SECTION 3 ( This section is also optional): Another example is if you believe this student is doing far better this year than previous years, etc. You should only add information into this section if the applicant has extenuating circumstances that may have affected their grades or will affect their grades. (How to link your school to your UCAS application) SECTION 1 (if the student has NOT linked their application to a UCAS centre):įor applicants who apply independently, and not link their application to a school or college, the referee would provide an overview of their relationship to the applicant. If you are worried about copying and pasting this section for each student, the good news is that your school profile template can be saved in the system ONLY if your school is registered as a UCAS centre. This section is mandatory for schools registered as a UCAS centre. This is a great place to explain your school’s rankings, if it is a private or public school, general overview of your school’s curriculum (i.e. The first section is to provide information regarding your school. SECTION 1 (if the student has linked their application to a UCAS centre): This will be implemented into the UCAS application for the 2024 entry applicants: Referees can only use up to 4,000 characters (including spaces, headings and line breaks) or 47 lines of text total, whichever comes first, between all three sections. Starting this May 2023, the reference section will no longer be a single letter, but rather be split into 3 sections for the referee to complete (see below). It is an important part of the application process and still remains to be so. It provides an evaluation of the student's academic performance, character, and potential. Currently, the UCAS reference was written as a single letter from one academic or teacher that would be sent to each individual university that the student was applying to. The reference is a letter written by a teacher or other academic advisor that is submitted along with the student's application. In this article, we'll explain what those changes are and what they mean for US students who are considering applying to universities in the UK.įirst, let's explain what the UCAS reference is.

UCAS handles the application process for almost all undergraduate degree courses in the UK.

If you're a college counselor who has worked with students applying to UK universities, you're probably familiar with UCAS, the centralized application system. UCAS has recently made major changes to the reference section that may be a culture shock for US counselors.

Ucas reference examples