Guide · Recommendation · 3 min read
Letters of recommendation for study abroad: who to ask, and what a strong one says.
Most master's programmes, and some bachelor's and scholarships, ask for one to three letters of recommendation (LORs). The strongest ones come from someone who taught or managed you closely and can give specific examples: a project you led, a result you achieved, how you compare with others they've taught. A letter on letterhead, signed, with the referee's contact details, carries weight; a generic letter you wrote yourself for someone to sign doesn't.
The short version
- Ask people who know your work closely: a supervisor, a lecturer whose course you did well in, a manager.
- A strong letter has specific examples and a comparison ("in the top 10% of students I've taught").
- Format: letterhead, date, signature, the referee's title and contact details. Many universities ask referees to submit online.
- Academic referees suit research and academic master's; work referees suit MBAs and professional master's.
- Give your referee a one-page brief (your results, projects, the programme) and 3 to 4 weeks.
Who to ask
| Your situation | Best referees |
|---|---|
| Final-year or recent graduate | Your project or thesis supervisor; a lecturer in your strongest subject |
| Working for 1 to 3 years | One academic referee and your line manager |
| Working longer, or applying for an MBA | Your manager and a senior colleague who knows your results |
| Applying for research | Academics who supervised your research |
A famous name who barely knows you is weaker than a lecturer who supervised your project.
What a strong letter says
- How the referee knows you, and for how long.
- Specific examples: a project, a result, a responsibility.
- A comparison: “among the best three students in a class of 60”, “the first in our branch to…”
- Qualities that fit the programme: analytical work for data science, leadership for an MBA.
- A clear recommendation, and contact details for questions.
Example paragraph from a strong work reference
“Prakriti joined our Butwal branch as a credit officer in 2023. Within a year she was reviewing small-business loan files on her own, and her files had the lowest rate of returns for missing documents in the branch. I recommend her without reservation for a master’s in finance.”
Specific, checkable, and written by someone who saw the work.
Making it easy for your referee
Send a one-page brief, 3 to 4 weeks before the deadline:
- The programme and why you’re applying
- Your results in their course, or your role and results at work
- Two or three examples they might mention
- How to submit (letterhead and email, or the university’s online form) and the deadline
What to avoid
- Writing it yourself for someone to sign.
- The same letter from two referees.
- Letters with no letterhead, date or contact details.
- Referees who don’t answer email: universities may contact them.
From our files. Kabita Dahal from Itahari had a BBA and two years at a freight company in Biratnagar. Her manager’s letter, with the shipments she handled, became part of the core of her application for an MSc in Antwerp, close to Europe’s second-largest port.
