How do I supply references?
It is your responsibility to supply suitable references in support of your application. For the majority of applicants this means two academic references from university tutors who know your work well. Check individual programme pages and our rules and exceptions for full information. Applications will not be considered without suitable references. Please be aware that if you are reinstating your application from one year to the next, you must use option 2 if additional references are needed, as your application will not go through the submission system again.
Request references online (new applications)
When you apply online you should use the system to request references. Subsequently you can send a reminder to your referees, or add a new referee to your application. You should always use an academic/professional email address for your referee in preference to a webmail address. It is usually best to let your referees know in advance that you will be nominating them on your application.
Request references to be submitted by post or email (reinstated applications)
If you are reinstating from one year to the next and wish to submit a more up to date reference, you can forward either the word template for academic referees or the template for professional referees and ask your referee to send a hard copy of the reference to our usual address or to Graduate.References@lse.ac.uk from an academic or professional email address. Please use this option if
we ask you to send an additional reference after your application has been processed
you have sent the wrong type of reference by mistake
your referee is having technical problems with the online reference form
you have applied with a paper application.