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Is it appropriate to have 1 reference from a student (in a leadership position)?


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As it stands, I have two tenure-track professors I can ask for strong references. For my third reference, I have a few other professors I could ask, but to be honest I don't know them very well, and although I've done well in their class I don't think they could speak very knowledgeably about me. On the other hand, I participated in an international volunteer program, and the vice president of the program happens to be a student and is about my age. This person knows me much better than a random professor and could probably write me a better letter, but it would be coming from a much less senior person. Is it appropriate to have a reference from a fellow student?

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I was in a similar situation as you last year. Had reference letters from a professor I did research with and a dentist whom I worked for, but I really wanted to include a letter that talked about a student organization I had contributed four years to. Unfortunately, with student organizations our supervisors are our fellow students; I think this would also be the case in certain work situations, i.e. manager is also a fellow student.

 

In the end I went for it, and I did get accepted at UofT first-round. I made sure to tell my reference to write from a supervisory instead of peer perspective, and helped draft part of the letter (at their request) to make sure it was a strong reference letter. As far as I could tell with reference letter guidelines, UofT is the only school that this would be a risk with; other Ontario schools generally just say to pick references who would know you and be able to speak to your abilities the best.

 

In the end it's up to you; just wanted to reply with my experience.

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