UCAS reference is an important part of the UCAS university application, which is often not as big of a priority for applicants as striving to meet the required grades or perfecting the personal statement. However, it can be equally as important and in competitive institutions such as LSE where even small details matter, it could be a deciding factor in university admission and securing a place to pursue your dream degree. Therefore, choosing a person, most usually a teacher, to write the UCAS reference is an important decision to make, which should require some previous thought and analysis. Below, I present my top tips for choosing the right teacher to write the UCAS reference that will benefit your university application.
My first tip is to choose a teacher you have or had a lot of classes with or that knows you well academically. A teacher of one of your A-levels or Higher Level IB subjects would be an ideal person to write your UCAS reference, since they know a lot about your work ethic, writing or problem-solving skills and academic commitment. Since the UCAS application mostly focuses on your academic capacity to pursue a certain degree, teachers who can talk about your achievements and skills in that field can easily write a reference which will convince the university admissions team, that you are the right person to enrol.
My second tip is to choose a teacher that teaches a subject closely related to your degree. Rather than choosing your favourite teacher, who teaches a subject irrelevant to your degree, it would be more beneficial to choose somebody who can write about your skills and achievements from the perspective of your chosen academic field. For example, if you aim to pursue a degree in humanities, choosing a teacher from an essay-based subject such as literature or history, who has read many of your works and knows your writing style would definitely aid your application and make it appear more appropriate.
Furthermore, a good strategy would be choosing a teacher who has a lot of experience assisting students in their university applications. A teacher who has written some UCAS references or references to universities in other countries in the past would have the knowledge and the understanding of what the admission officers expect. They know what information is relevant and necessary to include, and they can also give you tips and some feedback on your other application components. If there is a teacher at your school that has worked on different international projects and has a lot of connections and experiences from around the world, choosing them to write your UCAS reference could also favour your application, since the wide perspective that they have, will allow them to write something unique that can increase your chances of getting accepted into your dream university.
Last but not least, an important aspect is choosing a teacher whom you have good contact with and that knows you well personally, not only in the academic environment. Since the UCAS application is something personal to you, and that relates directly to your capacity to pursue a degree at university, choosing a teacher that you feel comfortable talking to, and discussing both your academic and extracurricular activities can benefit your application and make the whole process less daunting and stressful. A teacher whom you have worked with on an extracurricular project, or your IB extended essay supervisor with whom you spent hours discussing your work, could potentially be the type of teacher who knows you well and who would be perfect if you write your reference. However, while a good connection with the teacher who writes your reference would most likely benefit your UCAS application process and experience, it should not be your only criterion for choosing your academic referee, since the vast part of your application is strictly academic, and you should always bear it in mind when making this important choice.
