Ring on what actually moves marks in this subject, and coaches the students who bring it to us. The rest of the bench.
Where to go next.
Start your first ring.
Tell us the program, the term ahead and where the grade is leaking. A specialist in your field replies with a plan and a quote within two hours. The reading costs nothing, and sometimes the honest answer is that we are the wrong fit.
