A recommendation letter can make or break a scholarship application. You can have excellent grades, a compelling personal statement, and impressive work experience — but if your recommendation letters are weak, vague, or clearly written by someone who barely knows you, your application will struggle. Most major scholarships — Chevening, Commonwealth, DAAD, Erasmus Mundus, the Australian Awards, and university scholarships — require two or three recommendation letters as a core part of the application. This guide shows Nigerian students exactly how to choose the right referees, how to approach them, and how to give them everything they need to write a letter that genuinely strengthens your application.
A recommendation letter is a formal document written by someone who knows your academic work, professional performance, or community contributions well enough to speak to your abilities, character, and potential. Scholarship committees use these letters to verify and add depth to the claims you make in your personal statement. A strong letter provides specific, evidence-based endorsement of your abilities — not just generic praise. The difference between a letter that says “This student is hardworking and intelligent” and one that says “During her final year project, she identified a critical gap in our department’s data collection process and built a solution that is now used by three other teams” is the difference between a letter that helps and one that is essentially worthless.
Who to Choose as Your Referee
Choosing the right referee is the most important decision you will make in this process. The general rule is to choose people who know your work well and can speak to qualities that are directly relevant to the scholarship you are applying for. For most scholarships targeting Nigerian graduates and professionals, the best referees fall into these categories:
- Academic supervisors or lecturers: Ideal for research-focused scholarships like DAAD, Commonwealth, or Melbourne Graduate Research Scholarships. Choose the lecturer who supervised your final year project or thesis, or the one whose course you performed best in and who knows your work in detail
- Employers or line managers: Essential for scholarships that require work experience, such as Chevening, Australia Awards, and the Fulbright Foreign Student Program. Your direct supervisor who has observed your professional performance is far more valuable than a senior executive who barely knows you
- Community or NGO leaders: Relevant for scholarships that emphasise community impact, such as the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program or the Australia Awards. A credible community leader who can speak to your grassroots work and local impact can be a powerful third referee
Avoid choosing referees based purely on their title or seniority. A Vice Chancellor who has never taught you is a weaker referee than a lecturer who supervised your dissertation and watched you work closely for a year. Scholarship committees are experienced readers — they recognise a genuine, detailed letter immediately, and they recognise an empty one written out of obligation just as quickly.
How to Approach Your Referee
How you ask matters almost as much as who you ask. Never approach a potential referee with a last-minute request — this is one of the most common mistakes Nigerian applicants make and it almost always results in a weak, rushed letter. Follow these principles:
Ask early — at least four to six weeks before the deadline. Referees are busy people. A lecturer may have dozens of students, a manager has a full workload. Giving them sufficient time shows respect and gives them the space to write something genuinely thoughtful rather than something dashed off the night before the deadline.
Ask in person or by a personal phone call first, then follow up in writing. Do not send a cold email asking someone to be your referee without first speaking to them directly. A brief conversation — explaining what scholarship you are applying for, why you are applying, and why you thought of them specifically — makes the request personal and gives the referee a chance to honestly say yes or no before you list them on a form.
Ask if they feel comfortable writing you a strong letter. This phrasing matters. Asking “Can you write me a strong recommendation letter?” rather than just “Can you be my referee?” gives the person permission to decline if they do not feel they know your work well enough. A reluctant or uncertain referee will write a weak letter. You want someone who is genuinely enthusiastic about supporting your application.
What to Give Your Referee
Once a referee agrees, your job is to make their task as easy as possible while ensuring the letter is as strong as possible. Provide your referee with a clear, organised briefing package that includes all of the following:
- A summary of the scholarship — what it is, what it funds, what the selection criteria are, and what the scholarship committee is looking for in applicants. Many Nigerian referees are unfamiliar with international scholarship programmes and will write a far stronger letter if they understand the context
- A copy of your personal statement or a draft of it — so the referee’s letter can complement and reinforce your narrative rather than repeat the same points or contradict them
- A summary of your key achievements, projects, and qualities — including specific examples of work you did together or under their supervision. Do not assume they remember the details. A one-page bullet list of specific achievements, dates, and outcomes gives them the raw material for a compelling letter
- The submission instructions and deadline — some scholarships require referees to submit letters directly through an online portal, while others accept PDF attachments. Make this process as clear as possible and send them the exact link or instructions they need
- Your updated CV — so they have a full picture of your background and can speak to it accurately
What a Strong Recommendation Letter Looks Like
While you cannot and should not write your own recommendation letter, understanding what a strong one contains helps you brief your referee effectively. A strong scholarship recommendation letter typically includes the following:
- A clear statement of how long and in what capacity the referee has known you
- Specific examples of your academic or professional work — not just general praise but concrete descriptions of what you did, how you handled challenges, and what the outcomes were
- An assessment of your intellectual ability, work ethic, initiative, and character — backed by evidence from direct observation
- A comparison to other students or colleagues the referee has worked with — something like “she is among the top five percent of students I have taught in twenty years” is extremely powerful
- A statement of why the referee believes you are suited to this specific scholarship and this specific course of study
- A strong, unambiguous closing endorsement
Following Up Without Being a Nuisance
After briefing your referee, send a polite reminder about two weeks before the deadline — especially if the letter needs to be submitted through an online portal. A simple message thanking them for their time and confirming the deadline is approaching is appropriate. If the deadline is getting very close and you have not heard from them, a second gentle reminder is acceptable. Always express genuine gratitude regardless of the outcome.
Keep track of all your referees across all your scholarship applications. If you are applying to multiple scholarships simultaneously, let your referees know upfront — give them a list of all the scholarships, their deadlines, and the submission method for each. Organising this information clearly saves them time and reduces the risk of a missed deadline costing you a scholarship.
After Your Application Is Submitted
Whether you win or not, always follow up with your referees to let them know the outcome. This is not just good manners — it maintains the relationship for future applications, further studies, or professional opportunities. If you win, a personal thank-you message or visit where possible means a great deal to the people who supported you. Nigerian students who treat their referees with consistent respect and gratitude are far more likely to receive continued support throughout their careers than those who disappear after their application is submitted.
The scholarship application process in Nigeria is competitive, but a well-chosen referee who receives a thoughtful briefing and enough time to write a genuine letter can be one of the strongest elements of your entire application. Give your referees the tools and the time they need, and they will help you build the case you deserve.