For teachers & careers leads

Writing the UCAS reference for medicine, dentistry and vet applicants

The reference is the one part of the application that only you can write. UCAS now uses a structured reference in three sections: a general statement about your centre, any extenuating circumstances that affected the applicant's education, and anything else universities should know. For medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine, the third section does the work. This page covers what admissions tutors actually read a reference for, a worked structure with placeholder sentences, what differs between the three subjects, how to handle contextual circumstances honestly, and what to leave out.

Written by Dr Akash Gandhi, NHS GP and founder of TheUKCATPeople. Updated 16 September 2026.

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The reference at a glance

UCAS uses a structured reference in three sections: a general statement about your centre, extenuating circumstances affecting the applicant's education, and anything else universities should know. Confirm the current wording and the overall character limit in the UCAS adviser guidance.
Section one describes the centre, not the student, so it can be written once in September and reused for every applicant you reference that cycle.
Section two is empty for many applicants. Leaving it blank is entirely normal and carries no penalty.
Section three is the open one, and for medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine it is where the reference does its work.
The worked structure is six moves in order: headline judgement, academic evidence, evidence of suitability, corroborated work experience, contribution to the centre, and a closing statement on predicted grades.
The reference is the only independent voice in the file, so one specific sentence from you turns a student's claim about a placement or a role into a corroborated fact.

The current format

The structured reference, in three sections

UCAS replaced the old single free-text reference with a structured form. The description below reflects the current adviser guidance; confirm the exact wording, the order of the sections and the overall character limit in the UCAS adviser portal before you write, because those are the details most likely to be adjusted between cycles.

Section one: a general statement about your centre

The first section is about the school, college or centre rather than the individual applicant. It is where you explain the context a university needs in order to read a set of grades correctly: the type of centre, the size and nature of the cohort, the curriculum and qualifications you offer, and any constraints on what a student here could realistically have done.

Because it describes the centre and not the student, this section can be written once and used for every applicant you reference in the cycle. Write it properly in September, save it, and reuse it. It is the single biggest time saving available to a referee, and it is also the part most centres leave weak.

Source: UCAS adviser guidance on references, ucas.com

Section two: extenuating circumstances affecting education or achievement

The second section is for anything that has affected this applicant's education or achievement: serious or prolonged illness, bereavement, caring responsibilities, significant disruption to teaching, a change of school mid course, or any other circumstance that makes their attainment read differently from the raw figures.

It is individual to the student, and for many applicants it will be empty. Leaving it blank is entirely normal and carries no penalty. Where it is not blank, it is often the most consequential 200 words in the whole application, because it is what allows a contextual offer or a sympathetic read at the borderline.

Source: UCAS adviser guidance on references, ucas.com

Section three: anything else universities should know about the applicant

The third section is the open one, and for medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine it is where the real work happens. This is your supportive statement: academic potential, suitability for this particular course, corroboration of what the applicant has claimed elsewhere in their application, and your professional judgement of them as a future colleague in a regulated profession.

Treat it as a structured piece of writing rather than a paragraph of praise. The worked order further down this page, headline judgement, academic evidence, evidence of suitability, corroborated work experience, contribution to the centre, closing statement on predicted grades, is the shape admissions tutors find easiest to read at speed.

Source: UCAS adviser guidance on references, ucas.com

Timing matters here. Applications for medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine or veterinary science close in mid October, well before the main January deadline, and the reference has to be complete before the application can be submitted. In practice that means reference writing lands in the busiest fortnight of the autumn term, so the centre statement in section one should be written and saved in September. Confirm the exact deadline date and time for the current cycle on the UCAS adviser pages, and see what changed this cycle for the other format changes your applicants are working with.

The reader

What an admissions tutor is actually reading it for

A selector reads a reference quickly, looking for answers to a small number of questions. Write to those questions and a short reference outperforms a long one.

Are the predicted grades real?

The first question a selector asks of a reference is whether the predictions are supported by the rest of the document. A prediction of A*AA sitting next to a paragraph about a student who is working hard to keep up reads as a prediction that will not be met, and it costs the student more than a lower, consistent prediction would have.

Did the things in the application actually happen?

The reference is the only independent voice in the file. When an applicant describes a placement, a volunteering role or a leadership position, a single specific sentence from you confirming it turns a claim into a fact. Silence where confirmation would be natural is noticed.

How remarkable is this achievement, in this context?

Three A grades mean something different in a centre where that is the median and in a centre where it is the best result in a decade. Sections one and two exist so that a selector can make that judgement, and contextual admissions processes at many schools depend on it.

Would we be comfortable with this person on a ward?

Medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine are regulated professions, and selectors are recruiting to a profession as much as to a degree. Reliability, attendance, how a student behaves when unsupervised, how they take correction and how they treat support staff are all things only you can speak to.

Is there anything we cannot see?

An unexplained gap, a dip in a module, a change of subject, a resit, a move between centres. If the file contains something that will raise an eyebrow, an unprompted sentence from you removes the doubt. An unexplained anomaly is read at its worst.

Section three, worked through

A structure that works, with placeholder sentences

Six moves, in this order. The placeholder sentences are starting shapes, not templates to submit: replace every bracket, and delete any line you cannot evidence. A reference assembled from unedited templates is recognisable and does the student no favours.

1. Your headline judgement, in the first sentence
Selectors read hundreds of these. Put your actual view first, calibrated and specific, rather than building to it. If the strongest thing you can honestly say is that the student is a solid, reliable candidate, say that; an inflated opening that the rest of the reference does not support is worse than a modest one that it does.
[Name] is among the strongest [subject] candidates we have put forward in [number] years, and I support this application without reservation.
[Name] is a consistent, well organised applicant whose progress over two years has been steady rather than dramatic, and who I believe will do well on a [course] course.
2. Academic evidence, with numbers where you have them
Move from the claim to the evidence immediately. Use positions, marks, trajectories and comparisons within the cohort. Where a prediction is above current attainment, explain why you believe it, because that is the sentence that makes a prediction credible.
[Name] currently ranks [position] of [cohort size] in [subject], having improved from [earlier position] following [specific change].
Our prediction of [grades] reflects [mock performance / coursework / trajectory], and is in line with the outcomes of students at a comparable point in previous cohorts.
3. Evidence of suitability for this course specifically
This is the sentence that distinguishes a medicine reference from a generic one. Name the professional attribute, then give the incident that evidences it. One concrete example beats four adjectives, and selectors are explicitly trained to discount unevidenced adjectives.
When [specific situation], [Name] [specific action], which is the clearest evidence I can give of [attribute: reliability under pressure / communication with people unlike themselves / judgement].
[Name] has sustained [commitment] over [duration], including through [period of difficulty], which speaks to the persistence this course demands.
4. Corroborate the work experience, do not re-describe it
The applicant has already described the placement. Your job is to confirm it happened, say something about how they behaved during it that they could not say themselves, and, where you can, report what the placement provider told you.
I can confirm [Name] completed [placement] over [duration]; the [supervisor role] reported that [specific feedback].
[Name] arranged this placement themselves after [number] unsuccessful approaches, which I mention because that persistence is not visible elsewhere in the application.
5. Contribution to the centre, briefly
Keep this short and make it earn its place. A leadership role only matters if you say what changed because this student held it. If nothing changed, leave it out and use the characters elsewhere.
As [role], [Name] [specific thing they built, started or sustained], which has continued after them.
[Name] has mentored [group] weekly for [duration], and colleagues describe [specific observation].
6. Close on the prediction and on any adjustment
Finish by restating your confidence in the prediction in one clean sentence, and flag any access arrangement or adjustment the university will need to know about at interview, having first agreed that with the student.
I am confident [Name] will achieve [grades], and I recommend them for [course] without qualification.
[Name] has [access arrangement] in examinations; they are content for this to be shared so that any interview arrangements can be made in good time.

By subject

What changes between medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine

The three courses are selected for differently, and a reference written for one reads as a near miss for another. These are the emphases that matter to each panel.

Medicine

Medical selectors are reading for durability and for insight. A reference that shows a commitment sustained across two years, and a student who understands the unglamorous parts of the job, is far more persuasive than one that lists achievements.

Emphasise

Sustained commitment with dates. How long, not how impressive, is the question the reference answers best.
Behaviour under supervision: punctuality, reliability, how they respond when corrected. Selectors are recruiting a future colleague.
Teamwork evidenced in a real setting with real consequences, not in a school activity where nothing was at stake.
Reading and thinking beyond the specification, named specifically. 'Widely read' is worthless; the title of the paper they argued about is not.
Resilience demonstrated rather than claimed, ideally an occasion where something went badly and you saw what they did next.

Do not restate the personal statement, and do not use the word 'passionate'. Every reference uses it and it evidences nothing.

Dentistry

Dental selectors are alert to the applicant who is really applying to medicine and has chosen dentistry as a safer route. Your reference is the most credible place to close that question down, because you have watched the student decide.

Emphasise

Why dentistry and not medicine, in your own words, referring to when and how the student reached that view.
Manual dexterity with a specific example and, ideally, a witness. Fine practical work in art, laboratory technique, a craft or an instrument, described concretely.
Precision and attention to detail in practical subjects, including how they respond when practical work goes wrong.
Communication with people who are anxious or reluctant, which is most of a dentist's working day.
Dental specific work experience confirmed, since practice shadowing is harder to arrange than hospital shadowing and the effort is worth reporting.

Avoid any phrasing that positions dentistry as a second choice or as similar to medicine. A single careless clause of that kind can undo an otherwise strong application.

Veterinary medicine

Veterinary selectors expect more work experience, across more settings, than medicine does, and they are unusually interested in whether the applicant has understood the hard commercial and ethical realities of practice. Say plainly what the student has seen.

Emphasise

Breadth of animal experience by setting: small animal practice, farm or equine, and non clinical work such as kennels, stables or a rescue centre.
Competence and safety around animals, which a referee who has seen it can assert and an applicant cannot.
Physical stamina and willingness to do unpleasant work, evidenced by what they actually did on placement rather than what they observed.
Understanding of euthanasia, cost constrained decisions and difficult conversations with owners, and the fact that they have thought about these rather than avoided them.
Strength in practical science, especially laboratory technique and data handling in biology and chemistry.

Do not lean on a love of animals. It is assumed, it is universal among applicants, and it displaces the evidence that would actually help.

Section two

Handling contextual circumstances honestly

This is the part of the reference with the greatest capacity to help a student and the greatest capacity to harm one. Six principles keep it on the right side of that line.

Agree it with the student first, always

Before you write a word in section two, tell the student what you propose to say and get their agreement. This is both the ethical position and the practical one: a student who is surprised at interview by something in their own reference is badly served. If they do not want a circumstance disclosed, respect that and write nothing about it.

Describe the impact, not the diagnosis

Universities need to understand the effect on learning, not the clinical detail. 'Was absent for eleven weeks of Year 12 and missed the whole of the [module] teaching' tells a selector what they need. A diagnosis does not, and disclosing one without explicit consent is a serious matter.

Give dates, duration and size

Vague sympathy is easy to discount. Specific disruption is not. Say when it started, how long it lasted, how many hours or weeks of teaching were lost, and which assessments fell inside that window.

Say what the centre did and what the student did

Two sentences that change how the section reads: what support the school put in place, and what the student did in spite of the circumstance. The second is the one that turns an explanation into evidence of character.

Be clear whether it is over or ongoing

A resolved circumstance and a continuing one have different implications for support at university. Say which it is, without speculating about the future or making promises about how the student will cope.

Do not overstate, and do not use it twice

Section two loses its force if every applicant from your centre has one. Reserve it for circumstances that genuinely changed what a student could achieve, and do not repeat the same material in section three for emphasis.

Cut these

What to leave out

Every character spent on one of these is a character not spent on something only you could say.

Anything the student has already written. If a sentence could have come from their personal statement, it is wasting characters that only you can spend.
Superlatives you cannot evidence. 'Exceptional', 'outstanding' and 'the best in years' are only useful when the next sentence proves them.
Health information, a diagnosis or a disability the student has not agreed to disclose. Section two is for impact on education, agreed in advance, not for medical detail.
Family circumstances the student has not asked you to share, however sympathetic your intention.
The names of other universities the student has applied to, or any comment on their ordering of choices.
Predicted grades restated at length. They are already in the application; one sentence of confidence in them is enough.
Boilerplate reused from another student's reference. Selectors read many references from the same centre in one sitting and identical paragraphs are obvious.
Comparisons that disparage other applicants, including ones from your own centre.
Hedging you do not mean. 'Should cope with the demands of the course' reads as a warning, whether or not you intended one.

Avoid

The eight commonest mistakes

Drawn from what weakens references most often, rather than from anything exotic. Most of them are fixable in a single editing pass.

1Leaving section three generic. A warm, well written paragraph that contains no specific incident is the commonest weak reference and the easiest to fix.
2Writing a character reference instead of an academic one. Kindness and popularity are not what is being assessed; academic potential and professional suitability are.
3Predictions that the prose contradicts. If the reference sounds cautious, the grades will be read as optimistic.
4Saying nothing about work experience the student has built a whole application around. Selectors notice the omission and read it as doubt.
5Ignoring a visible anomaly. A resit, a gap or a mid course change of centre that goes unexplained is interpreted at its worst.
6Writing it in the last week before the deadline. Medicine, dentistry and veterinary applications close in mid October, earlier than the main January deadline, so the reference has to be finished while the autumn term is at its busiest.
7Over claiming for a weak applicant. It rarely helps that student and it quietly devalues every reference your centre sends in future cycles.
8Never reusing section one. It describes the centre, not the student, so writing it from scratch for each applicant is wasted effort that would be better spent on section three.

The other side of the application

What to point the student at while you write

The reference is yours. Everything else in the file is theirs, and these are the guides that answer the questions they will bring you while you are writing it.

The personal statement

Entry requirements

Work experience

The current UCAS guidance on the personal statement format is published by UCAS, and adviser guidance on references is on the UCAS adviser pages.

Quick answers

Common questions from referees

Who should write the UCAS reference for a medicine applicant?

The reference comes from the centre rather than from an individual friend or family member, and it is normally coordinated by the head of sixth form, a tutor or the careers lead. In practice the strongest references are assembled: one person owns the document and gathers specific sentences from subject teachers, the work experience coordinator and anyone who supervised the student in a responsible role. The referee does not need to be a scientist or a medic, because what is being reported is academic potential, context and professional suitability, not subject content.

How long should a UCAS reference be?

UCAS sets an overall limit across the three sections, so check the current figure in the adviser portal before you start writing rather than working from a remembered number, because it is the kind of detail that changes between cycles. Practically, aim to use the space rather than fill it. A reference that is specific and evidenced will naturally run to most of the available length; one that is padded with adjectives will read as shorter than it is. Remember that section one describes your centre and can be reused for every applicant, which leaves more of your effort for the individual sections.

Should I mention a student's mental health or a diagnosis in the reference?

Only with the student's explicit agreement, and even then describe the impact on their education rather than the clinical detail. Section two of the structured reference exists for circumstances that affected education or achievement, so the useful content is the disruption: weeks of teaching missed, assessments that fell in that window, and what the student did in spite of it. Discuss it with the student first, and if they do not want it disclosed, write nothing about it. Disclosing health information without consent is a serious matter, and an unexplained dip in attainment is usually better handled by the student themselves than by a referee acting alone.

Does the reference really matter for medicine, or is it all UCAT and grades?

Admissions test scores and grades do most of the shortlisting, and few universities publish exactly how they weight the reference, so it is best understood as corroboration and context rather than as a scored component. That is not the same as unimportant. The reference is the only independent voice in the file: it is what confirms that a claimed placement happened, explains why a set of grades is remarkable for this centre, accounts for an anomaly that would otherwise be read badly, and speaks to professional suitability in a way no applicant can do for themselves. At the borderline, and in any contextual admissions process, it can be decisive. Check individual schools' admissions pages for how they say they use it.

The rest of the teacher library

The reference is written in October. Everything that makes it easy to write happens in the eighteen months before that.

Setting up a MedSoc Work experience What changed this cycle All teacher resources

Writing the UCAS reference for medicine, dentistry and vet applicants

The reference at a glance

The structured reference, in three sections

Section one: a general statement about your centre

Section two: extenuating circumstances affecting education or achievement

Section three: anything else universities should know about the applicant

What an admissions tutor is actually reading it for

Are the predicted grades real?

Did the things in the application actually happen?

How remarkable is this achievement, in this context?

Would we be comfortable with this person on a ward?

Is there anything we cannot see?

A structure that works, with placeholder sentences

1. Your headline judgement, in the first sentence

2. Academic evidence, with numbers where you have them

3. Evidence of suitability for this course specifically

4. Corroborate the work experience, do not re-describe it

5. Contribution to the centre, briefly

6. Close on the prediction and on any adjustment

What changes between medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine

Medicine

Dentistry

Veterinary medicine

Handling contextual circumstances honestly

Agree it with the student first, always

Describe the impact, not the diagnosis

Give dates, duration and size

Say what the centre did and what the student did

Be clear whether it is over or ongoing

Do not overstate, and do not use it twice

What to leave out

The eight commonest mistakes

What to point the student at while you write

The personal statement

Entry requirements

Work experience

Common questions from referees

Who should write the UCAS reference for a medicine applicant?

How long should a UCAS reference be?

Should I mention a student's mental health or a diagnosis in the reference?

Does the reference really matter for medicine, or is it all UCAT and grades?

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