Reference Writing Asim Mahmood Senior Recruitment Officer admissions@bucks.ac.uk 01494 605060

What I’ll Cover… How do universities use your reference? Examples of what makes a good reference What information should you include?

How do universities use your reference? References are an important part of a student’s application, arguably as important as their personal statement! References allow the Admissions team to get a better idea of what they are like academically and personally. It also raises issues that may have been unkown previously such as a family situation, a staff change in school or a major accident they may have had that affected their studies. Information about the school equally important

How do universities use your reference? Criticism of the referencing process has been directed at the HE sector regarding the personal statements and references. Do universities even read the reference? Should the decision not be based on predicted grades and personal statement? References and personal statements are very important in trying to develop a full picture of the application especially for more competitive courses. Eg especially important in very competitive courses such as Nursing and Social Work. Also used at confirmation – if a student just misses out on their grades, we will go back and review their whole application, including references to see if we can still offer them a place.

What are universities looking for? That the reference is written by a member of staff who knows the candidate and his/her performance places the candidate and their actual/predicted results in context supports the candidates in their personal statement gives an honest, fair and relevant assessment of the candidate’s potential to succeed at a higher level in the chosen subject.

What do Admissions check? References Correct name on application! What qualifications the student has studied How well is the student doing academically? Has anything major happened at School that may affect grades? Are there any disabilities which we need to be aware of? Does the student have a long-standing illness? What to we check? Cover each of these points then explain that you’ll be covering what to include in more detail over the next few slides.. Some extra points around all of these: Make sure you have the correct name on the application form. This will delay the whole application process as we will need to check the details with you to ensure the reference is for the right person. What qualifications have they studied? BTECs can be a problem as the student may input them incorrectly or may not even know what they were studying. We need to know if they are doing a diploma or an extended diploma. If they took the course last year and already have their results, this can also be included as it helps the admissions process. How well is the student doing academically? Are they excelling in certain areas? Does their maths teacher think they have a natural passion for maths? Do they need to work on their writing skills more? Do they find exams hard? This kind of information really helps us get a full view of the student. Have anything major happened at school that may affect grades? Has a science teacher left through the year? Have you had a big staff change over? Small changes can make a big difference academically so it’s important we know before results are published, as they may be affected. Are there any disabilities we need to be aware of? Students don’t always remember to input important information such as dyslexia. It’s important we know this information so our disabilities team can make sure they can make reasonable adjustments for the student before they arrive. Has the student got a long-standing illness? Have they been off for a month and missed important exam preparations? Will it affect their future studies at the school? How are they currently being supported and how can we support them?

Do’s Speak to the student to understand the course they are applying for Clearly indicate if you recommend the student for the course Keep the document under 47 lines Keep it positive Students are allowed to see the reference before you send it off, and it should complement the personal statement Try to ask subject tutors to write a sentence or two about the student before amalgamating it Comment on the predicted grades and are they a true reflection of the student Talk about academic ability – it is after all an academic document for an academic course

Don’t Use generic or stock phrases Refer to any re-sits (unless needed to explain mitigating circumstances) Write it like a report Don’t mention specific institutions It may you know the student wants to study at x university but they may have applied to some others also, each university will read the reference Other basics include – No italics/bold underline or other special characters

What to include: The School/College Your UCAS reference should include details about your school/college: Size and type of school/college Number of students in student's year group and/or class sizes and the proportion typically progressing to HE Typical number and patterns of qualifications taken by students Information about school policy such as certification of AS-levels and opportunities to take vocationally related qualifications alongside academic GCEs.

What to include: The Student What is the student like, You will know the student better than us and may mention something not mentioned in the Personal Statement. General attitude in learning and during lessons Any issues with students personal life that may have affected their exam results or performance over past year (illness, bereavement etc) GCSE grades Success in a particular academic area Do you have any information from a previous school if they joined in sixth form

What to include: Subject performance Following a general description, we find detailed comments on subject performance very useful: strengths and weaknesses any notable or unusual aspects (eg unbroken record of on-time submission of work, perseverance where subject matter is difficult)

What to include: Extra-curricular activities An addition to the students Personal Statement. What is the student like other than academic ability, what other hobbies and activities are they involved in that might contribute to their character and abilities. Information can include: Information on work experience, sport, music, other responsibilities. Volunteering has the student been involved in any volunteering activites either within our outside of school What are the students career aspirations, especially if they tie in with the chosen course.

What to include: Predicted grades Predicted grades, though they are included in the UCAS form please do add them to the reference also, it may be that the various subject tutors include this in the write up along with other subject comments. The suggestion is always to produce what is most accurate and realistic prediction of grades and what the student is likely to achieve. Over shooting the prediction could affect the students place later on. What is the student likely to achieve rather than ‘on a really good day they can achieve…’

Some final tips for writing your references… Repetition Relevance Well-rounded Read Repetition – Try to not repeat too much information that is included in the applicant’s personal statement. It is useful to know about their interests, but if they’ve told us what they are learning about in their A-level Maths qualification, we don’t need it to be repeated. It is useful to include predicted grades however, and if any issues in the course of school haven’t been raised previously. Relevance – How is the subjects studied relevant to the course applied for and what extracurricular activities are they doing that are relevant, they haven’t told us about previously and would help support their application? Well-rounded – we need to have an informative reference for students in order to have a fair and well-rounded view of their application. Make sure you talk to the student to see what they would like to be added. Read – this sounds obvious, but please check spelling and grammar! Universities receive fraudulent references which are very poorly written. If this is the case we need to check that the reference is genuine, which can delay a student’s application, and also it can be embarrassing for you!

Thank you. Are there any questions? References Thank you. Are there any questions?