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PS AND Reference...
I think that it was just as important for me to have had a good reference from my school, as it was to have a good personal statement. My headmaster wrote mine (as I applied to Oxbridge) so it was well written and much praising, and from the highest source in the school.
If you know your headmaster/mistress well, then make sure you argue continually with your school until you can get them to write it for you!! Else, make sure you get a teacher you know well to write it.
I would probably say, if you can't get the headteacher, then it is better to get someone like a head of department, for the subject you are applying for, to white the reference!
What was your experience of teacher-written references? How important do you think they were?
If you know your headmaster/mistress well, then make sure you argue continually with your school until you can get them to write it for you!! Else, make sure you get a teacher you know well to write it.
I would probably say, if you can't get the headteacher, then it is better to get someone like a head of department, for the subject you are applying for, to white the reference!
What was your experience of teacher-written references? How important do you think they were?
AdamC
I think that it was just as important for me to have had a good reference from my school, as it was to have a good personal statement. My headmaster wrote mine (as I applied to Oxbridge) so it was well written and much praising, and from the highest source in the school.
If you know your headmaster/mistress well, then make sure you argue continually with your school until you can get them to write it for you!! Else, make sure you get a teacher you know well to write it.
I would probably say, if you can't get the headteacher, then it is better to get someone like a head of department, for the subject you are applying for, to white the reference!
What was your experience of teacher-written references? How important do you think they were?
If you know your headmaster/mistress well, then make sure you argue continually with your school until you can get them to write it for you!! Else, make sure you get a teacher you know well to write it.
I would probably say, if you can't get the headteacher, then it is better to get someone like a head of department, for the subject you are applying for, to white the reference!
What was your experience of teacher-written references? How important do you think they were?
My reference was rubbish! It was from a teacher who didn't really know me, and I have to correct spelling mistakes and return it to her so she could redo it! Then once I stuck to my 5th attempt at writing a neat UCAS application form, it turned out she had a made a few gramatical mistakes as well.
twas very, very, stressful filling in my UCAS form. I don't think they matter that much - all references seem to be the same.
My form tutor is going to be writing my reference using information from subject teachers have written about me. But my tutor doesn't even know me at all (as i act like a depressed, moody cow in tutor periods, lol) so i don't think she really likes me. Also i know that one of my biology teachers HATES me and i've read what she's written about me and it's harsh and makes me sound well stupid. But then my tutor said she won't write negative things in references...is that true? Do teachers make it all positive? I hope they do!
I don't think references are all that important. Pretty much all teachers want thier students to do well and write them good references. My school had a rather odd system where each subject tutor wrote a few lines for the reference, your class tutor wrote a bit more, a secretery turned these 4 or 5 short paragraphs into a reference and then the head checked over it.
This should probably work out quite well as it goes down on the form that the head wrote the reference, but in actual fact it's mostly written by the tutors who knew you the best. In my school the head hardly knew any of the students so a reference from him would'nt really be that useful to most students.
When I looked at my reference it didn't sound much like me - all my tutors had embelished the truth and if everyone else's reference is like this the whole system is pretty pointless.
This should probably work out quite well as it goes down on the form that the head wrote the reference, but in actual fact it's mostly written by the tutors who knew you the best. In my school the head hardly knew any of the students so a reference from him would'nt really be that useful to most students.
When I looked at my reference it didn't sound much like me - all my tutors had embelished the truth and if everyone else's reference is like this the whole system is pretty pointless.
I never got to read my reference. The school wouldn't show it to us!!! lol. So I shall never know what my headmaster wrote now 
A university can tell someone who has done a lot for their school from someone who hasn't very easily from their reference. Those who have done a lot it goes into great depth, tho who haven't get the general "A polite pupil who is alwasy punctual blah blah blah."
A university can tell someone who has done a lot for their school from someone who hasn't very easily from their reference. Those who have done a lot it goes into great depth, tho who haven't get the general "A polite pupil who is alwasy punctual blah blah blah."
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