How Important are UCAS References?

This year I've had to move to an awful college, because I was initially misled to believe it was good only to find out after I had started that it was just so bad in literally every way possible. TBH I couldn't care less seeing as it is only for a year I just wanted to get my A-levels over and done with and move on to university. However, my tutor was in charge of the reference for my UCAS application and well I'm concerned that it was written badly.

He's from Bangladesh and has only just started teaching, plus this is his first time he's having to do this UCAS stuff so is very inexperienced. On top of that, his english is very bad, good enough to teach students but not good enough for him to be writing things as important as references. I'm very concerned as to this could have a negative impact on my application, is this possible? Already I am new to the college so he doesn't really know me all that well and I havn't really been able to show the student qualities I was able to in my previous school where my tutor knew me for 7 years so the content would not have been really good either.

Can somebody please give me an insight as to whether this will affect my application? From what I've always thought, references are vital to the application. How much can having a poorly written reference affect admissions to universities. If it's relavant, I've applied to UCL, King's, Royal Holloway, Bath and Warwick.

Thanks

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Reply 1

1234sunny

theres literally noway i could of got a good reference lol and i stil got accppted by some pretty decent unis so myb it dont matter that much

Reply 2

beesbees

I'm sure they'll be understanding, if your grades and PS are excellent, and your reference not so.

Reply 3

zar91

It depends where you're applying and what the individual universities and departments are looking for - I would say that a stunning reference would be really useful. You say you moved to this college - is there any way you could contact your old school and ask a teacher there who liked you to write something? You could tell them your predicted grades and ask them to include them - a coherent and intelligent one would be better than nothing, I think.

Not to be overly negative, but you've applied to universities where the reference may be important because so many applicants will have good grades.

Reply 4

anaxor13791

i don't really understand references, because seeing as they cannot portray you in a negative light, surely everyone's references are just babble about our strengths and therefore not unique?!

Reply 5

zar91

anaxor13791

i don't really understand references, because seeing as they cannot portray you in a negative light, surely everyone's references are just babble about our strengths and therefore not unique?!

Our teachers have said that omissions are really the most important things that unis looking at - i.e. if your reference writer doesn't say that you mostly do work well or on time, they'll assume that you're not particularly good at handing things in on time or giving them your all. It sounds stupid but you're right, they can only say positive things, so unless they want to outright lie it's all about what's not there.

Reply 6

Geek_Pride

How many refrences do you have to get?
And must they all be by your teacher

Reply 7

beesbees

anaxor13791

i don't really understand references, because seeing as they cannot portray you in a negative light, surely everyone's references are just babble about our strengths and therefore not unique?!

There's a difference between a good reference and an excellent reference. If you look at someones alone in isolation it can look really good, but then compare it to someone elses and you can see the difference...

Even if you can't include negatives it's more the absence of positives that they look for, if you get what I mean.

Reply 8

AisAis

My head teacher showed me my reference and agreed with me when I pointed out that it was badly written. He said that most teachers aren't very good at writing.

Mine got me an Oxbridge interview. :smile:

Universities will know that schools aren't prefect.

Reply 9

zar91

Geek_Pride

How many refrences do you have to get?
And must they all be by your teacher

You only need one reference, and it can be by anyone you want it to be - most people's schools just assume they want them to write it, and that's mostly the best idea as they generally have been through the process before and know what universities want to hear.

Reply 10

Good bloke

zar91

they can only say positive things,

This is definitely not true. A referee can say whatever he/she wishes, as long as it is truthful, not libellous and based in fact. Most won't write negative things and will seek to say them by omitting positives, but that does not change the fact that they can.

Reply 11

zar91

Good bloke

It would be a fairly damning referee who wrote negative things in a reference... but yes, they do have a right to if you really are that bad, I suppose.

Reply 12

Arowana123

Good bloke

True, my reference was very negative, each referee is different I suppose, mine just dislikes me. I'm not a bad student, and get good grades. Hasn't stopped me getting offers though. I don't see how a reference can be based in fact, it's just the referee's opinion of the person.

Reply 13

ohaidani

my friend has been rejected from york, to do psychology, as one of his contributors to his referee had written negative things. :/

Reply 14

Faisalobeidat

Is it possible to include an additional reference in my UCAS application? If not, is it possible to send one as an individual document?

Reply 15

crc290

Original post by Geek_Pride

How many refrences do you have to get?
And must they all be by your teacher

One. However, at my school they get each of your subject teachers to write a short reference for you and they're combined with one from your form tutor.