Letter of Recommendation for Post-Graduate Work Experience Credit

As of April 11, 2026, all professional geoscientist applicants are required to use the competency-based assessment (CBA) process when applying to APEGA. Read more about this change.

If you started your application before April 11 and have questions about the previous process, please contact [email protected].

As part of your request for postgraduate work experience credit, you must arrange for your project or thesis supervisor to send APEGA a letter of recommendation on university letterhead. They must send the letter directly to APEGA, either by mail or by email from their university email address to [email protected].

Letter of Recommendation Contents

The letter of recommendation must contain all of the following information.

  • Confirmation of whether they are a professional engineer or professional geoscientist, and the jurisdiction in which they are licensed.
  • Acknowledgement that you were a graduate student under their supervision.
  • The length of your graduate program (e.g., September 2009 to June 2013).
  • A brief description of your thesis or research project.
  • The length of your full-time research period (including coursework).
  • A brief description of your research methods (e.g., experimental approach, theoretical modelling, or other methods).
  • Details of the engineering or geoscience experience and the value of your thesis or project report, including:
    • how you applied engineering or geoscience principles and theory, design and synthesis, technology of data processing, and interpretation
    • the approximate percentage of your work related to engineering or geoscience
    • a list of journals that published your research, if your research led to publication
    • the technical merit of your project
  • Details of your responsibility and accountability during the project, including:
    • a description of your communication skills and level of competency
    • whether you conducted the research independently or relied significantly on others
    • whether you performed troubleshooting and problem solving to overcome research challenges
    • whether there was any delay between conducting the research and completing the degree, and if so, what caused it (e.g., you started working in another position while completing your degree)
  • Your understanding of the societal implications of engineering and geoscience.
  • Any other factors the supervisor considers relevant to the application.