do ucas contact your reference??

Former Member

im applying for univeristy and just wondering, do ucas contact the reference i have used and interview them? or do they contact them by post, telephone? cos surely they must to check it is genuine.

Former Member

I applied for university to start in September 2006 initially, and made my application in December 2005. University has never happened for me for various reasons, but that's not relevant here. My referee at the time was my former English lecturer when I did my A-Level a few years before. I emailed him about this subject earlier and he replied saying UCAS gave him a phone call that lasted "no longer than two or three minutes" about his reference. It was simply to confirm that he knew who I was and what I was doing.

He says they UCAS get in touch with referees randomly. However, given the vast quantity of applications received every year, and the huge resources that would be required, they do not contact everyone.

Former Member

Do they not also pass the information onto the university who might contact them before they give you an offer?

I have no idea - i'm pretty sure when i applied for my MA i had to get references in advance...

Fiz

Hi, I think you have to assume that they will contact your reference even if it is just to double check you are who you say you are. Because of this it?s obviously a good idea to get permission from the person you are going to use as a reference too so they know to maybe expect a call.