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UCAS - Reference ?

mark1988

I was wondering, when it comes to the teacher having to do the reference for my application, what will they actually do? Can they put negative comments? What stuff do they generally comment on? etc.

Thanks in Advance!

Reply 1

mark1988

I don't think teachers can (or it is frowned upon by admissions tutors and other teachers), if a teacher gives a negative reference. The problem is, you just have to have good qualities they can talk about.

Usually, they talk about you, how you've been at school, their own expectations for your suitability for the course, and anything which shows you are the right applicant for the course in question. They basically outline all the positive aspects of your school/sixth-form life.

Reply 2

sexysax

I read mine and it was stuff about my personality, how I contributed to school and stuff about my A-level subjects. It'd be a bit harsh to write anything negative!

Reply 3

lorrybeep

depends on your relationship with your teachers and your grades of course.
some can give you a rather not-too-impressive comment just because they donno you too well plus if you arent a scorer in exam thats just an oh-uh

thats eenough to put you down under thousands applicants who have much better comments.

Reply 4

rt6

From what Ive heard, teachers arent allowed to actually say negative things about you. However, if they really dont like you, they can word it in such a way that the admissions tutors can 'read between the lines' and see what the teacher is trying to get at. But tbh, its in the school's interest to give you the best refrence as possible so I wouldnt worry about it too much.

Reply 5

lorrybeep

rt6

But tbh, its in the school's interest to give you the best refrence as possible so I wouldnt worry about it too much.

true.... the only thing you worry about is whether the comment is good enough. :rolleyes:

Reply 6

PieMaster

The way my school did it was that each subject teacher hands a short ~1 paragraph one into the head for 6th form, who then wrote a full one based on what the teachers have said, a bit about the school, what you have contributed and anything else of interest.
They wont do a negative one, they want you to do the best you can after leaving.

Reply 7

kellywood_5

At my school, we have to get each subject teacher to write a mini reference about our performance in that subject and then we hand them all in to our form tutor, who sorts them all out into one reference and adds things like personal qualities and extra-curricular activities that make you suited to the course. I don't think they're allowed to write anything negative, and if they did, it wouldn't be in their best interests because the more students who get into uni, the better the school looks. Generally teachers will be supportive and want the best for you anyway.

Reply 8

Mata

Yep... as someone else said, its all about 'reading between the lines'.

They can't and won't give you a false reference, but they can be as enthusiastic as possible, and on the flipside, can make it known that you do have some downfalls (though subtly).

Honestly, your best bet is to go to school, look perky in lessons and do the homework on time. And if you don't do that, be very good at your subjects. If you have a problem with your reference, feel free to take it up with your head of 6th form (I wouldn't go ranting to the individual teachers).

Reply 9

Mustard-man

mark1988

They're not allowed to give negative comments, well at least my school doesn't allow it.

Reply 10

trev

gordon2002

They're not allowed to give negative comments, well at least my school doesn't allow it.

Same here. If you have something negative, they would try it to put it in a good way. For example, if a student has writing difficulties, the teaching should say something like this - This student is improving fast and writing skills are improving time to time.

Reply 11

Mustard-man

Also, I'm sure a few of you have read this before- my chemistry teacher wrote how well I did in chemsitry even though I'm colour blind. There was a quite a debate going on on TSR about wheather I should remove it. Some people said that it would show determination and perserverence, but my form tutor removed it anyway cos she said it was negative.

Luckily (depends which was you see it) I saw my chemistry reference, (we're not meant to see our references) I don't know why it was there- perhaps it was meant to be!

Reply 12

SianyLou

My college/tutors/teachers etc gave us all a copy of our references for proof reading before they went off. So anything we didn't agree with or that wasn't entirely true was removed if we asked for it to be taken out.

As for negative comments - I heard that teachers had to be positive, but university admissions tutors become very good at seeing what ISN'T there. Lack of comment about attendance or punctuality could suggest that neither were particularly up to scratch. When applying for Post-16 study, my head of year read out a reference for someone from a previous year. It read:
"xxxxxxxxx has been a pupil at Joseph Whitaker School for five years." The End.
See what I mean?! :wink:

Reply 13

Elles

kellywood_5

I don't think they're allowed to write anything negative, and if they did, it wouldn't be in their best interests because the more students who get into uni, the better the school looks...

although people who are given undeservedly over-enthusiastic A2 predictions & references that fail to meet these impressions can make a school look rather bad.

& in the case of small admissions teams (departmentally or college, as opposed to just uni wide) with long memories if this happens a few times it could actually be rather detrimental to the success of future applicants if they subsequently choose to ignore refs as not worth the paper they're written on..

& they're 'allowed' to write what they want, as long as it's fair & accurate.. :confused:

thankfully mine did & i think had a reputation as such :smile:

- although on the downside some students chose not to apply direct from school because they didn't think they'd stand much chance, whether the references were directly bad, or just by ommission, i don't know..

with regards to content - mine did a similar 'mini report' from each subject teacher with relevant comments about the subject, then my form tutor showed me all of them & we decided which comments were most important, then she edited it together, with some general blurb about my previous academic achievements/personality/extracurriculars & any relevant background factors. oh & attendence - i think generally unis want to hear about this.. & think ours was rated as 'excellent' 'good' 'average' 'mediocre' or something depending on registers.

Reply 14

kellywood_5

Elles

thankfully mine did & i think had a reputation as such :smile:

That sounds like a really good way of doing it. I thought you weren't allowed to see your references unless you paid UCAS £10 after your application had been submitted, but it seems quite a few schools do let you see it beforehand.

Reply 15

jimmydoerre3

kellywood_5

i thought we had to see our UCAS reference since arent we suppose to copy and paste it into the reference section from the disk that our teacher gives us..........i was wondering about privacy but i dont think there is a way for it to be private..............oh and many of our teachers are really lazy, they tell you to write a recommendation for yourself in third person and then they sign it and then u just use that as ur recommendation................ :smile:

but i usually prefer something thats written by a teacher

Reply 16

lauz_2oo5

the way my teacher explained it was that if you're always late or something, they won't write "xxx is always late" but they won't mention punctuality so the uni's will know that you are always late because of this

Reply 17

PieMaster

jimmydoerre3

but i usually prefer something thats written by a teacher

We did ours differently then, we fill all of our bits in on the online forms, then submit it to the member of staff responsible. They then add the bits they need to, and check our bit before sending it off.

Reply 18

Juno

jimmydoerre3

but i usually prefer something thats written by a teacher

If you apply through your school/college and they've registered with UCAS then you fill in your bit and UCAS send it to your tutor so you don't see their bit.

If you apply as an individual, then you copy and paste your reference in their bit.

That's why you get asked if you're applying as an individual or through your school.