No UCAS reference!

Was your referee a teacher? You could maybe ask another teacher to do it and explain your situation. No one likes being asked last minute, but they might be sympathetic because the other referee has backed out. Did they say why they can't do it?

No, I've been out of education for over three years and after four attempts at contacting my old tutor he didn't reply at all. The referee was my only option and she said she just can't do it. I literally have nobody to write a reference.

Contact your target unis urgently tomorrow. As you're not a school leaver, they will probably accept alternatives e.g. from your employer.

It's my employer who has backed out so UCAS said I just need to see if my choices will accept no reference at all.

That's plausible and it does happen. It's definitely worth contacting the unis.

If you have a strong application they may make you an offer without a reference. Some might ask you to come in for an interview, but they don't tend to do that for the majority of undergrad courses.

It's not an unusual situation for mature students. Many can't ask their employer to begin with, as they don't want them knowing that they're leaving.

You should find that the unis are familiar with your problem.

That sucks. I am in exactly the same situation as you, except I was just about to contact the unis and ask whether it was ok.

Which unis if you don't mind me asking? I got told by Birmingham City that I can put an ex supervisor or an upstanding member of the community (like who?!) and that they will accept a personal reference. I've just got nobody to do that haha

Have you ever done any volunteering or participated in a sports group or similar? If you have, then perhaps someone involved with these may be able to help? An upstanding member of the community can be someone like a religious leader as well if that applies to you.

Can you contact your old school, even if it is years since you went there? They may still have records of you being a pupil and can at least write a reference stating X attended this school from XXXX-XXXX and they may be able to confirm things like your attendance levels and punctuality.

Who would you use as a reference if you were applying to a job?

Nope, never been part of anything like that. I left school almost eight years ago that isn't an option for me. If I had a reference for a job I would use the exact person who backed out on my ucas reference.

That's a real shame. Is the person who backed out aware that by not writing a reference, she is potentially preventing you from applying to uni?

It may be worth contacting your universities again, explaining that there really is no-one available to act as your reference and ask them to reconsider. You have nothing to lose by doing this. I would also point out that it is now very close to the deadline, you have been let down, so it's a very short space of time to find someone.

I would disagree that universities are very familiar with this sort of problem- where someone has backed out from writing a reference at the last moment.

Some universities will consider people without a reference, but most want to know that you have explored all possible avenues first.

Yeah I contacted them today and said I literally have no options left, they couldn't understand why someone would back out but said they cannot accept an application without a reference. Nothing more I can do unfortunately.

I'm really sorry that's the case. Perhaps when UCAS Extra opens up, you can look for alternative courses, and see if any of them will accept you without a referee?

Thanks Nah, I want to study the course I was going to apply for because that's what I want to do with my life. There is no point applying for an alternative course just for the sake of it.