LOR for Canada: Sample Structural Guidelines & Requirements at Top Universities

Canadian universities are very particular about their incoming student population.

In the context of a Letter of Recommendation (LOR) for Canada universities, it's been observed that references are required majorly for master’s degrees and in rare scenarios for undergraduate degrees.

Structural Guidelines

LOR for Canada: Structural Guidelines and Tips

Before starting the letter of recommendation for Canada, it is significant for a writer as well as the applicant to be familiar with general structural and content guidelines.

Type of LOR(s) Required?

For UG courses and graduate degrees like MS in Data Science, MS in Computer Science, you need to majorly provide academic letters of recommendation. Contrary to this, for professional degrees like MBA and MS Economics, you need to offer at least one academic and one professional letter of recommendation.

Recommender’s Guidelines

Some of the important pointers which a recommender need to incorporate in a LOR are:

The referee must clarify the capacity in which he knows the applicant and must touch upon the areas that helped him make positive observations about the applicant.
Referees while adding the official contact details like Email and phone numbers must also write their availability hours in case the selection committee would like to get in touch with the referee or any clarification or further details.
LOR is generally to state the positive information about the applicant like his personality traits, achievements, contributions, and abilities that make him worthy of getting admission in the desired institution

Submission Guidelines

In terms of submission, Canadian universities offer students to submit their Recommendation letters in one of the following manners:

Electronic References: A secured and unique link will be sent to each referee requiring them to log in and submit an online reference or upload a reference document as an attachment.
Paper Letters of Reference: Paper LORs are written and sent on the referee's official letterhead. These letters are usually mailed directly to the admission team or the relevant program in a sealed and endorsed envelope.
Paper Reference Forms: In some graduate programs, an academic reference form and a professional reference letter form are issued to the referees requiring them to fill it out and mail it directly to the relevant program in a sealed and endorsed envelope.

Requirements at Top Universities

LOR for Canada: Requirements at Top Universities

Top Canadian universities have particular letter of recommendation requirements for specific degrees. LOR requirements at a few top institutions is tabulated below:

Institutions	LOR for PG Diploma	LOR for MS	LOR for MBA
University of Toronto	2 Academic LOR	2 Academic LORs	2 Academic LORs
University of British Columbia	3 Academic & Professional LOR	3 Academic & Professional LOR	3 Academic & Professional LOR
McGill University	2 Academic LORs	2 Academic LORs	2 Academic LORs
University of Montreal	1 Academic LOR	1 Academic LOR	1 Academic LOR
McMaster University	2 Academic LORs	2 Academic LORs	2 Academic LORs
University of Alberta	2 Academic LORs	2 Academic LORs	2 Academic LORs
University of Waterloo	2 Academic LORs	2 Academic LOR	2 Academic LORs
Western University	2 Academic LORs	2 Academic LOR	2 Academic LORs

Sample LOR for UG

Sample Letter of Recommendation for UG in Canada

Below is an academic letter of recommendation written by a high school teacher for her students:

Date

The Recipient’s Address

Dear Team

I write in respect of the above candidate who is applying for admission and scholarship into the postgraduate program at your institution. I have known him for about 9 years as his teacher and as his supervisor during his undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the [Name of department], at the [Name and Location of school]. During my interactions with [name of applicant], I noticed that what earned him an excellent academic record was not his natural brilliance, but his great zeal and apt tenacity to understand new and intricate concepts.

[Name of Applicant] is hardworking and diligent. He uses his initiative very well while also working well with peers. He has a good thirst for knowledge and is very capable of designing solution schemes for problem mediation. He is very much able to meet goals given the freedom of self-supervision and peering. I put him in the top 1% of students taught in the last 10 years. He graduated at the top of his class both in his undergraduate and postgraduate studies. He is honest and emotionally balanced. He has no physical challenges to delimit his productivity. The admission would aid in achieving his career goals while attaining a potent contribution to global and national development. He has excellent skills and works well with peers. He has all the hallmarks of a good teacher and should do well if given the opportunity.

As [name of applicant's supervisor] during his bachelor's and master's program, I was impressed by his creativity in solving problems that can boost the productivity of industries while minimizing operating costs. Currently, one of the research works we did, titled “[Title of research],” has been published by a highly ranked journal. Also, the name of the applicant's vast array of voluntary works shows his willingness to accept responsibility and has also helped him to develop critical interpersonal skills such as leadership, teamwork, and effective communication among others. Given his educational, leadership, and corporate background, I herein recommend him highly for admission without any reservations.

Sincerely,

Signature and/or stamp of Referee
Name of Referee
Position of Referee

Sample LOR for MBA

Sample Letter of Recommendation for MBA in Canada

Below is a sample LOR for MBA at Sauder School of Business in Canada:

To
Department of Business Management
Sauder School of Business

(Date)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am happy to recommend Sanya Malhotra for a Masters in Business Administration at your renowned institution. My name is Aarti Gupta and I had been associated with her for the past two years as a professor of Business Studies and International Trade. I first met her when we organized a mega-conference for orientation of students with international university delegates around 3 years back but, I started teaching her in Year 2 of the course.

It is recommended that she should be favorably considered for admission into MBA program at Sauder School of Business as she is a very dedicated and bright student. In the final year of the degree, we gave a choice of a research-based project to students, and she was one of the few who opted for the same and was among the 2% who completed the project with all the stated guidelines and instructions. He is also very good at declamations, debates, and drama and likes to do his homework before stepping into any area or activity undertaken.

Along with her studies, she was actively involved in various college events, even the ones which were related to science fairs and art exhibitions. Furthermore, she participated in the organizing committee from the student council side and outshone others by emerging as one of the best organizers who could handle any emergencies and critical issues with a smile. She is a fluent communicator having leadership skills. At the same time, she is quite accommodating to be a part of any team.

Her vision to create a business model that can be easily replicated in the area of catering to children suffering from malnutrition won her the first prize in an event held at our college just three months ago chaired by the WHO president.

I strongly recommend her admission application and am available to answer any query that can prove to be helpful in fulfilling her dream to get higher education in the area of Business Administration.

Regards,

Aarti Gupta
Department of Commerce
Indraprastha University

Tel.: +XXXX

E-mail: XXXXX@mail.com

Sample LOR for MS

Sample Letter of Recommendation for MS in Canada

Below is a sample LOR for MS in Computer Science at McGill University in Canada:

To
Department of Computer Science
McGill University

(Date)

Dear Sir/Madam,

It is my pleasure to recommend Piyush Chawla for admission to MS in Computer Science at McGill University. I am a professor at Christ University for the last 25 years and during these years, I met only a handful of students who left an everlasting mark on my memory. These are the students, the epitome of perfection or ideology that we constantly teach. I am happy to categorize Piyush in this highest league of students due to his determination, diligence, and self-motivated positive attitude.

For the last three years, I taught Piyush Data Analysis and Information Sciences, both subjects requiring undivided attention and experiential learning. The DIY content of these subjects makes it imperative for the student to take extra interest in these to emerge as a successful candidate. Sometimes there is a lack of motivation in the subject matter that makes it difficult and dry to learn but with students like XXXX we never experienced a single dull and unproductive moment in our classes.

He comes across as a very lively, imaginative, and sensitive child, who understands the gravity of the situation quickly and has the ability to handle the same with similar speed and efficacy. He did two projects during these three years and both of them won the first position in the National Computer Science fairs organized by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Small and Medium Scale industries respectively.

He is an avid learner, an extraordinary problem solver, and a creative thinker who has solutions to all the problems thus motivating the peers as well as the teachers in day-to-day tasks. He has an ability to work with given instructions and is able to analyze the data and statistics with tremendous ease making him the most suitable candidate to study Computer Science at a higher level.

He is intelligent and with his quick grasping power, he is able to pick up things faster than his peers. In spite of being a winner, he never takes his success for granted and works on everything from the ground level. This makes him unique and the best student amongst the lot.

I am sure that he deserves to get admission in the opted course and receive world-class practical knowledge in this subject area that will not only be fruitful for him but will also turn out to be beneficial for the community and industries.

I am available from Monday to Friday between 8 to 5 pm in case you have any queries related to his candidature. I shall be happy to answer them and see him through.

Thanking you

Sincerely

Aryaman Singh
Christ University

Tel.: +XXXX
E-mail: XXXXX@mail.com

A Letter of Recommendation vividly describes the applicant's professional expertise, educational prowess, aptitude, academic performance, and skills. A LOR is one of the determining factors used by the admission panel to access the applicant's suitability for the concerned program.

Since it is usually written by an individual with credibility (usually an employer for professional reference and lecturer/supervisor for academic references), a letter of recommendation is considered to serve as a check or counterbalance for claims made in the personal statement by the applicants.