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Adviceandguidanceforrefereesforindependentapplicants
Ifyouhavebeenaskedtowriteareferenceforanindependentapplicantwhoisnotcurrentlyat
schoolorcollege,pleasereadthroughtheadvicebelowbeforestarting.
TheUCASreferenceistheonlypartoftheapplicationnotwrittenbytheapplicant.References
areintendedtoprovideuniversitiesandcollegeswithaninformedacademicassessmentofan
applicant'ssuitabilityforhighereducationstudy.Universitiesandcollegesarelookingforthe
followingkeyfactsaboutastudent.
Thestudent'sacademicperformanceintheirpost16education
Theirpotentialforacademicsuccessinhighereducation
Whythecoursetheyhavechosenissuitedtothem
Anypersonalqualitieswhichwillbenefitthematuniversity,suchasskills,aptitude,
enthusiasm
Whattheycanbringtotheuniversity,suchasextracurricularactivitiesandinterests.
Youwillnotbeabletoreadthewholeapplicationandyoushouldcontacttheapplicanttocheck
whichcoursestheyhaveappliedto,ifyoudonotalreadyknow.Pleasenotethatyoushouldnot
includeadirectreferencetoanyparticularuniversityorcollege,becauseatthisstagewedonot
allowthemtoseetheidentityofanyotherinstitutionstowhichanapplicanthasappliedandthey
willallreadyourreference.
Ifyouarewritingareferenceforaninternationalapplicant,pleasewriteinEnglish.Ifthe
applicant'sfirstlanguageisnotEnglish,pleasecommentontheirabilitytowriteandspeakin
English,andindicatewhetheranyoftheirstudiesweretaughtinEnglish.
Ifyoutaughtthembeforetheystartedtheirbreakfromeducation,pleasegivedetailsand
describehowtheycomparedwithothersintheirclass.
Iftheapplicantisonanaccesscourse,foundationcourseorotheroneyearcourse,you
maynothaveknownthemlongenoughtowriteafullreference.Inthiscase,pleaseexplainthat
youareprovidingatemporaryreference(includingasmuchdetailasyoucan)andwillprovidea
completereferencenextspring.Allsupplementaryreferencesshouldbesentdirectlytoallthe
choseninstitutionsandshouldquotetheapplicant'snameandPersonalID,whichyoushould
obtainfromtheapplicant.
Describetheirsuitabilityfortheirchosencourses
Themostimportantpartofyourreferenceisyourassessmentoftheapplicant'ssuitabilityforthe
highereducationcoursestheyhavechosen.Werecommendthatyouconsiderincluding:
theirproposedcareerambitions,attitude,motivationandcommitment.Ifrelevant,your
opinionoftheirsuitabilityforthiscareerpath
theirpastachievementandcurrentactivities,withparticularreferencetosubjectsrelating
tothecoursesforwhichtheyareapplying
anysupplementaryinformationabouttheirqualificationsandstudy
anyrelevantrelatedskillssuchasemployment,workexperience,voluntarywork
anycommitmentsofwhichyouareawarethatmightpreventtheapplicantfromattending
aninterviewonaparticularday
anyfactors,suchaspersonalcircumstances,thatmayhaveaffected,ormightaffecttheir
performance.Informationaboutanyspecialneedsandotherrequirements.Donotgive
informationaboutanapplicant'shealthordisabilitywithouttheiragreement.
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10/2/2015

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Studentsareaskedtostateanydisabilitiesorspecialneedsinaseparatesectionofthe
application.Studentsarenotobligedtodisclosesuchinformationontheirapplicationhowever,
earlydisclosuregivestheuniversitiesandcollegesmoretimetoprepareandarrangethesupport
thatastudentmayneed.Somerefereesmaywishtomentionthestudent'slearningdifferenceor
disabilityinanacademiccontext,suchashowtheycurrentlycopeinemploymentorotherwise.
Manyuniversitiesandcollegesprovidedetailsoftheselectioncriteriaandattributestheyare
lookingforintheirprospectuses,websites,orspecificentryrequirementsforparticularcourses.If
youknowthecoursesforwhichtheyareapplying,thiswillbeahelpfulstartingpoint,particularlyif
youarewritingareferenceforacourseinasubjectareawithwhichyouareunfamiliar.
Whenwritingareferenceforanyapplicant,includingthoseoutsidetheUK,pleaseremember
that,undertheDataProtectionAct,theapplicantcanaskforacopyofthereferenceandany
otherpersonalinformationthatwehaveaboutthem.
Predictedgrades
Eachpendingqualificationthattheapplicanthasenteredontheirapplicationwillbelistedinthe
referencesection.
Pleaseselect/enterapredictedgradeforeachpendingqualification.
Ifyouareunabletoprovidepredictedgrades,pleasetickthebox'Iamunabletoprovideany
predictedgrades'.Anemailwillbesenttotheapplicanttoinformthemofthis.
Iftheapplicantdoesnothaveanypendingqualificationsyouwillnotbeaskedforpredicted
grades.
Howtoprovidethereference
Thereferenceshouldbewrittenusingastandardwordprocessingpackageandshouldnot
exceed4,000characters(thisincludesspaces)or47lines(thisincludesblanklines),whicheveris
theshorter.Youcannotusebold,italicsorunderlininginthereferenceifthesetypesof
formattingareused,theywillberemovedfromthetextwhenyourreferenceispastedintothe
applicationandsaved.
Whenyouareenteringthereferenceintotheapplicationsystem,werecommendthatyouwork
withouttakingsubstantialbreaksbecausethesystemwilltimeoutafter35minutesofinactivity.
Thecountdownonscreendisplayshowmuchtimeyouhaveleftbeforeittimesoutandcloses.
Forthisreasonwerecommendthatyouprepareyourreferenceinawordprocessingpackage
andthencopyandpasteitintothebox.Youcannotsaveyourreferenceindraftformandthen
returntoitforamendmentlater.
Onceyouhavesubmittedyourreference,yourpasswordwillbemarkedasexpiredandwillno
longergiveyouaccesstothesite.

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