Thread by @Ijesha_canadian

Question: I had a very good grade(1:1/2:1), sent my essays to many scholars and they okayed it, and I also made many applications yet they were all unsuccessful. Why?
Short answer: I don't know.

Long answer: Were your references as good as the rest of your application?
#aThread

THE QUALITY OF YOUR REFERENCE(S) IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE REST OF YOUR APPLICATION PACKAGE.

Who is writing your reference letters? Is it some prof who is very busy and would just write you a lousy reference letter? Or is it some prof who never really liked you to start with?

Don't select a referee simply because they were your professor. Being your prof doesn't automatically equate to being in the best position to speak about how qualified you are for a scholarship. If they do not know you well enough, they can't speak very well about your abilities.

Choose someone that knows you reasonably well and will most likely write you a good reference letter. A reference from someone who doesn’t know you very well will be very general, and it will definitely lack specific details about your abilities and how qualified you are.

Even when a prof knows you and agrees to write you a letter, make sure you furnish them with enough details(transcript and CV) required to write it. Offer to give them information necessary to assist them in writing the letter, and be very specific in your request to them.

Refresh their memory about who you are and arrange an in-person meeting with them. There you can demonstrate your enthusiasm for graduate school or an area of research and they can carry this on to the reference letter they'll be writing for you. The more detail you can provide,

the better your reference letter would be because your referee would be able to tailor the letter to you and to the program you're applying to.
Here are some details to guide you;
1. The name of the scholarship/program you're applying to.
2. The addressee
3. Mode of submission...

4. Reference letter due date.
5. Specific information that you have probably mentioned in your essays that your referee can corroborate.
6. Other things you engaged in as a student that your prof wasn't fully aware of (extracurricular activities, clubs, leadership positions).

7. A summary of the program requirements. This helps them tailor whatever they're writing about you to the program you're applying to.
8. Don't ask them for reference at the last minute (except if it is an opportunity you saw at the last minute). You should have at least one...

lecturer you can run to like that who will come up with a crash reference letter for you even if you need one in a few days. I had two of those and they really helped for those positions you'll stumble upon suddenly with fast approaching deadlines. But avoid this at all cost.

This further speaks to you having a good relationship with your lecturers while you were still a student. You can't just go meet a stranger and tell them to write you something. So if you're still a student, make sure you reach out to your lecturers, ask them for career advice...

Engage them in conversations about the future of your profession, what you can do with your degree. That way it'll be easier to have a conversation with them when you need to get a reference letter and you won't be getting a generic letter because they will remember who you are.

They'll remember you as that ambitious student and this will be reflected in whatever they write for you.

Send them a reminder every couple of weeks or when it is a few weeks to the deadline to see if they will still be able to send in the reference letter for you.

WORD OF CAUTION: Not all professors would be able to provide a good reference for you. That is one reason why it is good to actually meet up with them if possible. During the meeting you can guage their body language to see if they'll be able to give a good reference or not.

Here, I've actually asked my prof if they'll be able to write me a positive letter or not. If they say they'll be neutral (which hasn't happened), I am definitely not using them.

You need them to be able to speak positively about you, vouch for you as it were not just lukewarm.

So if you have been doing everything right and the scholarships are not falling on your laps yet, maybe you need to check the quality of your references and change them if need be.

You can make up for the shortfall of your academic references by including a professional reference letter. This can come from organizations you've worked/volunteered for. Oftentimes, these references turn out better than the ones from your professors because they are more recent

and you worked up close and personal with these persons. So don't restrict yourself to academic references alone. When they say three references, try to include one professional reference therein and this might just be the game changer.

All the best in your next application(s).

May God bless my referees for me!🙏🏿
I still can't believe what some of them wrote for me, imagine reading your own reference letter and asking yourself "is that me?" And those who would even write me a reference letter in two days, may God continue to bless them too.

When you finally win too, don't be that student who breaks the shoulders he climbed on to succeed. Always reach out to them every now and then.

You don't have to give them money (even though they deserve it and you should give if you have), but staying in touch makes them happy.

I'm sure those in the academia here would agree @MomentsWithBren @drhammed @olumuyiwaayo @Oludeewon @sama_on_point @jueedalo @james_omoboye @AnumahABD @SamdGreat01 @Iam_MrPackagin @JE_dna @iam_jibolar @SeunnlaAdelusi @Oluwanisoola @SamuelArawu @isaacazuka1 @OgbeniDipo @TundeTASH

@eniolakiite @LokomoPeter