Reference Request - Pros/Cons

Elizabeth Starbuck

I'm looking for schools who do not require a reference in their scholarship application. We have always required at least one reference in our scholarship applications and it has been helpful in making award decisions. However, it has been suggested that we remove the reference letter requirement completely in order to make it more equitable for students. I'm wondering if anyone else has done this and what your experience has been.

Scott Skowronek

Hello Elizabeth,

I'm at Lansing Community College and we stopped accepting reference requests 3 years ago. We found that for our student population the reference requests were a huge roadblock and stopping point for applicants.

We had also found that we were only ever receiving consistently glowing reference letters, which meant that the letters were not helping us differentiate between applicants to a meaningful extent.

If you have any questions about our experience, I'm happy to discuss. skowr1@lcc.edu

Scott