Sample LOR for Ireland: Tips and Requirements for Top Irish Universities

A Letter of Recommendation (LOR) acts as a testimonial of your personality, experiences, skills, and abilities. How you are as a person, in academics and professionally –  are all depicted in a LOR. Just like your other application and financial documents which are a crucial part of your admission process, LORs are important too. Other documents such as a statement of purpose (SOP), personal statement (PS), essay, or letter of motivation (LOM) tell your side of the story. The resume or CV becomes an outline of all your academic and professional experiences.

On the other hand, a LOR is an official document that endorses you and supports your other application documents. LORs can be accreditation of your academic abilities or an assessment of professional expertise. Thus, drafting an impressive and impactful LOR is as essential as choosing the right recommender.

LOR for Ireland: Type of LOR Required

LORs for any university should be a short document evaluating an applicant’s skills, interests, personality traits, and experience in the relevant field. Irish universities lay emphasis on LORs when it comes to taking an admission decision. Most of the universities in Ireland require an academic letter of recommendation. However, some programmes or courses may ask for a professional reference such as business, management, or research-based courses. The majority of universities in Ireland ask for at least two LORs with some general rules. Requirements of LORs in Irish universities differ from other countries in some aspects. LORs from academic backgrounds are usually in the form of a questionnaire. The teacher or professor is sent a questionnaire to assess a candidate’s skills and personality. Although not all universities follow this pattern, it is quite common for Irish universities to send direct a LOR form directly to the recommenders. For specific courses, applicants may be asked to submit hard copies of LORs.

LOR for Ireland: Format and Other Requirements

Irish universities rarely have specific requirements for LORs. Nowadays, universities send a LOR form or link to the portal directly to the recommender’s email address. The recommender has to fill in the LOR content directly onto the portal or fill out the questionnaire. Universities, where this is not followed, will ask for generic LORs either in PDF format or a physical hard copy. These LORs then should be printed on the official letterhead of the recommender’s institution along with the recommender’s original signature and the institution’s seal and stamp. The page should be A4 size and if no word limit is given, then stick to 750-1,000 words or one-page length. After this, you will be asked to upload it online on the admission portal and mail it in a sealed envelope to the university.

LOR for Ireland: What to include?

After noting all the university requirements, it is time to write the draft of your LOR. How to start writing a LOR is a major that we come across. For a general sample, you can refer to this LOR Sample. Now, let us look at the highlights of your LORs that you should not miss. Your LORs majorly should convey these two things the recommender’s connection with you and their assessment of you as a person. In the introduction, the LOR should clearly convey how the recommender knows you and from when (years of association). A brief introduction about the recommender, their designation, and the nature of work is also required. The body of the LOR can be divided into three to four paragraphs which should highlight personality traits and attributes. Here are some skills and abilities that can be covered on your LORs:

• Academic prowess
• Intellectual ability
• Research skills
• Written or oral communication skills
• Teamwork/leadership
• Ability to organise workload/time management
• Originality/innovativeness

Lastly, end your LOR with a strong conclusion that should seem like an overall assessment of the applicant (you).

LOR for Ireland: Requirements for Top Irish Universities

Now that you are pretty familiar with how to prepare a LOR for Irish universities, let us take a look at the LOR requirements of some top universities in Ireland. Do note that these are general programme requirements as course-specific requirements may differ from university to university.

For any doubts or queries, drop a comment below and we will try to resolve them as soon as possible!