Your UCAS reference and predicted grades (Applying from the UK)

The ideal referee is somebody who knows you and your academic profile well. They don't have to be a specialist in the area that you wish to study at university, but they do need some insight into the course you are applying for so that they can comment on relevant skills and achievements, and they will need to liaise with your subject teachers to include subject-specific detail and predicted grades.

Normally your referee will be a subject teacher, your sixth form tutor or a UCAS Adviser. Your reference cannot be written by somebody who is related to you.

Only one reference can be given via UCAS. If you have more than one person who you would like to write a reference, it is best that you ask your UCAS referee to liaise with the second person (as they would for a subject teacher) and include their points in the UCAS reference.

Please see additional information on the relevant page if you are home educated or applying as a mature student.

Your referee should give their own name and contact details. This sounds obvious, but we find that referees are often tempted to give the name and contact details of somebody more senior at the school, such as the headteacher or of a more senior staff member. This this can cause problems and delays if we have a question so we prefer it if the named referee and contact details are those of the person who really wrote your reference.

We ask that referees do not give a generic admin office email address, as we are unable to send emails and questions  about an individual application to a generic office email address.

The UCAS reference is now divided into three sections:

Section 1: School context

Section 2: Applicant-specific mitigating factors and extenuating circumstances*

Section 3: Any other information**

Particularly important to be aware of:

*Where a student has extenuating circumstances, brief mention of these in Section 2 of the UCAS reference is normally all that we need. However, if your circumstances need more lengthy explanation, or if the information is particularly senstitive, then your referee (or a GP etc.) may complete an Extenuating Circumstances Form, which should be submitted by 22 October where possible. 

If you have a disability, neurodiverse condition, mental health condition or long-term health condition, we encourage you to disclose this in your UCAS application, and the process after that is set out on our disability, neurodiversity and health conditions page here.

**It is particularly important to ensure that your referee understands that in Section 3 they need to comment in detail on your academic ability and capacity, achievements and commitment relevant to the courses you are applying for. We recommend a minimum of 2000 characters are used for this section. Your referee will need to explain where you stand in your current cohort, and comment on the likelihood that you will flourish in a highly academic environment, and they will need to back up their comments with specific examples where possible (e.g. performance in class tests, homework, contributions in lessons and super-curricular exploration and achievements). There are examples of the content for section 3 in the link above.

Referees should be honest and accurate in their appraisal, but if they believe in you, then they do need to “sell you” to the assessor. This is especially important if you are applying before you have completed school (since the referee’s predictions will be used by universities as a gauge of how well you are likely to do in your exams).

If you have had a major achievement in a relevant subject outside of your school work, it is important to ensure that your referee is aware and includes it in the reference. We do not need to know about achievements in unrelated hobbies and activities such as sport, music and drama as we only assess you on academic criteria, but a strong performance or engagement in some aspect of your subject, or a high quality piece of work that you have completed on your own initiative, should certainly be set out.

Be aware that in Section 2, referees may also need to explain any area of relative under-performance in your application. If they can bring in relevant counter examples that show ability at a higher level on other occasions, or explain factors that may have lead to your under-performance, this context is helpful so again, do ensure that they have any relevant information from outside your school work.

Your referee must predict your grades for any exams that you have not yet taken. You may be aware that we have minimum offer levels for each qualification (e.g. A*AA / A*A*A for different courses at A level). If we select you for a conditional offer, the offer conditions may be tailored to the applicant. 

Note that offer conditions are most likely to reflect the demands of the course you are applying for, as well as any areas of concern identified at interview, rather than predicted grades as such.

Don't worry if you come from a school context associated with weaker academic outcomes, or low levels of progression to university. Although it's helpful if your referee mentions this fact in your reference, we also use contextual information, which we take into account when assessing applications.

Cambridge University information on references

UCAS website: information about references

UCAS website: in depth advice for referees