UCAS 2025 Mental health nursing(Mature Student)-reference declined

9

I am planning to apply for a 2025 Mental Health Nursing programme as a mature candidate. I have put my heart and soul into the UCAS application process, including my personal statement, and even went to the extent of enrolling on a fast-track GCSE English course, as I don’t have an equivalent qualification.

Unlike others, I do not have a university referee and therefore have to rely on an employer reference. Unfortunately, the only manager for 10 years I was considering for this has declined my request. I found this quite heartbreaking, as I am unsure why they declined to provide an honest reference.

I don’t know of anyone else suitable, and my current manager doesn’t have much background knowledge of my skills. As a Christian, the only other option I can think of is requesting a character reference from my church pastor but unsure if this would be acceptable?

Does anyone have any advice on how to navigate this situation? I don’t want to waste time, as 29th of January is the closing date.

Any ideas are welcome.
Thank you.

Reply 1

normaw

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

20

Original post

by goals.buffalo_03

I am planning to apply for a 2025 Mental Health Nursing programme as a mature candidate. I have put my heart and soul into the UCAS application process, including my personal statement, and even went to the extent of enrolling on a fast-track GCSE English course, as I don’t have an equivalent qualification.

Unlike others, I do not have a university referee and therefore have to rely on an employer reference. Unfortunately, the only manager for 10 years I was considering for this has declined my request. I found this quite heartbreaking, as I am unsure why they declined to provide an honest reference.

I don’t know of anyone else suitable, and my current manager doesn’t have much background knowledge of my skills. As a Christian, the only other option I can think of is requesting a character reference from my church pastor but unsure if this would be acceptable?

Does anyone have any advice on how to navigate this situation? I don’t want to waste time, as 29th of January is the closing date.

Any ideas are welcome.
Thank you.

Is there someone else you can ask for a reference at your work (or from a previous job) - a line manager, colleague or human resources? Have you done any recent study where you had a course tutor? Make sure that the person you ask knows what is required of them when writing a reference. You should provide them with the following link:

https://www.ucas.com/advisers/help-and-training/guides-resources-and-training/writing-references/writing-undergraduate-references-independent-applicants

https://www.ucas.com/applying/applying-university/mature-students/references

Reply 2

goals.buffalo_03

OP

9

Thanks for your reply and the link. I finally managed to speak with another old colleague of mine . He has agreed to be a referee. So let’s see how that goes . Thanks
Have a nice weekend

UCAS 2025 Mental health nursing(Mature Student)-reference declined

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Articles for you

How The Student Room is moderated