The student’s post-16 academic performance and their potential for success in higher education.Universities use the UCAS reference to find out about the academic ability and interests of the student applying, their understanding of their chosen discipline and suitability for university level study. The reference should not exceed 4,000 characters (including spaces) or 47 lines (including blank lines), whichever is the shorter.If this is not possible, please clarify this. It is important that you produce the reference from a professional school email address.References can include information written by multiple teachers but should be compiled or edited together by one person.If you are writing a reference for a degree you are unfamiliar with, you can find information about LSE’s undergraduate programmes, entry requirements, and the skills and attributes we are looking for in a student on our programme pages.

When writing a reference for any applicant please remember that – under the Data Protection Act 2018 – the applicant can ask for a copy of the reference and any other personal information we have about them.

If you refer to one of them in your reference, this could compromise the application. Those universities, however, will not know which other institutions the student has applied to.

Remember that each university the student is applying to will see your reference.

Details of extenuating circumstances can also be provided in our Extenuating Circumstances Form. If the student’s achieved or predicted grades have been impacted by their personal circumstances, you should provide details in the reference.

When writing your reference, you do not need to repeat information that the student has already given, unless you want to comment on it.Only one reference is written for all 5 choices.

Read the whole UCAS application so that you have a comprehensive understanding of the applicant’s 5 chosen programmes, academic interests, preferred institutions and any longer-term goals or aspirations.further information about a student’s academic skills and qualities and any disadvantage or particular circumstances the student may be facing.īefore you start writing the reference – some guidance The reference provides additional information about the student beyond the predicted grades e.g. As a referee, you are aiming for the reference to provide universities with an informed and realistic academic assessment of a student’s suitability for their chosen programme of study.The personal statement should address the student’s academic interest in the subject area they wish to study.It is important to work with the applicant to ensure the personal statement and reference are not repetitions of each other and meet their own prime objectives.

Ucas academic reference example