by Greg Moore, Recruitment and Admissions Manager, MiF
As a part of the application process for any of our degree programmes, we ask for two references. More than just a recommendation letter to accompany your application, we ask each referee a detailed set of questions about you as the candidate, and this is why choosing the right referee is extremely important.
While many candidates assume that by choosing the most senior figure, this will be the best way to add value to their application, this is unfortunately not the case. My best advice to candidates is to consider how well your referee knows your skills, strengths and relevant experience.
Ultimately it is more important that they are able to provide full and insightful answers about your strengths and weaknesses and what you can bring to the programme.
Some candidates often ask if they can use academic referees. For our early careers programmes (Masters in Management, Global MiM or the Masters in Financial Analysis) one academic referee alongside a professional referee is the most preferable option.
For our post-experience programmes such as the Masters in Finance, Executive MBA and MBA professional references that describe you in a work context are preferable. If you do decide to use an academic referee for your application to one of the post-experience programmes it should be an academic that has mentored you through your career and not just during your previous studies.
I hope you will find this information useful when choosing applying to our programmes.