Reference Letters and the Referee Process

It will take three to five business days from the time you have submitted your OUAC application and paid the non-refundable application fee for your referees to be notified.

You will receive an email from Laurier acknowledging that your application has been received and that your referees have been contacted. We encourage you to review your referees contact information carefully to ensure that the email addresses you provided are correct.

Log in to your Loris account with your Laurier username and password. Navigate to your Application Checklist and scroll down to the Referee Section. Select the option to ‘Cancel this reference’ for the referee with the incorrect email. A blank space will open in the ‘Add New Referee’ section for you to re-enter the referee with the correct information. Click ‘Submit’ and a new link to the online reference form will be sent automatically to the new email address. You will also receive an email confirmation that a new reference has been sent.

If your referee has not submitted the reference within the 14 days, you will be sent an email titled “Application to Laurier: Action Required – Reference Not Received” At this point, you have two options:

1. You can ‘Resend request to referee’ which will re-start the 14-day timeframe for submission; you will again receive reminder emails.
2. You can cancel the reference request; an automated email will be sent to the referee advising them that you have opted to cancel the reference request. In this case you must select a new referee.

If your referee has not submitted the reference within the 14 days, you will be sent an email titled “Application to Laurier: Action Required - Reference not received.” At this point, you have two options:

1. You can ‘Resend request to referee’ which will re-start the 14-day timeframe for submission; you will again receive reminder e-mails.
2. You can cancel the reference request; an automated e-mail will be sent to the referee advising them that you have opted to cancel the reference request. In this case you must select a new referee.

By accessing the LORIS site, you may select the relevant graduate program application to see the status of your referee submissions. “Pending” means the references have not yet been completed. “Received” means the references are complete.

The questions asked and the required responses are nearly identical on the forms. When the program begins reviewing the reference, they will be able to determine the ‘type’ of reference submitted based upon the responses to the questions. We are unable to change the ‘type’ of reference once the referee has submitted the form.

Yes, your referee will need to fill out a separate reference form for each application. It is helpful to advise your referees of this in advance.

Please advise your referee to ensure all fields have been completed – including organization name, department, etc. (please indicate N/A if not applicable). Then, try the submit button at the bottom of the form again.

The reference form works best in Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. If you cannot detect the URL itself, contact gradadmissions@wlu.ca to have the link sent to you so that you can cut and paste it into a browser directly. When contacting gradadmissions@wlu.ca, it is helpful to describe what you see on the screen or send us screen shots so that we can assist you with troubleshooting any issues.

Some of our programs do have firm application submission deadlines (including references). The applicant for whom you are preparing a reference will receive two follow-up emails after the initial request, on day seven and on day 14. Thereafter, no further reminders will be sent by email. The URL itself (in the email) will not expire until you have submitted the completed reference, or until the applicant has cancelled the request for your submission, or the admissions cycle has been closed.

It is helpful if you define the peer group by providing the number of students/employees/volunteers and the approximate time frame of your experience with that peer group.

If you are completing an academic reference, you might choose to compare the applicant to other students whom you have taught and/or supervised, who have attained a similar level of study, who may have a comparable disciplinary focus, or who may have sought admission to a comparable graduate program.

If you are completing a professional reference, you might choose to compare the applicant to other employees (or volunteers as applicable) whom you have supervised or worked with, who have a similar professional background or professional role, or who may have shared academic and/or professional career objectives.

• Save will save the information that has already been entered. You should be able to close the browser and, when you click on the link again, you will return to the page with the information you previously entered.
• Submit will submit the document to our office. You will be taken to a page with a picture of a checkmark that says, “Thank you for your submission.” You will also receive an email with a PDF copy of the reference form for your records.
• Clear Form will clear all information from the form, and you may start over. Any previously saved information will be removed.
• Restart will take you back to the initial page where you selected "Academic" or "Professional." All saved information will be removed.

At the bottom of the reference form, select the "Restart" button. You will be asked to confirm that you wish to restart. By selecting "yes," any information previously saved or entered will be removed from the form and you will be returned to the first page where you select "Academic" or "Professional."

Once you have clicked on "Submit" at the bottom of the reference form, you will be taken to a page with a picture of a checkmark that says, “Thank you for your submission.” You will also receive an email with a PDF copy of the reference form for your records.

The reference forms are nearly identical. Once the program begins reviewing your reference, they will be able to determine the ‘type’ of reference based upon your response.

If you have received two emails, the applicant has applied to more than one program. You will need to complete a separate reference for each program. Please be sure to use each link only once.