

Higher education providers welcome further dialogue with referees and would urge schools and colleges to inform them of any changes to the student’s profile, or circumstances, which occur after the point of application. What information is used to determine predicted grades? For example, do you offer internal assessment?ĭon’t forget, the reference is not your only opportunity to provide information about your students, and the web page mentioned above does not replace direct engagement with higher education providers.For example, did funding influence your choice of qualifications offered? Did the educational preferences of the school lead to certain methods of study being followed?. Include why the school or college chose to offer the provision that it does, and what the considerations were when deciding this programme.The URL to this page can then be entered in the reference. As the reference has a limited set of characters (4,000 characters or 47 lines of text), we recommend you create a web page giving details of your school or college’s qualification offer and the rationale behind it.To help you, UCAS’s Head of Adviser Experience, Louise Evans, shares three top tips for consideration when writing references, in accordance with recommendations from Supporting Professionalism in Admissions (SPA) National Expert Think Tank (NETT). If you have yet to sit for your exams, then the referee will usually need to provide your predicted or forecasted grades.In the changing qualification landscape, a student’s reference will play an increasingly important role in providing universities and colleges with an insight into a student’s qualifications. Any circumstances that has affected or may affect your future performance (if relevant).Information on academic and non-academic achievements.Extra-curricular activities and interests.


Confirmation of the programme you are currently undertaking i.e.There is no set format for the content of the reference but the following information from your reference is usually useful:

The reference is usually written by someone who knows you academically, for example, a teacher. Your reference forms an important part of your UCAS application.
