Hello, I am an Italian young woman who has earned her master degree in Italy a couple of months ago. My life's dream is to keep enhancing my education and do research, but at the moment there are no opportunities fro me in Italy. I am interested in the Uk university system and would love to apply for a Master by research or a Phd. But there is an obstacle on my way for applying (besides funding of course :-) )that is to say: reference letters. Actually, I endevoured a lot to get a very good master degree, achieved full marks at all of my master exams and graduated with the highest score, but except for my supervisor (who moved away) none of my former teachers knows me personally, and I'm in the dark when it comes to deciding who to ask for a reference letter to. Is there no university that doesn't require reference letters in the Uk? I wish there were....:-( Bye bye...

When I first completed a Master's in the UK, I was told to write my own reference for myself and the professor would read it and decide whether he approves, making changes if necessary. If you need more than one reference, I recommend that you write a reference for yourself, and go to some of your course instructors with it, saying you need their reference to apply for a PhD but since they don't know you very well you decided to write one for yourself and ask them if they approve of it regarding your course grade etc. Sometimes you need to let people know that you depend on them and require their help to go further. If they are nice, they should opt to help you go further. After all, you are a good student. They have no reason to say the opposite.

I agree with Ceylan's suggestion. I have always received a good response when I've offered a draft (both a printed copy, and an electronic copy). It's less work for the person you're asking, and in my experience, they always add a few personalized lines. Of course, it's awkward writing about yourself, but I would write specific achievements such as topics you researched for that class. Try to give examples of the work you did, rather than using vague catch-phrases (i.e. "She's a hard worker"). Good luck!

I think that the problem here it that in the Italian system, as far as I know, there isn't all the kind of written/marked work that there normally is in a UK undergraduate course, except for the thesis. Exams tend to be mainly oral, and you might sustain exams without having had the chance to interact with the course leader at all during the year.

The previous suggestions on how to deal with this are excellent. Drafting something and stressing what kind of research experience you have is a very good idea. I don't know in which field you are in, but any lab work or archival training/ experience should be noted, knowledge of languages, etc. Did you do an Erasmus exchange? Do write anything that can be potentially attractive for your perspective supervisor.

If you have any work experience that can feed into your future studies, do highlight that too. You might be able to apply for funding in Italy for your studies in the UK - the Italian embassy in the UK might be able to help you here. So any potential source of funding that you might be able to apply for should be highlighted as well.

Good Luck!

Thanks a lot to you all. I do appreciate all of your suggestions. I think DrCorinne made a very good point about how the Italian system works: interacting with a teacher is rather unusual.
I'll consider what you said. Thank you again
Take care, Bye