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Struggling to get a reference/predicted grades as a mature student

I'm a 24 year old mature student who will be applying to study Mathematics at university this year. Getting an academic reference has been challenging for me. My old sixth form isn't an option as I left it far too long ago. Most tutors I've contact have been reluctant to write a reference due to the little time remaining before the ucas deadline. Does anyone have any idea what I could do? I've considered emailing the universities, explaining my situation, but I wonder whether it could somehow hinder my application (i.e applying without an academic reference).

Reply 1

Llamas_and_Cake

I had the same problem when I returned to study. I emailed the course leader to discuss and found that the university was happy to look at alternatives – it seemed pretty normal to them. In the end I just ended up with an employer reference and a reference from a colleague who happened to have a higher degree, but had never worked with me in an academic context. I’m sure there would have been other options if I hadn’t been able to find the colleague.

I have a very weird educational background and I generally don’t slot neatly into course requirement boxes, which are designed for the school > university pipeline. It’s never been a problem so far, just requires a bit of improv. Hopefully it will be the same for you, and I’d be really surprised if emailing them to ask ‘how can I meet this requirement?’ goes against you.

Reply 2

e.asmerom

Original post

by quickquestion805

Hi what i did was i worked with a tutor i found on first tutors and asked them if theyd be okay to do my predicted grades my old sixthform luckily were able to do my reference but im sure if you look you could find someone whod be willing to do both!