LOR for Australia Guidelines: Universities, Writing Tips and Requirements

Preparing for your application materials for studying in Australian universities and clueless about LOR submissions? We have curated an article on LOR guidelines for Australia specifically for international students so that they do not spend too much time on LORs. So check out the article now and understand what all you'd need.

While applying for Australia, after shortlisting the universities, you need to get started with application process that requires preparing all the application and financial documents. A question that often comes to mind is do Australian universities require letters of recommendation? And the simple answer is ‘yes’. While academic transcripts come first, application documents like Letters of Recommendation (LORs), Statement of Purpose (SOP), Personal Statement (PS), Essay, and Resume should be prepared simultaneously. While an impressive SOP tells your story, a well-written LOR supports it as a testimonial. LORs can add credibility to your candidature, and highlight your overall personality. It confirms your academic or professional presence, as evaluated by your professors or supervisors.

As the concern ‘is LOR required for Australia’ is addressed, it is important to note that LORs are mandatory for any diploma, undergraduate, or postgraduate programme in Australia. Thus, the LORs you submit to universities in Australia should be impactful and impressive, and they should come from credible recommenders. Your LORs should depict you as an individual, along with brief descriptions of your positive attributes and traits. Before deciding on which recommender to choose for LORs, check for the university and course-specific requirements. Several times, there are specific requirements that differ from university to university or even from course to course, within the same university. These requirements generally talk about the format, word limit, page lengths, and so on of the preferred LOR. Ideally, a LOR should not exceed the word limit stipulated by the university; when no limit is provided, stick to one-page length.

LORs for Universities in Australia

The number of LORs for Australia that needs to be submitted can be confirmed by the university. Often, you will need to provide two or three LORs, and accordingly you can choose your referees. Another aspect to note is what type of LOR is required by the university or department. Coursework-based programmes generally require academic LORs only, while research-based or experienced-based courses will require at least one professional LOR. If no specific instructions are given, it is ideal to submit one academic and one professional LOR, given that you have sufficient work experience. If you do not have prior professional experience, then you can submit two academic LORs. For undergraduate applicants, one LOR should be taken from the subject teacher, who has taught the subject for which the applicant is applying in the university. The other LOR can be sourced from either the school counsellor, head teacher, principal, or another relevant subject teacher.

LOR for Australia: Important Tips

You need to keep the following aspects in mind regarding LORs for Australia, while applying to top Australian universities:

• Choose your recommenders beforehand and get in touch in time with enough time at your hand to give a brief about your situation
• The LORs should be printed on the institution’s letterhead
• Your recommender should be a part of the institution where you studied/worked.
• LORs should contain the official seal and stamp of the institution as well the original signature of the recommender
• Some universities may ask you to submit the LORs via physical mail in a sealed envelope
• The LORs must be written in English, and should have an official language and tone
• The recommenders’ official contact details must be provided. In this regard, the official ID of the recommender is important to verify that you recommender belongs to the institution where you studied.

Guidelines for LORs for Australian Universities

Australian universities require LORs for postgraduate or research-based courses. For undergraduate courses, the requirements of an LOR are more or less similar across all the universities. Some universities do specify the word limit or the criteria for postgraduate and research programmes. Let us have a look at some universities’ generic LOR requirements and what kind of LORs they require for postgraduate courses:

• University of Sydney: 2 LORs
• University of Melbourne: 2 LORs
• University of Queensland: 1 LOR
• University of Adelaide: 1 or 2 LORs
• University of New South Wales: 2 LORs
• University of Western Australia: 2 LORs
• Monash University: 2 LORs
• Australian National University: 2 LORs
• RMIT University: 1 LOR

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