Is one week notice enough for an academic reference request?

[PotentialPhD]

I have just seen a PhD advertised that I really wish to apply for as it is really well aligned with my research interests. I look every few days but had not seen it before but the deadline is next Tuesday.

It would be the first project I would be applying to so I need to still ask my previous supervisors if they would willing to provide a reference. However I am worried as I know one week is not a lot of time at the best of times let alone so close to the start of term and in the middle of the A-levels fiasco. To make matters worse the two academics I would be asking are an admissions tutor and head of department so I know they must be extremely busy.

Would I be unreasonable to email asking if it is possible? If not, can I email just a general email saying I plan on applying to projects over the Autumn and would they be willing to provide references just so they have a heads-up in case in the future there are other projects with short deadlines?

I hope by now you've emailed your supervisors? (Rather than wringing your hands and decreasing the time available ...)

Obviously only they can say - if they're around to respond to emails - whether they could write a reference in a week. But surely all that's needed now is their agreement to provide the reference at some future date if you're shortlisted?

Everything in your final paragraph is perfectly normal and reasonable.

Perhaps just as importantly - have you made contact with the people running the project you're interested in? In my area it would be a little odd to apply without having discussed it first - but your research world may be different.

Good luck!

Just get on with it and ask them if they are happy to provide a reference. It won't be straight away anyway, and they may only call for references if you are short-listed. Doing references is part of our jobs.

I applied to my degree without a reference and I wrote why I didn't have one. They actually gave me a place on the course which I was pleasantly surprised with, I did sit an interview though so I suppose that's something.

It's great that you've seen this before the deadline. I would suggest the following 1) contact the PhD offering department, find a way to ask a reasonable question e.g. 'this course looks so perfect because x y am but I'm aware that my u/g supervisors are likely to be very busy with admissions, could I submit my application w/o refs if they were to follow in the next week?' 2) contact refs and ask for brief ref if at all possible given the circumstances (mostly people are nice if you are straightforward and honest and say what you need), 3) think about funding.
You're not wasting time by trying to do this right but time is of the essence. If it feels like a good fit, go for it; sometimes in this game you have to not think too much.

this course looks so perfect because...

If somebody wrote this to me, I would be concerned that they didn't understand that a PhD is about the specific project, not the "course". PhDs are very different to taught courses & considerable value is placed on recommendations from dissertation and project supervisors. Letters don't really matter as much for taught courses if the applicant has the required academic qualifications.

It's perfectly normal in my field for the academic references to follow long after student applies for the studentship. if the application and CV look competitive for the position, I would follow up with the student/referees as needed for letters, rather than reject the application just because the letters hadn't arrived.

By the way, in my field, if a project is advertised then there is associated funding. But this is not true in all subject areas.

Thank you all for the help and advice. :)

@dwnldft May I ask what your field is? It sounds similar to mine (biomedicine).