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On Oscar, if a judge lists that he wants 2 letters and 2 references, are the references meant to be different people than the people who write you letters?

FWIW, I applied to a judge with a posting like that and gave two recommendations through OSCAR, and then in the references box wrote something like, "In addition to the professors who wrote my letters of recommendations, I offer the following two professors as additional references." I got an interview. I can't really say that my choice to give separate people as references helped but judges can be anal about following directions so better safe than sorry is my view.

No idea. I've been using the same people as are sending the letters, but providing additional contact info (an email on top of the phone number already included).

I don't know for certain, but I would think references would be different from letter-writers. First, pretty much every letter writer is going to include contact info and say, contact me if you have any questions, so giving them as a reference is redundant. Second, asking for both gives judges more people to talk to without making you get letters from EVERYONE. But I think it also reflects that judges often don't like to write actual letters, for fear of looking like they're abusing their position, but will serve as references, .

(But this is just a gut reaction.)